Six candidates for state superintendent of public instruction debated school funding, protections for LGBTQ+ students and more this week in an online forum hosted by the nonprofit news outlet EdSource.
The event took place over two days, featuring candidates who had met its requirements of having been elected to public office in a role that involved shaping education policy, overseeing schools or both.
It came days after four people from the crowded 10-person field had gathered at San Diego City College for an in-person discussion.
Among them was Richard Barrera, the president of the San Diego Unified school board. In a discussion this week about concerns about protections for LGBTQ+ students in schools, he said that although California’s values are reflected in its state laws, protections for students vary around the state.
“We do have districts in this state that, frankly, are doing the opposite right now,” said Barrera, saying they were “backtracking on decades of victories.”
The remark appeared aimed at rival Sonja Shaw, who has pushed to undo protections for transgender students in the Inland Empire school district whose board she helms.
Barrera pledged to be an “absolute fighter” on the rights and values he said make the state welcoming to all students.
Josh Newman, a former state senator from Orange County, seconded his comments and said that state law is clear on prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Newman cited his own 2023 legislation that required gender-neutral bathrooms in schools.
“It wasn’t political, it’s just a matter of fairness,” he said. “No student should avoid using school facilities out of fear of being bullied, unintentionally outed, surveilled.”
Shaw, president of the Chino Valley school board in the Inland Empire, drew a distinction between herself and her opponents, citing her opposition to transgender girls playing girls’ sports and casting the presence of trans girls as a threat to cisgender girls’ safety.
“Every child should feel safe,” she said.
Shaw then directed her comments at Barrera, blaming San Diego Unified’s budget deficits on funding “ideologies in the classroom.” She said she would protect students no matter “how they identify” but said without elaborating that cisgender girls have been discriminated against.
Barrera later replied that just as Shaw loves her own children, the parents of transgender children love theirs, too.
“When Sonja makes this assertion that she wants politics out of the classroom, Sonja is all about politics,” he said. “You are all about grandstanding, posturing and trying to appeal to certain sectors in our society by bullying kids.”
Al Muratsuchi, a state Assembly member from Los Angeles County, said the state has taken the right approach and said he was proud of having blocked legislation that would have required teachers to out students.
He said conversations around a student’s gender identity should be a family matter.
He also pointed out that he co-authored a state law — spearheaded by San Diego Assemblymember Chris Ward — that bars school districts from requiring staff to notify parents of possible changes in a student’s gender identity.
Anthony Rendon, the former state Assembly speaker, said California has done the right thing in how it supports not just LGBTQ+ students but all others. He pointed to his own 6-year-old, who goes to school to learn, be accepted and be in a comfortable environment.
“I want that for her,” he said. “I want that for every child, regardless of their individual subjectivity.”
As concerns loom for school funding amid an uncertain state budget, the candidates also debated how education is funded now — and how it should be.
Local education agencies’ funding model is based on student attendance, and in addition, schools with higher-need students get more funding. School boards can also ask voters to pass bonds to raise their own taxes to fund specific projects, like construction.
The state’s Local Control Funding Formula sets a target of funding for each district, and the state makes up what is not met by local funds — except for the small minority of schools, known as “basic aid,” whose local funding exceeds that target.
But because funding is based on attendance, high rates of chronic absenteeism — especially since the pandemic — have had big financial impacts on school districts. That has prompted discussion of basing California’s funding model on enrollment instead.
On that question, Newman said funding in California is formulaic, which makes it hard to address “real issues.” He said it’s important not only to boost base funding but also to look at where that money is allocated.
“We need to renew Prop. 55, I believe,” he said. “I don’t think it’s likely that we’re going to reform Prop. 13 or even Prop. 98 anytime, but all the new dollars need to be aligned with measured priorities.”
Prop. 55 funds public schools through raising certain tax rates. Prop. 13 is a major 1978 constitutional amendment that capped property taxes, resulting in very limited revenues available to school districts over time. Prop. 98 establishes a minimum annual funding guarantee for education in California, but it fluctuates year by year, particularly in tough budgets.
Muratsuchi said California needs to get back to where its school funding was before Prop. 13, and back to being within the top 10 states in the nation for per-pupil funding.
Larger base grants, he said, provide districts with more flexibility. To pay for it, he said he felt confident that a Prop. 55 renewal would make it to the ballot.
“Raising the base grant — rising tide lifts all boats,” he said.
Rendon said that the distribution was important, and California needs to look at whether it should change from basing school funding on attendance to basing it on enrollment.
He also said he’s a big proponent of amending Prop. 13 with what’s known as a “split roll” — assessing residential and commercial properties differently for tax purposes. Such a change would remove Prop. 13 protections from commercial properties while keeping them for homes.
“I think a lot of school districts, a lot of municipalities, have been cash-strapped since the adoption of Proposition 13,” he said.
Barrera has previously said he too supports removing Prop. 13 protections for commercial property only. At the forum, he also blamed the effects of Prop. 13 for classroom overcrowding.
Nichelle Henderson, a Los Angeles Community College District trustee, said that base funding should rise but that California also had to contend with declining enrollment, which she blamed in part on immigration enforcement and families aging out of school with too few new families moving into a district.
“I agree that we should start moving away from an attendance-based model to more of an enrollment-based model, to provide some level of stability for our schools,” she said.
Asked about teacher funding, Shaw said teachers deserve good pay but that districts have problems with waste, fraud and abuse. She pointed out that her own district avoided a teacher’s strike, which she credits to mutual trust, but said districts need to support teachers.
“This chaos that’s been created by some of my opponents, with being legislators prior, is enabling chaos in the classroom,” she said. “Teachers do not want to sign up for this.”
Barrera said teachers need to be paid more and given full family health benefits, and he referenced San Diego Unified’s work to develop affordable housing for the district’s workforce.
He also called for apprenticeship models to help pay for college and certification for young people who want to become teachers.
“We should be having them come in and work in the classrooms while they’re going through their education, and then we should provide a job for them when they come out,” he said.
The top two candidates will advance to a general election in November.