Shaw and Barrera advance to run-off for state schools superintendent
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The November runoff for state schools superintendent will pit two school board presidents — one a union-friendly liberal and the other a Trump-aligned conservative — against each other.Republican, Sonja Shaw finished in first place in this week’s primary with 24.5% of votes counted through June 4.Democrat Richard Barrera had19.3%.Shaw’s margin seems comfortable even with more ballots to be counted, with Barrera firmly in the runoff.
The third-leading vote-getter, Wendy Castaneda Leal, was about 10 percentage points behind him.The race creates a clear contrast between candidates and their vision for California’s schools.While Shaw, 43, has not typically spoken to Trump’s immigration policies in relation to schooling, she is in accord with the Trump administration education agenda, including banning trans-athletes from women’s and girls’ sports and notifying parents when a child expresses gender-identity issues at school.
Under Shaw’s leadership, the school board in Chino Valley Unified, located in San Bernardino County, also approved a policy that permits parents to challenge books in school libraries.Barrera, 59, is the board president of San Diego Unified, the second-largest school system in the state.
He is a former union official who has developed strong bonds with the teachers union during his long board tenure.That history helped him win the endorsement of the California Teachers Assn., which poured about $5 million into an independent campaign on his behalf.Barrera acknowledges that this support made the difference in his leap ahead of other strong Democratic candidates.Shaw has framed her campaign as a populist effort against a failed and self-interested status quo establishment.“I didn’t get into this race because I was a politician,” Shaw said in a statement.
“I got into it because I was a mom who saw too many families being ignored, too many ...