{"id":18611,"date":"2026-04-27T16:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T16:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/18611\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T16:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T16:05:09","slug":"achievement-gaps-artificial-intelligence-and-more-state-superintendent-hopefuls-detail-their-plans-at-candidate-forums-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/18611\/","title":{"rendered":"Achievement Gaps, Artificial Intelligence And More: State Superintendent Hopefuls Detail Their Plans At Candidate Forums"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was originally published by EdSource<\/a>.\u00a0Sign up\u00a0for their daily newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The top candidates vying to be California\u2019s next superintendent of public instruction took the stage for two virtual forums last week, detailing how they would handle achievement gaps, artificial intelligence concerns, LGBTQ+ protections and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

EdSource Election 2026 Coverage<\/p>\n

The June 2 California Primary Election promises to be a big one for Californians and public education, and EdSource will be your guide to where candidates stand on key education issues. Check out our\u00a0election coverage here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Candidate profiles in the race for state superintendent of public instruction:<\/p>\n

Gus Mattammal<\/a><\/p>\n

Al Muratsuchi<\/a><\/p>\n

Richard Barrera<\/a><\/p>\n

Sonja Shaw<\/a><\/p>\n

Josh Newman<\/a><\/p>\n

Nichelle Henderson<\/a><\/p>\n

Anthony Rendon<\/a><\/p>\n

Six candidates participated in the forums hosted by EdSource, about six weeks before voters will go to the polls for the June 2 primary election.<\/p>\n

Whoever wins the position will help shape the future of nearly 6 million students in California.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s forum featured San Diego Unified School District Board Member Richard Barrera, former State Sen. Josh Newman and Chino Valley Unified Board President Sonja Shaw.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s forum included State Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, former Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Nichelle Henderson, a trustee for the Los Angeles Community College District.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The forums took place in a wide-open race with no clear front-runner.<\/p>\n

None of the candidates reached even 10% of support from likely voters\u00a0in a survey released last week by the Public Policy Institute of California.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

The achievement gap<\/p>\n

One of the biggest challenges facing the next superintendent will be persistent achievement gaps across racial and ethnic groups, as well as between low-income and affluent students in California schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Newman suggested three approaches: reforming curriculum to \u201cmake sure that standards are set and maintained in every district,\u201d ensuring that teachers are paid enough to live in the communities where they teach and addressing chronic absenteeism by \u201cbringing kids back into school and making them engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muratsuchi touted his role in passing the Local Control Funding Formula, California\u2019s education funding formula designed to give more resources to districts with the highest percentages of low-income students.<\/p>\n

He said the funding formula has helped, but acknowledged more needs to be done, especially before students reach kindergarten.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to make sure that we provide more quality child care, quality preschool experiences for all kids, regardless of income, in order to close the achievement gap,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Barrera pointed to San Diego Unified as a model for improving outcomes at the high school level. He said that when he joined the district\u2019s board, only 45% of all students overall, and 25% of Black and Latino students, were graduating having completed the A-G requirements, the college preparatory courses needed for admission to a California State University or University of California campus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe raised the standards for our graduation rates,\u201d he said. \u201cWe said we want A-G to be the sequence that all students take and all students have access to. And we got those numbers up to 70% for the entire student body, and also 70% for Latino and Black students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artificial intelligence<\/p>\n

Several candidates agreed that artificial intelligence in the classroom presents risks and challenges and called for stricter guardrails.<\/p>\n

Shaw said she is concerned that artificial intelligence is eroding students\u2019 critical thinking skills and called for more research, including creating a \u201cgroup to study\u201d AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Henderson said students should be taught \u201chow to utilize AI to enhance their learning\u201d and prepare for future careers, predicting that many jobs they will hold have yet to be created \u201cbecause of the innovations and the rapid change of AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rendon pointed to New York as a model, where he said teachers are \u201cfront and center\u201d in the discussions around how to use artificial intelligence in the classroom. He said California should do the same. \u201cIncorporate teachers into that conversation to make sure it\u2019s not just administrators who are telling schools and telling teachers how they need to be incorporating AI,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Protecting LGBTQ+ students<\/p>\n

The forums were not designed as debates, but some of the candidates did clash over California\u2019s efforts to make LGBTQ+ students feel more welcomed in schools. Those efforts include the SAFETY Act, a 2024 law prohibiting districts from requiring staff to disclose a student\u2019s sexual orientation or gender identity.<\/p>\n

Barrera said California\u2019s laws protect LGBTQ+ students, but added that there are \u201cuneven protections\u201d depending on the district. He said his district, San Diego Unified, partnered with Equality California, an LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, and has been recognized as a model district on issues including sexual health education curriculum and anti-bullying efforts.<\/p>\n

Moments later, Shaw accused Barrera and San Diego Unified of financial mismanagement for \u201cputting money towards ideologies in the classroom.\u201d She also claimed groups such as Equality California are discriminatory, and that \u201cour daughters don\u2019t feel safe in their locker rooms and in their sports.\u201d Shaw has worked to keep transgender athletes out of girls sports.<\/p>\n

Barrera responded by citing estimates that there are 65,000 to 80,000 transgender students in California schools and noted that the mother of AB Hernandez,\u00a0an openly transgender track athlete from Jurupa Valley<\/a>, sent Shaw\u2019s district a cease and desist notice, which accused Shaw of cyberbullying.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not the kind of leadership that we need in California,\u201d Barrera said.<\/p>\n

Shaw\u2019s stances were also brought up during Wednesday\u2019s forum, when Rendon said that if he isn\u2019t elected, he wants to make sure that a candidate other than Shaw wins the election. He said Shaw is \u201cvery much against the principles that we as Californians have stood for repeatedly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opposition to restructuring CDE<\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed that the operation of the California Department of Education be shifted away from the superintendent of public instruction and instead to the governor and the State Board of Education.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, the candidates all said they oppose that idea.<\/p>\n

Shaw noted that voters elect the superintendent to run the Department of Education, calling it a \u201cconstitutional seat.\u201d Barrera agreed, noting that California voters in the past have rejected initiatives to eliminate the superintendent as an elected position. He called Newsom\u2019s proposal an \u201cend-around\u201d to bypass voters.<\/p>\n

Newman suggested the proposal, if implemented, would decrease accountability. That view was echoed the following night, when Muratsuchi said the state superintendent serves as part of a \u201cchecks and balance system\u201d to the governor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rendon voiced perhaps the strongest opposition to the proposed changes, which he called \u201cawful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they would be bad for Californians. I think they would be bad for California schools. And ultimately, they would be bad for democracy at a time when we see the demise of democracy, threats to democracy all over the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Henderson, who arrived late to Wednesday\u2019s forum, was not present when Newsom\u2019s proposal was brought up, but she has previously said she is against the idea.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Riverside Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet providing Riverside County with high-quality journalism free of charge. We\u2019re able to do this because of the generous donations of supporters like you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was originally published by EdSource.\u00a0Sign up\u00a0for their daily newsletter here. The top candidates vying to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,4446],"class_list":{"0":"post-18611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ai","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-election"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}