{"id":385630,"date":"2026-07-04T01:19:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T01:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/385630\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T01:19:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T01:19:46","slug":"newsoms-education-overhaul-strips-power-from-californias-next-elected-schools-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/385630\/","title":{"rendered":"Newsom\u2019s Education Overhaul Strips Power From California\u2019s Next Elected Schools Chief"},"content":{"rendered":"

Control of California\u2019s Department of Education will soon shift to a governor-appointed commissioner, drastically changing the role of the state superintendent elected in November.<\/p>\n

Jul 1, 2026<\/p>\n

Updated 12:29 pm PT<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom walks with students from Clinton Elementary School to announce support for literacy with The Golden State Literacy Plan at Clinton Elementary School in Compton on June 5, 2025. The governor was joined by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and other education officials. Newsom said the overhaul eliminates a \u201c\u2018double-headed\u2019 system\u201d in which the Board of Education sets policy, but the superintendent is in charge of implementing it.\u00a0(Genaro Molina\/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Supporters say the change will increase efficiency and accountability throughout the state\u2019s school system, but opponents \u2014 including both candidates running for state superintendent of public instruction \u2014 argue that the governor bypassed voters to pass an unpopular reform that strips them of a voice in education.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people that have to deal with the Department of Education every day, that seek their guidance, that need their support \u2014 all of those groups strongly support this change,\u201d said Ted Lempert, who heads the research and policy organization Children Now, which backed the proposal. \u201cThey\u2019re the ones that are relying on the Department of Education on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom said the overhaul eliminates a \u201c\u2018double-headed\u2019 system\u201d in which the Board of Education sets policy, but the superintendent is in charge of implementing it. Lempert agreed that setup \u201ccan be really problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The interior of a classroom at Carquinez Garden School in Crockett on May 8, 2026. (T\u00e2m V\u0169\/KQED)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to modernize the governance system by unifying the policy-making State Board with the Department of Education that implements those policies,\u201d Newsom said in a statement about his proposal in February. \u201cThese critical reforms will bring greater accountability, clarity, and coherence to how we serve our students and schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

The California Teachers Association, which has a long record of launching its preferred candidates to the state superintendent\u2019s office, criticized the change as \u201cundemocratic<\/a>.\u201d President David Goldberg said removing the superintendent from a managerial role puts \u201cone more roadblock to making the system more accountable to educators and students and families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barrett Snider, an education lobbyist with Capitol Advisors, said California\u2019s existing system gives the superintendent more power when they disagree with the governor\u2019s office on legislative priorities.<\/p>\n

Though the superintendent doesn\u2019t set policy, they have decided where to direct the department\u2019s dollars, and how rules and programs are enforced in schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat dynamic is now going to be completely upended, so the administration is going to have control over all aspects of running the state school system,\u201d Snider told KQED.<\/p>\n

Under the new structure, the state superintendent will act primarily as an independent advocate for public schools. Executive and administrative functions of the Department of Education will be transferred to the new education commissioner, replacing the state superintendent as the ex officio director of education beginning Jan. 15.<\/p>\n

The superintendent will gain a vote on the state Board of Education, which will be expanded from 11 to 13 members, including two appointed by the Senate president pro tempore and the speaker of the Assembly. At the collegiate level, the superintendent will join California\u2019s community college board and continue to act in existing roles as a California State University trustee and University of California regent.<\/p>\n

The newly appointed education commissioner will be required to submit a report recommending further governance streamlining to the governor and Legislature by October 2027.<\/p>\n

\"\"Students read during class at Sylvia Mendez Elementary School in Berkeley on June 3, 2026. (Beth LaBerge\/KQED)<\/p>\n

California is one of only a dozen states with a fractured education governance system, and state policy analysts have long argued that the leadership structure should be overhauled.<\/p>\n

In December, a report by Policy Analysis of California Education<\/a> (PACE) found the state\u2019s system \u201cfragmented,\u201d with unclear roles and division of authority. The governor\u2019s new structure incorporates its proposals for redefining the superintendent\u2019s responsibilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question \u2018Who is responsible to whom, and for what?\u2019 remains unresolved in California\u2019s education governance system, resulting in blurred lines of responsibility and difficulty making systemic improvement,\u201d the report reads.<\/p>\n

Administrator organizations, including the Association of California School Administrators and California County Superintendents, also support the change.<\/p>\n

Both candidates running for the elected superintendent\u2019s seat have come out against the new governance structure. Republican Sonja Shaw, who serves as Chino Valley\u2019s school board president, said the change is an \u201cunprecedented, unconstitutional power grab\u201d by Newsom.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoters elect their State Superintendent to serve as an independent voice for California education, not as a figurehead,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cThis bill strips that office of its core duties and hands them to a political appointee. It removes critical checks and balances, and tells parents their votes no longer matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Sonja Shaw, Chino Valley Unified School District Board President, speaks at the California Policy Center and PERK (Protection of the Educational Rights of Kids) event, \u201cA Line in the Sand A Rally for Parental Rights,\u201d at Rancho Madera Community Park in Simi Valley, California, on Sept. 26, 2023. (Myung J. Chun\/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Democratic candidate and San Diego school board president Richard Barrera said that changing the role of state superintendent has been proposed to voters and rejected multiple times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis end-around attempt to take away responsibility from the person that the voters are electing to improve our public schools is a bad idea,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Snider said he doesn\u2019t think the changes will have a significant effect on the outcome of November\u2019s election, but the winner will be forced to step into a role far different from the one they set out to run for.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is going to be an interesting new dynamic \u2014 both how does the next administration implement this change, and then how does the next state superintendent exercise what is now more limited authority \u2026 through a bully pulpit, if nothing else,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re in totally new territory.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Control of California\u2019s Department of Education will soon shift to a governor-appointed commissioner, drastically changing the role of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-385630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}