Richard Barrera

Richard Barrera earned a high school diploma from El Cajon Valley High School, a bachelor's degree in American history from the University of California at San Diego, and a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University. His career experience includes working as a community organizer.[1] Barrera has also served as a leader in labor relations.[2]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I have served on the San Diego Unified school board since 2008, including several terms as board president. Over those 18 years we turned a district in crisis into one whose students rank first in the nation in reading and math among large urban districts. Since 2024 I have also worked inside the California Department of Education as Senior Policy Advisor. Before elected office I spent two decades as a community and labor organizer, including as Secretary-Treasurer of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, where I led the campaign that won a higher minimum wage and paid sick days for 200,000 workers. I went to California public schools from kindergarten through UC San Diego and earned a master's in public policy from Harvard.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

San Diego shows what works. We taught reading with phonics, backed teachers with materials and coaches, caught struggling readers early, and gave the students furthest behind smaller early-grade classes, tutoring tied to their classwork, and summer school. We paid for it by investing in educators over administrative overhead and outside consultants. Our students lead every large city in reading on the Nation's Report Card, and our Black, Latino, low-income, and English learner graduates are college and career ready at rates ahead of their statewide peers. As Superintendent, I will find the districts getting results, spread what they do, and report every district's progress so families can see whether the numbers are moving.California is the fourth-largest economy in the world and does not invest enough in its schools. That shows in crowded classrooms and too few counselors and nurses. Prop 98 guarantees minimum funding for schools, and the Governor should release the money he withheld this year. I am voting yes on Proposition 3, which keeps the tax on the highest incomes and sends the money directly to schools, and I will organize parents, educators, and labor to close corporate tax loopholes. Schools also need money they can count on. Every year I will bring educators, parents, and district leaders together to draft an education budget built on ongoing funding and take it to the Legislature, so districts can hire in September knowing the job exists in June.Students do better when their educators stay, and educators stay when they are paid fairly and can afford to live where they work. In San Diego we raised base pay by more than 40 percent while keeping fully paid family health care, and we are building affordable housing for school employees on district land, work I now lead at the Department of Education. I will push for a state-backed teacher apprenticeship that pays aspiring educators while they earn their degrees. Students also need to feel safe and welcome at school. California should hold the line against federal pressure on LGBTQ+ students and immigrant families, and every district needs counselors, nurses, and community schools that catch a problem before it becomes a crisis.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Public schools opened every door in my life. My father came from Colombia, my grandparents came through Ellis Island, and California public schools took me from kindergarten to a UC degree. I want every child in this state to get what I got, and 18 years on a school board taught me that it happens through choices made close to the classroom, by educators, families, and students who trust each other. So I will work the way an organizer works. I will spend my time in districts, learning what is working and what is failing, and I will bring people together to fix what I find.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

California Democratic Party; California Teachers Association; California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO; SEIU California; AFSCME; Teamsters California; State Building and Construction Trades Council; United Teachers Los Angeles; Association of California School Administrators; California Charter Schools Association; Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California; Equality California; Human Rights Campaign; Sierra Club California; California State Retirees; Sen. Alex Padilla; Rep. Juan Vargas; Superintendent Tony Thurmond; Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes; and the editorial boards of the San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, Fresno Bee, Modesto Bee, and Bay Area News Group, plus school board members, and local officials statewide.

Richard Barrera did not complete [the profile publisher]'s 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

Richard Barrera did not complete [the profile publisher]'s 2020 Candidate Connection survey.