Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed stripping the California Department of Education of its executive and administrative duties and handing them to a new education commissioner appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. The change could land before the winner of the superintendent race takes office, leaving California’s next schools chief with less power than the job has carried for generations.
That is why the proposal has become a live issue with the June 2 primary approaching. California voters will soon choose the state’s next schools chief, and 10 candidates are still in the race, even as a statewide April poll from the Public Policy Institute of California found 32% of likely voters were undecided. The race is also unfolding as schools across the state are in financial crisis, with at least 2,400 preliminary layoff notices issued since mid-March, budget deficits mounting and reading and math scores for California’s 5.8 million K-12 students still lagging national averages.
The backlash has been immediate. At a recent online candidate forum, Anthony Rendon said he would not accept the changes and would fight them. He called the idea of moving power away from an independently elected superintendent “undemocratic” and said it amounts to a concentration of power. Al Muratsuchi also said he opposes the proposal, pointing to Newsom’s attempt to temporarily withhold $3.9 billion in education funds and arguing that more authority should not be consolidated under a governor with competing priorities.
Thurmond, who said earlier this year that he was blindsided by the proposal, has taken a more measured line. He said some parts of Newsom’s plan could be beneficial, but warned that it lacks structure and shifts authority away from the official elected by Californians to lead public schools. That split captures the problem for the candidates: they are condemning the restructuring, but none has yet laid out a clear plan for how to challenge it if Newsom pushes ahead.
For now, the next test comes at the ballot box. The June 2 primary will decide who is in position to take over a department that may soon be run under a new chain of command, and the bigger question is whether voters are choosing a schools chief for the job California has now or the one Newsom wants to build next.
