This year, Berkeley Unified School District faces a convergence of crises, including a multimillion-dollar budget deficit and staff layoffs. The next BUSD Board of Education, or School board, must do more than promise change: It must make difficult budgetary decisions, take steps to address inequities and ensure a safe, intellectually free environment for students and teachers alike.

The School board consists of five elected members and three seats are open for this year’s election.

Here is our endorsement:

Jennifer Shanoski

Jennifer Shanoski’s dedication to practical improvements to Berkeley schools, equitable resource allocation and collaborative decision-making makes her a standout incumbent candidate for the 2026 School board election.

Approaching a looming $7 million deficit, Shanoski will work to ensure that students aren’t affected. She hopes to do this by implementing a stronger element of community feedback within the decision-making process, seeking input from students, educators, administrators and families.

The current School board, she believes, focuses much more on elementary schools, denying Berkeley High School the attention it deserves. She hopes to fix that, and one such way she proposed is changing the bell schedules. Currently, with the traditional six-period schedule, 55-minute classes are far too short for effective learning; frequent passing periods create unnecessary chaos for the 3,200 students at the high school as they move from class to class, cutting into actual learning time. With a block schedule that includes extra class periods in the school day, those who want to take extra classes can now do so without extra burden.

To Shanoski, the ideal board member should be committed, open-minded, curious and collaborative — traits the Editorial Board believes she embodies. Shanoski is the only member of the current board with kids at BUSD schools, and she has a full-time job. Regardless, she frequently meets with students, educators, families and community members, believing that her role requires genuine interaction with the people she serves. When students pushed the board to pass a Green New Deal resolution, she worked with students to figure out what was feasible and what could actually be accomplished; she collaborated with staff to determine which items were not just passable, but implementable and actionable.

Shanoski has been a vital asset to BUSD and will continue to be one. Vote “Jennifer Shanoski” for the Berkeley School board.

Ka’Dijah Brown and Sandy Park are also candidates for the Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education Directors. The Daily Cal Editorial Board is unable to consider them for an endorsement since both candidates did not respond to our invitation to interview.

Editorials, including endorsements, represent solely the majority opinion of the student editorial board of The Daily Californian and not those of the University of California or any non-student party.