Newsom’s Education Overhaul Strips Power From California’s Next Elected Schools Chief

Supporters say the change will increase efficiency and accountability throughout the state’s school system, but opponents — including both candidates running for state superintendent of public instruction — argue that the governor bypassed voters to pass an unpopular reform that strips them of a voice in education.

“The people that have to deal with the Department of Education every day, that seek their guidance, that need their support — all of those groups strongly support this change,” said Ted Lempert, who heads the research and policy organization Children Now, which backed the proposal. “They’re the ones that are relying on the Department of Education on a daily basis.”

Newsom said the overhaul eliminates a “‘double-headed’ system” in which the Board of Education sets policy, but the superintendent is in charge of implementing it. Lempert agreed that setup “can be really problematic.”

“We are going to modernize the governance system by unifying the policy-making State Board with the Department of Education that implements those policies,” Newsom said in a statement about his proposal in February. “These critical reforms will bring greater accountability, clarity, and coherence to how we serve our students and schools.”

The California Teachers Association, which has a long record of launching its preferred candidates to the state superintendent’s office, criticized the change as “undemocratic.” President David Goldberg said removing the superintendent from a managerial role puts “one more roadblock to making the system more accountable to educators and students and families.”

Barrett Snider, an education lobbyist with Capitol Advisors, said California’s existing system gives the superintendent more power when they disagree with the governor’s office on legislative priorities.

Though the superintendent doesn’t set policy, they have decided where to direct the department’s dollars, and how rules and programs are enforced in schools.

“That 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,” Snider told KQED.

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.

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’s community college board and continue to act in existing roles as a California State University trustee and University of California regent.

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

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.

In December, a report by Policy Analysis of California Education (PACE) found the state’s system “fragmented,” with unclear roles and division of authority. The governor’s new structure incorporates its proposals for redefining the superintendent’s responsibilities.

“The question ‘Who is responsible to whom, and for what?’ remains unresolved in California’s education governance system, resulting in blurred lines of responsibility and difficulty making systemic improvement,” the report reads.

Administrator organizations, including the Association of California School Administrators and California County Superintendents, also support the change.

Both candidates running for the elected superintendent’s seat have come out against the new governance structure. Republican Sonja Shaw, who serves as Chino Valley’s school board president, said the change is an “unprecedented, unconstitutional power grab” by Newsom.

“Voters elect their State Superintendent to serve as an independent voice for California education, not as a figurehead,” she said in a statement. “This 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.”

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.

“This end-around attempt to take away responsibility from the person that the voters are electing to improve our public schools is a bad idea,” he said.

Snider said he doesn’t think the changes will have a significant effect on the outcome of November’s election, but the winner will be forced to step into a role far different from the one they set out to run for.

“It is going to be an interesting new dynamic — both how does the next administration implement this change, and then how does the next state superintendent exercise what is now more limited authority … through a bully pulpit, if nothing else,” he said. “We’re in totally new territory.”