Richard Barrera wins state superintendent race as Sonja Shaw concedes

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Set us as preferred Richard Barrera will be the next state superintendent of public instruction, with opponent Sonja Shaw conceding the race on Wednesday.Barrera, the school board president of San Diego Unified, was ahead by double digits in ongoing tallies and already had declared victory.

He was the heavy favorite as the Democrat in the race, even though the office is listed as nonpartisan.Barrera, 59, described his campaign message as “a positive vision for our public schools.We’ve got so many examples of great work happening in our public schools that deserve to be elevated.”He also campaigned on increasing school funding and “a message that our public schools need to be healthy, safe communities for all of our students.

I think that was a clear contrast to a message that our public schools are failing.”Barrera benefited from more than $9 million in independent campaign spending in support of his election by the California Teachers Assn., or CTA, which he said was instrumental in helping him get his message out.In a social media post conceding the race Wednesday night, Shaw said she ran “because I believe California’s children deserve better.”“The problem is that for decades, the same people have had their hands on our education system, while our children have continued to fall behind,” she said in the post.“I believed we had an opportunity to change that.

I still believe in the movement we created.They want us to give up, we are not going to!”The superintendent’s office 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...