California Educators Accuse Gavin Newsom of Power Grab over State Schools Office - Slay News
California educators are warning that Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom is using a budget bill to strip power from the state’s independently elected superintendent of public instruction and hand it to a political appointee.
The change was included in Assembly Bill 181, a budget trailer bill for the 2026–27 fiscal year.
The measure shifts day-to-day managerial authority from the state superintendent to a newly created education commissioner.
Unlike the superintendent, who is elected statewide by California voters, the education commissioner will be appointed by and report directly to the governor.
- Advertisement -The overhaul was finalized as part of budget negotiations between Newsom and legislative leaders.
“As a teacher and voter, I am completely against this undemocratic power play,” Steve Campos, a longtime California teacher, said in a statement.
Newsom defended the change Thursday during remarks tied to the signing of the public education budget.
“As it relates to governance reform, change has its enemies,” Newsom said.
- Advertisement -“I’m for change. I’m not arguing for the status quo.
“I couldn’t be more proud that the legislature and the people of the state demanded a new approach, and I was proud to attach my signature to a new approach.”
Newsom Defends Education Overhaul
Newsom has argued that California’s education bureaucracy needs long-delayed reform.
- Advertisement -Earlier this year, he said the state could not continue putting off changes that had been recommended for decades.
“California can no longer postpone reforms that have been recommended regularly for a century,” Newsom said.
“So we are going to modernize the governance system by unifying the policy-making State Board with the Department of Education that implements those policies.
“And we’re empowering the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to help align our education policies from early childhood through college.
“These critical reforms will bring greater accountability, clarity, and coherence to how we serve our students and schools.”
Critics say the governor’s language masks a major transfer of power away from voters.
Campos, who currently serves on the Perris Union High School District board of trustees and teaches physical education, said the timing of the bill is deeply troubling.
- Advertisement -“As a school board member, I am extremely disappointed in the fact that he is trying to take away the will of millions of voters who are parental rights supporters,” Campos said.
He tied the move to AB 1955, a California law that limited local parental notification policies involving students’ gender identity.
“Californians deserve the opportunity to elect someone who supports their values statewide, since the passage of AB 1955 took away some of their local control,” Campos said.
“The governor was also in support of taking away their local voice through AB 1955.
- Advertisement -“My hope is that the governor’s plan will be legally challenged and overturned.”
Parental Rights Candidate Calls It a ‘Power Grab’
Sonja Shaw, the school board president for the Chino Valley Unified School District, also accused Newsom of trying to bypass voters.
Shaw is running to become California’s next superintendent of public instruction.
She advanced from the state’s top-two primary election in June and will face Richard Barrera in the November general election.
Shaw has gained national attention for backing local parental notification policies requiring schools to notify parents when a student identifies as transgender.
Shaw accused Newsom of orchestrating “the most brazen power grab in California history, bypassing the voters and using a backdoor budget bill to strip authority from the independently elected State Superintendent and hand it to a political appointee.”
She vowed to challenge AB 181 in court, arguing that it violates the state constitution.
“Californians have rejected this idea at the ballot box four separate times because they believe the person overseeing our schools should be accountable to voters, not to political special interests,” Shaw said.
“The timing isn’t accidental.
“They know that when I’m elected, I will expose years of failure and mismanagement — so they’re trying to change the rules before the election.”
Campos said he believes the move is aimed directly at weakening Shaw if she wins.
“This has been tried before and is a desperate move by the governor to not allow the people of California to elect Sonja Shaw as the next superintendent of Public Instruction,” Campos said.
- Advertisement -“The governor fears that she will bring out millions to the polls in the midterm election this November and lose the stronghold on this elected position, as well as the governorship.
“This desperate move is also being opposed by the California Teachers Association and current SPI, Tony Thurmond.”
Teachers Warn Voters Were Bypassed
Laura Markin, a Southern California high school English teacher with 20 years of classroom experience, said the policy alignment is “wrong.”
Markin said Newsom appears to be reacting to conservative momentum in the superintendent race.
“There’s a lot of unpopular positions that Tony [Thurmond] was supporting over the years, which led to the rise of Sonja [Shaw], and now Gavin Newsom is reacting to that. And I think it’s appalling,” Markin said.
She also criticized the lack of public transparency surrounding AB 181.
“This was done by Gavin Newsom without the input from his constituents,” Markin said.
She argued that the bill bypassed the standard public comment process and would leave voters electing someone to a weakened office.
“He did this to strip it of power,” Markin said.
“The position still exists from what I understand, and is mostly going to be a committee position — which is a waste of taxpayer dollars to have somebody elected to a position that is just going to be sitting on committees.”
Lance Christensen, a former candidate for state superintendent who now serves as vice president of Government Affairs and Education Policy at the California Policy Center, said the governor and lawmakers should put the question before voters if they want to weaken the office.
“Let’s be honest about what’s really driving this: they’re afraid of losing the superintendent’s office to a sincere parents’ rights advocate in Sonja Shaw,” Christensen said.
“If legislators actually want to neutralize the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the ethical path is a constitutional amendment to eliminate the office and put it before voters.
“But that won’t happen, because it’s been tried before, and it always fails.”
Even Thurmond Criticizes Process
California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who currently holds the office, also criticized the way the change was pushed through.
Thurmond told ABC10 that direct gubernatorial involvement in education is not necessarily bad.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing, in and of itself; whenever you want a governor to be directly involved with education, that’s a good thing, and most states operate in the same way,” Thurmond said.
But Thurmond said the method was the problem.
“Here’s what is a concern: the manner in which it’s being done,” Thurmond said.
“The state superintendent position is approved by the voters, and I think that’s the method in which the position should have been changed.
“And short of doing that, what’s happened is they’ve created an extra layer of government, so now you have an elected state superintendent who will have very little to do as a result of these changes.
“And now you’ll have this new position that will also be in place.”
The dispute comes as California prepares for a major political transition.
Newsom is term-limited, and the race to replace him will be between Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton.
Thurmond ran a progressive gubernatorial campaign but failed to advance from the crowded June primary.
For critics of AB 181, the issue is straightforward.
California voters are still being asked to elect a superintendent of public instruction in November.
But Newsom has already signed a law shifting much of that office’s authority to a governor-appointed commissioner.
That leaves parents, teachers, and voters asking whether the election still means what it used to.