State of California · Statewide General Election
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.
On the ballot
- Sonja Shaw — Non-Partisan
- Richard Barrera — Non-Partisan
This person is the nonpartisan head of the California Department of Education.
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. She led its parental-notification policy, was sued by the Attorney General over it, and led the statewide primary field anyway. She runs 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 she'd face the same state laws she's 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 her would put the state schools chief in open conflict with much of Sacramento — which is precisely her pitch.
Richard Barrera
President of the San Diego Unified school board and a career labor organizer. He runs on school funding and defending state policies protecting LGBTQ+ students. Unusually, both the teachers union and the charter schools association back him.
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; his platform is more funding than reform.
Keep in mind
CTA's independent committee put $5 million behind him in the primary's final weeks — worth knowing when the office he seeks intersects with that union's interests statewide (per EdSource).
Financial info
- Small donors
- Individuals
- PACs & committees
- Businesses & other orgs
- Self-funding
Sonja Shaw
$460,565 raised
- Small donors$32,3687%
- Individuals$352,15580%
- PACs & committees$15,3003%
- Businesses & other orgs$39,9799%
Richard Barrera
$333,428 raised
- Small donors$3,9741%
- Individuals$210,07465%
- PACs & committees$81,30025%
- Businesses & other orgs$6,5002%
- Self-funding$20,0006%
1Figures 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 2026-08-03.
June 2 primary — how they advanced
Source review: Very strong (96/100) · 4 cited sources
Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.
- sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)
- edsource.org (opens in a new tab)EdSource — 2026 Superintendent of Public Instruction race coverage
- calmatters.org (opens in a new tab)CalMatters — 2026 primary voter guide and statewide race coverage
- sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)Cal-Access raw data export — California Secretary of State
Last updated August 3, 2026.