# Superintendent of Public Instruction Compare records and positions simply between Sonja Shaw or Richard Barrera for Superintendent of Public Instruction at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person leads the California Department of Education. The office is nonpartisan. - Jurisdiction: State of California - 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/superintendent - 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: August 30, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 96 out of 100 (Very strong), across 4 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Sonja Shaw** — School District President · Non-Partisan - **Richard Barrera** — State Superintendent Advisor · Non-Partisan California's top schools official is nonpartisan on paper — and this year's runoff is anything but quiet. Chino Valley school board president Sonja Shaw and San Diego school board president Richard Barrera advance to November 3, representing near-opposite visions for public schools. The Superintendent serves four years running the Department of Education and is the state's loudest voice on schools — but doesn't set most policy; the Legislature and State Board of Education do. So weigh values and coalition: Shaw would be a sharp break on parental-rights and gender-policy fights; Barrera is the teachers-union-aligned continuity candidate. No one has won this office in 44 years without the California Teachers Association, which is spending heavily against Shaw. ## Sonja Shaw President of the Chino Valley Unified school board. Shaw led its parental-notification policy, was sued by the Attorney General over it, and led the statewide primary field anyway. They run on accountability, academics, and parents' rights. **Strengths:** A clear mandate-style platform that plainly resonated — 24.9% in a ten-way field. **Trade-offs:** As Superintendent they'd face the same state laws they've fought, and the office's real power is administrative, not legislative. **Keep in mind:** Courts have split on pieces of the parental-notification fight; electing Shaw would put the state schools chief in open conflict with much of Sacramento — which is precisely Shaw's pitch. ## Richard Barrera President of the San Diego Unified school board and a career labor organizer. Barrera runs on school funding and defending state policies protecting LGBTQ+ students. Unusually, both the teachers union and the charter schools association back Barrera. **Strengths:** Years of big-district governance and a coalition that spans education's usual battle lines. **Trade-offs:** A continuity candidate in a system many voters want shaken up; Barrera's platform is more funding than reform. **Keep in mind:** CTA's independent committee put $5 million behind Barrera in the primary's final weeks — worth knowing when the office Barrera seeks intersects with that union's interests statewide (per EdSource). ## Financial info - **Sonja Shaw** - Primary: $460,565 raised (Small donors: $32,368; Individuals: $352,155; PACs & committees: $15,300; Businesses & other orgs: $39,979) - November: $58,285 raised (Individuals: $58,285) - **Richard Barrera** - Primary: $333,428 raised (Small donors: $3,974; Individuals: $210,074; PACs & committees: $81,300; Businesses & other orgs: $6,500; Self-funding: $20,000) - November: $58,725 raised (Individuals: $38,625; PACs & committees: $19,600; Businesses & other orgs: $500) Figures are CA Form 460 filings through June 30, 2026 by committees controlled by each candidate, and can include transfers from a candidate's earlier committees. Semi-annual reports covering January–June 2026 were due July 31, 2026, so some totals lag a period behind. Per the California Secretary of State's Cal-Access raw data export, retrieved 2026-09-21. Total is itemized (Schedule A) contributions and self-funding loans dated after the June 2, 2026 primary, through June 30, 2026 — small-dollar unitemized (under $100) contributions aren't independently dated in Cal-Access's raw export, so they aren't reflected here and this may undercount true small-donor activity since the primary. This also doesn't include money reported only on 24-hour late-contribution reports (Form 497) that haven't yet appeared in a periodic Form 460 filing. Per the California Secretary of State's Cal-Access raw data export, retrieved 2026-08-30. ## Sources 1. [CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)](https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/primary-election-june-2-2026/statement-vote) 2. [EdSource — 2026 Superintendent of Public Instruction race coverage](https://edsource.org) 3. [CalMatters — 2026 primary voter guide and statewide race coverage](https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/) 4. [Cal-Access raw data export — California Secretary of State](https://www.sos.ca.gov/campaign-lobbying/helpful-resources/raw-data-campaign-finance-and-lobbying-activity) ## The rest of the ballot Superintendent of Public Instruction 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, "Superintendent of Public Instruction — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/superintendent (sources last retrieved August 30, 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.