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School District · Statewide General Election

Tulare County Board of Education, Trustee Area 1

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 sits on the 7-member Tulare County Board of Education: it sets policy for the County Superintendent of Schools' office, which runs the county's own special-education and alternative-education programs, hears expulsion and inter-district-transfer appeals from local school districts, and decides county-level budget and property matters. A 4-year term.

Tulare County's Board of Education has an open seat on the November 3, 2026 ballot for Trustee Area 1: Juan Arzola against Sandra R. Burnitzki. It's a direct November election with no June primary for this office -- whoever gets the most votes wins outright. Neither candidate is the sitting appointed incumbent, Felipe Martinez, who is not seeking election to the seat.

The winner serves a 4-year term on the county's 7-member Board of Education, representing Trustee Area 1 -- Dinuba Unified, Kings River Union, and Traver Joint school districts, plus a portion of Visalia Unified. The board sets policy for the County Superintendent of Schools' office, which runs the county's special-education and alternative-education programs, hears expulsion and inter-district-transfer appeals from local school districts, and decides county-level budget and property matters.

With the appointed incumbent not running, this is effectively a fresh start for the seat: neither candidate has held elected office before. The choice comes down to two different kinds of local experience -- one candidate's career in higher-education instruction, the other's background in county government and volunteer child advocacy.

Juan Arzola

Juan Arzola is a College of the Sequoias political science professor, per both the county's candidate filing and the college's own faculty directory. He is not a current officeholder. He filed to run in July 2026.

Strengths

A career teaching political science and civic institutions at the local community college, independently confirmed by the college's own faculty listing.

Trade-offs

No prior elected or appointed office, and no K-12 school district governance experience specifically, distinct from higher education.

Keep in mind

No campaign committee or candidate filer entry is registered under his name with the state, and no independent news coverage of his campaign or platform surfaced this pass.

Sandra R. Burnitzki

Sandra R. Burnitzki is a retired county staff analyst, per the county's candidate filing, and a CASA of Tulare County volunteer who cares for children with special needs in honor of her late son, per the Visalia Times-Delta's 2025 feature naming her a community changemaker. She filed to run in August 2026.

Strengths

A documented record of hands-on child-welfare volunteer work through CASA, plus a career inside Tulare County government as a staff analyst before retiring.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office, and her CASA volunteer work, while independently confirmed, is not school-district governance experience specifically.

Keep in mind

No campaign committee or candidate filer entry is registered under her name with the state, and the one independent news coverage found profiles her volunteer work, not this campaign specifically.

Source review: Very strong (91/100) · 6 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • tc-web.widen.net (opens in a new tab)Tulare County Elections -- official "Contest/Candidate Proof List" (report CFMR001) for the November 3, 2026 General Election: within its county-office section, only two contests appear -- Supervisor District 4 (Ian Bakke, Eddie Valero incumbent, flagged as going into extension/runoff) and Board of Education Trustee Area 1 (Juan Arzola, Sandra R. Burnitzki; Felipe Martinez listed only as the appointed incumbent, not a candidate) -- no Sheriff, District Attorney, Assessor, Auditor, Treasurer, Clerk-Recorder, Superior Court, or Public Defender contest appears anywhere in the 63-page document
  • tcoe.org (opens in a new tab)Tulare County Office of Education -- its own Board of Education page: a 7-member board by trustee area; names Felipe Martinez (Trustee Area 1) with his biography -- a retired California Highway Patrol sergeant and former Selma Police Department reserve officer -- and states his term expires December 2026 with no indication he refiled; describes Trustee Area 1's boundary as Dinuba Unified, Kings River Union, Traver Joint, and a portion of Visalia Unified school districts, all within Tulare County
  • catalog.cos.edu (opens in a new tab)College of the Sequoias Academic Catalog -- Political Science department faculty contact page: lists Juan Arzola among the department's political science faculty, independently corroborating his "College Professor" designation on the county's candidate-filing document
  • visaliatimesdelta.com (opens in a new tab)Visalia Times-Delta -- "'Hands on Heroes' honors changemakers in Tulare County" (April 8, 2025): First 5 Tulare County's community-changemaker honorees include Sandra Burnitzki, named and quoted as a CASA of Tulare County volunteer who cares for children with special needs "in honor of her late son" -- independent corroboration of her identity and community background, consistent with the "Retired Staff Analyst" designation on the county's candidate-filing document
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- filer search for "Arzola": no results; no campaign committee or candidate filer entry registered under his name
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- filer search for "Burnitzki": no results; no campaign committee or candidate filer entry registered under her name

Last updated August 31, 2026.