The board of directors of the state’s largest teachers union announced in an email on Friday afternoon that it had recommended an endorsement of longtime San Diego Unified Trustee Richard Barrera for state superintendent.
The recommendation, though significant, doesn’t mean the endorsement is a done deal. It will go to a vote by the delegates of the California Teachers Association’s state council next week.
If approved, the endorsement will add serious fire power to Barrera’s underdog campaign. The CTA, which represents more than 300,000 educators statewide, is a major funder in the state superintendent race. The union’s endorsed candidate has won every election for nearly 30 years.
Barrera isn’t an obvious choice. He’s one of the lower-profile candidates in the race, which includes Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, the chair of the Assembly’s education and higher education committees, former Assembly Speaker and UC Regent Anthony Rendon and former Chair of the Senate Education Committee Josh Newman.
Still, the decision shouldn’t come as a complete surprise. Barrera, once the head of the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council – a sort of union of unions – is a powerful force within San Diego’s labor movement. His high-profile role and close ties to labor even led to accusations of conflicts of interest.
In his nearly two decades on San Diego Unified’s board, Barrera’s gained a reputation as a canny operator whose influence is felt in districts around the county. He’s widely viewed as San Diego Unified’s ideological lynchpin, the inspiration for the board’s leftward political move and its increasing closeness with the district’s teachers union. During his tenure, teacher pay at the district has increased significantly.
Barrera has also been the chief architect of some of its biggest decisions. Those include the hiring of Cindy Marten, who went on to serve as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, as superintendent and the crafting of a project labor agreement that’s ensured the billions in bond money secured over the past two decades are spent with union-friendly firms.
In 2024, Barrera picked up a side hustle that also likely gave him an edge in the endorsement race – senior policy advisor for current State Superintendent Tony Thurmond. Those special projects included work on combatting chronic absenteeism, helping lay the groundwork for affordable housing on district-land and coaching boards across the state.
Barrera declined to comment on the recommendation.
The CTA’s board also recommended an endorsement of San Diego Unified Trustee Cody Petterson’s campaign for Board of Equalization. Petterson, who has helped shepherd a groundbreaking affordable housing proposal to near completion, announced he would not be running for re-election on the district’s board last year.