Barrera leads Shaw in early returns for state superintendent's race
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Set us as preferred Richard Barrera was leading Sonja Shaw in early returns Tuesday night in the race for state superintendent of public instruction.Barrera, the school board president of San Diego Unified, was the heavy favorite as the Democrat in the race, even though the office is listed as nonpartisan.The education office they vied for has an uncertain future.
In June, the Legislature signed off on Gov.Gavin Newsom’s plan to reshape the position, transferring oversight of schools and management of the state education department to an appointee of the governor.
By nearly all accounts, the state superintendent’s power has been dramatically reduced.Many of the new duties of the elected office have yet to be worked out.
A centerpiece of Shaw’s campaign was her opposition to allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ and women’s sports — a position that has strong support in recent polling.Barrera supports California law on this matter, which allows transgender participation.
Barrera has noted that the number of transgender athletes is exceedingly small.Shaw broadly characterized the public education system as failing because of liberal Democratic policies, although she praised the quality of the public schools where she lives.
Chino is in San Bernardino County.Barrera defended the overall quality of public schools and advocated for expanding what works from successful campuses to those with poorer academic results.Overall, both Barrera and Shaw fit squarely within their ideological camps.In Barrera’s case, that means he is a mainstream liberal Democrat whose positions align closely with education-related unions, especially teacher unions, which endorsed him.On the current ballot, Barrera, 59, supported tax measures that benefit education.
He consistently has opposed Trump administration policies.He ...