One thing for sure is the next California superintendent of public instruction can’t do worse than incumbent Tony Thurmand, term-limited and running for the governor’s chair. During Gov. Gavin Newsom’s excessive COVID school lockdowns, Thurmond was a truant who failed to defend the kids.
And on the California Smarter Balanced tests, 47.04% of statewide students met or exceeded standards on English Language Arts in 2024, a decline from the 50.87% in 2019, both politicians’ first term in office. In math, there was a sharper decline, from 39.73% in 2019 to 35.54% in 2024. All that despite, according to Newsom’s January budget proposal, state spending on K-12 running $24,764 per pupil. Or a hefty $742,920 for a class of 30.
What should the next superintendent do? I talked to Lance Christensen. A Republican, he lost to Democrat Thurmond in 2022. Lance is a friend and was the chief of staff to state Sen. John Moorlach when I was press secretary. “Being a bully pulpit for parents and students is the main thing,” Lance said.
Second would be to ask every member of the state education bureaucracy to send the superintendent an email listing five things accomplished the previous week. That’s what Elon Musk did back in February with all federal workers when he launched the Department of Government Efficiency.
The secretary of state’s website lists 15 candidates filing Statements of Intention, but Christensen has pulled out. The two winners in the June primary will advance to the November general election. Here are the top ones, beginning with Democrats.
Assemblymember Anthony Rendon, probably the frontrunner. He has the connections, especially to the teachers unions, from his stint as Assembly speaker. He starts with $889,916 in campaign cash left from an aborted race for treasurer. And he bears the same name as a popular Angels baseball player.
In his announcement, the political Rendon touted his “experience, proven leadership and unshakeable belief in the life-changing power of education,” and vowed to fight President Trump’s education cuts. He also wants to address student phone use in the classroom and is concerned “AI tools are allowing students to bypass developing the critical thinking skills they need for life.”
Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi. He also is attacking Trump’s policies. And he’s been a leader in opposing charter schools. This year he sponsored Assembly Bill 84, which would impose unneeded new audits to harass charters. It passed the Senate in June and the Assembly Education Committee on July 16.
Josh Newman. He twice was ousted from the state Senate. In 2017, he was recalled after backing the $5 billion yearly gas tax that still gouges at the pump. Last year he was defeated for re-election by Republican Steven Choi. Newman, Politico reported, had sparked the ire of AFSCME 3299, representing 30,000 UC employees, after he “didn’t support a bill that would have amended the state constitution to protect UC worker rights.”
That’s not going to bode well this time. He currently holds $36,058 in his campaign fund. His pitch sounds Republican, “We’ve increased funding substantially in California for 20 years, yet we haven’t seen a corresponding increase in test scores or a narrowing of the achievement gap.”
For Republicans, the top contender is Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley school board. Two years ago she led the board in adopting a plan, as CalMatters described at the time, which “called for school staff to notify parents if a child identifies as a gender they weren’t assigned at birth.” Assembly Bill 1955, signed by Newsom in 2024, prohibited disclosing “any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent unless otherwise required by law.”
Shaw promised, “I’m running for California State Superintendent to put parents back in charge of our children’s education, not the Sacramento politicians who created this mess.” Her campaign so far has raised $110,145.
Unfortunately for her, a July 29 report from PPIC is headlined, “California’s Republican Exodus.” It’s hard to win statewide when your voters moved to Tennessee.
Other declared candidates, so far with no campaign cash, according to the Secretary of State’s website, include three former state senators, Anthony Portantino and Connie Leyva, both Democrats, and Republican Jean Fuller. Wikipedia lists Democratic Assemblymember Mia Bonta, Rob’s wife, as “potential.” But the secretary of state only marks her running for re-election to the Assembly, with $815,813 cash on hand.
Finally, I’ve long argued this office ought to be put in the governor’s cabinet, as in 41 other states. Give voters a single office on which to focus.
John Seiler is on the SCNG Editorial Board
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