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School District · Statewide General Election

Sonoma County Board of Education, Trustee Area 2 (Southwest County)

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person holds the Trustee Area 2 (Southwest County) seat on the 5-member Sonoma County Board of Education: it sets policy for the County Superintendent of Schools' office, which runs the county's special-education and alternative-education programs and hears expulsion and inter-district-transfer appeals from the county's local school districts. A 4-year term.

Sonoma County's Board of Education has an open-seat race for its Trustee Area 2 (Southwest County) seat: Board President Peter Kostas didn't file for another term, and two first-time county-board candidates, educator Jonathan Lenz and Petaluma City Schools board president Caitlin Quinn, qualified for the ballot.

The winner serves a 4-year term on the 5-member County Board of Education, which sets policy for the County Superintendent of Schools' office -- the agency that runs the county's special-education and alternative-education programs and hears expulsion and inter-district-transfer appeals from Sonoma County's local school districts.

Both candidates already work in K-12 education, just from different chairs: Lenz brings a career in special-education administration and a past turn on a local elementary district board; Quinn brings four years chairing a different, city-level school board and a nonprofit-sector day job. Neither has run for this particular seat before, so the choice is less about a contested record than about which kind of education experience -- administrative or governing -- voters want on the county board.

Jonathan Lenz

Jonathan Lenz is a Petaluma-based special-education administrator running for the open Trustee Area 2 seat. He was elected to the Old Adobe Union School District board in 2016 and has worked as an assistant superintendent for special education at a neighboring county's office of education. He qualified for the ballot on July 20, 2026, the first of the two candidates to do so.

Strengths

A career in special-education administration plus a prior elected term on a local Sonoma County school board, giving him both classroom-adjacent and governance experience.

Trade-offs

His prior elected term was single-district, not county-level, and no independent coverage of his 2026 platform for this specific race surfaced in this pass.

Keep in mind

No campaign committee for Lenz was found registered with the state -- county Board of Education races often don't reach the fundraising threshold that requires one. See Financial info below.

Caitlin Quinn

Caitlin Quinn is the president of the Petaluma City Schools Board of Education, running for the open, separate Sonoma County Trustee Area 2 seat rather than seeking another term on the city district board she currently leads. She works professionally as a nonprofit union president. She's served on a Petaluma-area school board continuously since first winning election in 2018, when local reporting described her profession as a nonprofit communications director.

Strengths

Nearly eight years of continuous school-board service, including her current turn as PCS board president, plus a nonprofit-sector day job that touches labor and union work.

Trade-offs

Her governing experience is city-district level; the county board's docket spans every district in Sonoma County, broader than any one district's.

Keep in mind

She's not seeking reelection to her current PCS seat, so a win here would end, not add to, her time on that board. No campaign committee for this 2026 county race was found registered with the state -- see Financial info below.

Source review: Strong (89/100) · 10 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • sonomacounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Sonoma County Registrar of Voters -- "Local Candidates Who Have Filed," November 3, 2026 General Election: the county's own provisional roster, showing exactly two county-section contests (Board of Education Trustee Areas 2 and 4), each candidate's ballot designation, qualification date, and incumbent flag. States a final list won't post until "the end of August or the beginning of September"; last updated 8/17/26 and unchanged on a live re-check 2026-08-31, after both the regular (Aug. 7) and extended (Aug. 12) nomination deadlines had passed
  • scoe.org (opens in a new tab)Sonoma County Office of Education -- "County Board of Education" page: names all five sitting trustees by area (Cuclis Area 1, Kostas Area 2, Watts Area 3, Herrington Area 4, Hernandez Area 5), confirming Peter Kostas -- not a 2026 candidate -- as the outgoing Area 2 incumbent and Steve Herrington (elected 2022, term expires 2026) as the sitting Area 4 incumbent, independent of the candidate roster
  • petalumavoice.org (opens in a new tab)Petaluma Voice -- local elections filing roundup (Aug. 5, 2026; updated Aug. 6, 2026, 3:11 p.m.): lists "Sonoma County Board of Education, Trustee Area #2, one seat: Caitlin Quinn; Jonathan Lenz" -- an independent local outlet's roster, corroborating the county's own two-candidate field
  • petalumacityschools.org (opens in a new tab)Petaluma City Schools -- "Board of Education" page: lists Caitlin Quinn as the sitting Trustee Area 2 board member (term Dec. 2022-Dec. 2026) on that separate district-level board -- confirms her current elected role independent of the county candidate roster
  • petalumanews.com (opens in a new tab)The Press Democrat / Petaluma Argus-Courier -- "Here are the candidates running for Petaluma's school board seats" (Aug. 18-19, 2026): reports that PCS board members Caitlin Quinn, Mady Cloud, and Joanna Paun are not seeking reelection to their district-level board seats -- independent corroboration that Quinn's 2026 candidacy is for the separate county board, not a repeat run for her current seat
  • pressdemocrat.com (opens in a new tab)The Press Democrat -- "Petaluma school board draws a crowded race" (Oct. 25, 2018): identifies Caitlin Quinn's profession at the time as "nonprofit communications director" during an earlier, separate Petaluma City Schools board run -- independent, dated corroboration of a career consistent with her 2026 "Nonprofit Union President" county-ballot designation
  • marinij.com (opens in a new tab)Marin Independent Journal -- "Marin mother who lost son to suicide pleads for early ..." (Aug. 4, 2018): identifies Jonathan Lenz as Marin County's assistant superintendent for special education, quoting him on the county office's protocol work -- independent corroboration of a career consistent with his 2026 "Educator" ballot designation
  • petalumanews.com (opens in a new tab)Petaluma Argus-Courier -- "Petaluma school board races set" (Aug. 25, 2016): reports Jonathan Lenz as one of three newcomers elected that year to Sonoma County's own Old Adobe Union School District board -- Old Adobe sits within Trustee Area 2's Southwest-county footprint; independent, dated local reporting of a prior local-board win, not a fabricated credential
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- filer search for "Lenz": no filer of any kind under Jonathan Lenz's name -- no committee registered for this race
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- filer search for "Caitlin Quinn": the only filer found is a terminated "QUINN FOR PETALUMA JOINT UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD TRUSTEE 2018" committee, for a different, earlier PCS-family race -- no committee registered for this 2026 county race

Last updated August 31, 2026.