Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to move the state Department of Education’s executive and administrative duties to a governor-appointed education commissioner has turned California’s race for state superintendent into a fight over who would actually run the schools system after Election Day. Voters will soon choose the next schools chief, but by the time that winner takes office, the job may no longer carry the authority it has long held.
The debate landed hard at a recent state superintendent candidate forum held online, where Anthony Rendon said he would not accept the changes and would fight against them. He argued that California has an independently elected superintendent of public instruction for a reason and that shifting those powers without approval from Californians would be undemocratic and a concentration of power.
That reaction matters because the state oversees 5.8 million K-12 students, and the race is wide open. A statewide April poll from the Public Policy Institute of California found that 32% of likely voters were still undecided, a sign that the June 2 primary could still break in several directions. The contest has also been shaped by school finances, layoffs and the continuing drag on reading and math scores, which remain below national averages, with more than half of California students reading below grade level.
Rendon was not alone in objecting. Al Muratsuchi said he opposes the proposed changes and tied the move to Newsom’s attempt to temporarily withhold $3.9 billion in state education funds, which the governor said was needed to create a cushion for uncertain revenue projections. Educators warned the funding deferral would worsen teacher shortages and threaten students’ education, and school districts have already issued at least 2,400 preliminary layoff notices since mid-March.
The criticism has been sharp, but the candidates have not offered a road map for stopping the restructuring if it advances. Newsom’s proposal would shift authority away from an independently elected superintendent to an appointed commissioner confirmed by the state Senate, and none of the 10 candidates on the ballot has spelled out how they would challenge that change even while attacking it.
Tony Thurmond said earlier this year that he was blindsided by the proposal and that it lacked structure while moving power away from the official elected by California voters to lead the state’s public schools. No candidate has dropped out since Newsom announced the overhaul, and with no visible front-runner, the result of the primary may decide not just who wins the office, but how much of the office still exists to be won.
