Key Points
- Starting January 15, 2027, a governor-appointed education commissioner takes over the California Department of Education. The elected state superintendent keeps the title but loses the department.
- Sonja Shaw and Richard Barrera are running on November 3 for a job whose description won’t be written until mid-2027. Both oppose the new law. Shaw says she’ll sue.
- Nothing changes at your child’s school in January. What changes is who answers for statewide results: the governor now owns the department that runs the programs.
California voters will vote for a new state superintendent of public instruction on November 3, and the winner won’t run the California Department of Education.
Under Assembly Bill 181, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on July 10, a governor-appointed education commissioner takes over the department in January 2027. The elected superintendent gets a vote on the State Board of Education, a seat on the community college board, a staff of about a dozen, and six months to negotiate what the job even is supposed to do.
If you’re a parent trying to figure out who to credit or blame for your kid’s reading scores, or whether the SAT is coming back to UC admissions, the management structure of state education accountability just changed.
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What Does AB 181 Actually Change?
AB 181 moves day-to-day control of the California Department of Education from the elected superintendent to an education commissioner appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate.
The department has roughly 2,500 employees and a proposed 2026-27 operating budget of about $299 million, according to EdSource’s breakdown of the office. It distributes state and federal school funds, monitors district compliance, carries out the standards the State Board adopts, and collects the test and spending data behind the California School Dashboard. All of that now reports directly to the governor.
The superintendent stays an elected, nonpartisan office with a smaller footprint. The State Board of Education grows from 11 to 13 members, and the superintendent takes one of the new seats. The superintendent also joins the Community College Board of Governors and keeps seats on the UC Board of Regents and CSU Board of Trustees, the bodies that decide what families really pay for college in California.
The rest is unwritten: the law directs the new superintendent and commissioner to spend the first six months of 2027 working out a job description, which goes to the Legislature in fall 2027 for approval. The bill passed 21-4 in the Senate and 52-5 in the Assembly inside the budget package, over objections from the California Teachers Association and termed-out superintendent Tony Thurmond.
Who Is Running, And What Did They Say In The Only Debate?
The two candidates for office are Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified school board, and Richard Barrera, president of the San Diego Unified board.
Both chair boards that send thousands of graduates into a UC system that currently admits on GPA and coursework with no test scores.
Their one debate on October 7 spent most of its hour on testing, parental rights, LGBTQ+ students, and President Trump, EdSource’s Thomas Peele reported. Shaw said, “More than half of our kids cannot read and write and do math, that’s priority number one.” The state’s own numbers back that up: 48.8% of students met or exceeded the English standard on 2024-25 state tests, and 37.3% did in math. Meanwhile, Barrera says the job to catch-up should belong to the UC system.
Barrera described the job as “an organizer” who would build coalitions around goals the state doesn’t currently have. The two split on whether UC should bring back the SAT, a question the Board of Regents is expected to decide next year with the superintendent voting, and one that changes the math on SAT prep spending for every California junior.
Neither candidate supports AB 181. Shaw called it an “unprecedented, unconstitutional power grab” and says she’ll sue to keep the office as it was. Barrera says he’ll work with the commissioner but told the governor and Legislature, “you don’t get to define my job.”
Both are campaigning for authority the law no longer gives them, so the votes they will actually hold on the State Board and the UC Regents are the better basis for judging them, the same way a funded California loan forgiveness program matters more than just what’s written on paper.
Where Does Accountability Land Now?
Accountability for education in the state moves from the elected superintendent to the governor. The case for AB 181 came from a December 2025 report by Policy Analysis for California Education, which found that the governor and State Board created programs while a separately elected superintendent carried them out, so “no one was accountable for running programs well.”
After January, the governor appoints the commissioner who runs the department and the 10 governor-picked members of the board that sets policy. When a literacy initiative or transitional kindergarten rollout stalls, that’s one office to call.
| Role | State Superintendent (Through 2026) | State Superintendent (From 2027) | Education Commissioner (From 2027) |
|---|---|---|---|
| How They Get The Job | Elected statewide, nonpartisan | Elected statewide, nonpartisan | Appointed by the governor, confirmed by the state Senate |
| Runs The Department Of Education | Yes, about 2,500 employees | No | Yes, takes over all department duties |
| Sets Standards And Policy | No, the State Board does | One vote on a 13-member State Board | Carries out State Board policy |
| Higher Education Boards | UC Regents, CSU Trustees (nonvoting) | UC Regents, CSU Trustees, Community College Board of Governors (voting) | None |
| Staff | The full department | About a dozen | The full department |
| Main Job | Run programs, distribute funds, enforce rules | Evaluate programs, public voice for families, to be negotiated in 2027 | Run programs, distribute funds, enforce rules |
The superintendent’s new role becomes that of an commentator with a microphone: evaluate programs for the Legislature, serve as an independent public voice, and vote on the boards that set policy.
What Does This Mean For California Families?
Your child’s school won’t change on January 15. Local boards still hire principals and adopt curriculum, and state funding still flows by formula.
What changes is the chain of command above the district: the person to hold responsible for statewide outcomes is now whoever wins the governor chooses. The superintendent’s influence shifts toward the higher education boards, which is where the decisions like test optional policies live.
The superintendent vote still matters in three places. The winner votes on the State Board, votes as a UC regent on whether standardized testing returns, and sits on the boards that set CSU and community college policy, including the three-year bachelor’s degrees CSU just approved.
Financial aid is untouched: Cal Grants and the Middle Class Scholarship run through the California Student Aid Commission, not the Department of Education.
What Happens Next?
On November 3, voters pick both the superintendent and the governor who will appoint the commissioner. The law takes effect January 15, 2027, when the commissioner takes the department.
By June 30, 2027, the commissioner owes the Legislature a plan to fund the superintendent’s duties, with a final report on streamlining state oversight due October 1, 2027.
If Shaw wins and sues, add a court date to the calendar.
For families, the near-term work doesn’t change: watch the UC Regents’ testing decision, check your district’s dashboard scores, and run the college ROI math on the schools your student is targeting, because none of that waits for Sacramento to finish its org chart.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does The Education Commissioner Replace The State Superintendent?
No. The superintendent remains an elected statewide office. The commissioner, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, takes over running the California Department of Education on January 15, 2027. The superintendent keeps board seats and a small staff while the two negotiate the rest of the job.
Can The New Superintendent Sue To Block AB 181?
Sonja Shaw says she will, arguing the law is unconstitutional. The California Constitution created the office but left most of its duties to the Legislature to define. Richard Barrera has not said he would sue.
Will AB 181 Change Anything At My Child’s School This Year?
No. Local districts still run schools, and state funding formulas don’t change. The law reorganizes who manages the state department and who sets statewide policy, which affects program rollouts and accountability over time, not daily operations in January.
Editor: Colin Graves
Robert Farrington is the founder of The College Investor and is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading voices on student loan debt and saving for college. He holds an MBA from UC San Diego Rady School of Management and has spent over 15 years researching, writing, and advising on student loans, 529 plans, financial aid programs, and saving and investing for young professionals.
Robert has been featured in the The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NBC News, and Forbes, where he has been a regular personal finance contributor for over a decade. His work combines both professional expertise and personal experience – he successfully navigated his own student loan repayment journey and has helped thousands of readers do the same.
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