# San Mateo County Board of Education, Trustee Area 2 Compare records and positions simply between Dana Johnson or Beverly Gerard for San Mateo County Board of Education, Trustee Area 2 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person is one of five members. They oversee the San Mateo County Office of Education. This office runs court and community schools. Those schools serve youth referred by probation or their home districts. The office also supports the county's local school districts. The term is four years. - Jurisdiction: School District - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/san-mateo-boe-2 - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: September 7, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 94 out of 100 (Very strong), across 6 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Dana Johnson** — Program Director / Commissioner - **Beverly Gerard** — Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. San Mateo County's Board of Education has a contested race for its Area 2 seat: 37-year incumbent Beverly Gerard faces first-time candidate Dana Johnson, a social worker who has spent 16 years working with justice-involved youth in the county's own probation department. The winner serves a 4-year term on the 5-member County Board of Education, which sets policy for the County Office of Education -- the agency that runs court and community schools for youth referred by probation or their home districts, and supports the county's local school districts. The choice is less ideological than experiential: Gerard argues for continuity on programs she has already shepherded through years of restructuring, while Johnson argues that lived experience in the justice system gives the students these schools serve someone who has been in their position. ## Beverly Gerard Beverly Gerard is the incumbent Area 2 trustee on the San Mateo County Board of Education, first elected in 1989 and never before facing a challenger for reelection. She's running for another term against first-time candidate Dana Johnson. She currently serves as the board's Vice President and has focused recent years on restructuring Gateway, the county's community-school program for court-involved youth. **Strengths:** Nearly four decades on the board, never before facing an opponent, plus recent work restructuring Gateway, the county's court-school program, now fully staffed with two special-education teachers. **Trade-offs:** 37 years is also a long time without a real electoral test; Johnson argues that alone is reason enough for new leadership, not a specific policy failure. **Keep in mind:** No campaign committee for Gerard was found registered with the state as of this writing -- county Board of Education races often don't reach the fundraising threshold that requires one. Her platform points here come from a newspaper interview, not a campaign statement. ## Dana Johnson Dana Johnson is a community leader and social worker making a first bid for elected office, challenging 37-year incumbent Beverly Gerard for the Area 2 seat. Johnson is running on lived experience: 16 years working with justice-involved youth in the county's own probation department, plus work supporting LGBTQIA+ foster youth. Johnson currently directs a family shelter providing wraparound services and holds a master's degree, earned after a high school teacher predicted Johnson would end up in jail. **Strengths:** Sixteen years working directly with the justice-involved youth these court and community schools serve, plus experience supporting LGBTQIA+ foster youth and current work directing a family shelter. **Trade-offs:** No experience on any elected board; the case rests on lived experience and a stated commitment to not making the seat a career, rather than a specific administrative record. **Keep in mind:** No campaign committee for Johnson was found registered with the state either -- see Gerard's note. Johnson has said publicly they don't intend to hold the seat for decades and want to help train the next generation of community leaders. ## Sources 1. [San Mateo County ACRE (Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder-Elections) -- Roster of Candidates, Qualified Candidates Only, November 3, 2026 General Election (CFMR009), dated 2026-08-25: the county's own certified candidate list, confirming both District 5 (Short Term) candidates and their ballot designations, and that Board of Education Trustee Area 2 is the only one of three expiring county trustee areas flagged 'On Ballot: Yes'](https://smcacre.gov/system/files/2026-08/52_candidateroster0825.pdf) 2. [San Mateo Daily Journal -- "Beverly Gerard, Dana Johnson vie for San Mateo County Board of Education seat" (Ana Mata, Aug. 27, 2026): full staffed reporting quoting both candidates directly on the county's Gateway community-school program, career and technical education, and budget oversight -- the strongest independent source in this contest](https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/beverly-gerard-dana-johnson-vie-for-san-mateo-county-board-of-education-seat/article_6ce9ae68-f365-4ab1-894a-bea9c5d44c7e.html) 3. [San Mateo County Office of Education -- "Meet the Board" page: names Beverly Gerard as Vice President and the sitting Area 2 trustee, confirming her incumbency independent of the candidate roster](https://www.smcoe.org/about/board-of-education) 4. [Association of California County Boards of Education -- leadership bio for Beverly Gerard, San Mateo County: describes her as 'a veteran education leader whose decades of service reflect a deep commitment to strong' county schools -- an independent professional association's characterization, not her own campaign's](https://accbe.org/about/leadership) 5. [California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- filer search for "Beverly Gerard": no results at all. A broader search for "Gerard" surfaces only unrelated filers under that surname (county supervisor and school-board candidates elsewhere in California); no committee registered for this race](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Misc/filerSearch.aspx?SEARCH=Beverly%20Gerard) 6. [California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- filer search for "Dana Johnson": no results at all. A related search, "Johnson for Board of Education," surfaces an ACTIVE "JOHNSON FOR COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION 2024" filer (#1471633) -- checked directly and ruled out: its filer phone carries a 510 (Alameda County) area code, not San Mateo County's 650, and its cycle predates this candidacy by two years](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Misc/filerSearch.aspx?SEARCH=Johnson%20for%20Board%20of%20Education) ## The rest of the ballot San Mateo County Board of Education, Trustee Area 2 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "San Mateo County Board of Education, Trustee Area 2 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/san-mateo-boe-2 (sources last retrieved September 7, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.