Public schools gave Richard Barrera a future. Now, he’s fighting to make sure they do the same for every child in California.
Public schools gave Richard Barrera a future. Now, he’s fighting to make sure they do the same for every child in California.
The son of an immigrant father from Colombia and the grandson of Ellis Island immigrants, Richard Barrera’s story is one of sacrifice, opportunity, and the transformative power of public education.
Richard’s family came to the United States searching for a better life and quickly learned that public education is the single greatest equalizer in American society—when our schools thrive, so do our communities.
A San Diego native, Richard attended public school from kindergarten through college, graduating from the University of California, San Diego before earning a master’s in public policy from Harvard University.
After graduation, Richard returned home and spent years organizing domestic workers, healthcare workers, and nurses fighting for fair wages, better conditions, and respect on the job.
Through that work, he saw firsthand how deeply public schools shaped the futures of the communities he served. Determined to ensure every child had access to the same opportunities that had shaped his own life, he ran for the San Diego Unified School Board (SDUSD).
Richard Barrera isn’t a career politician or another Sacramento insider making top-down decisions from behind a desk. He’s an organizer and a hands-on leader who has spent his career bringing people together to solve tough problems.
As President of the San Diego Unified School Board, he helped transform a district in crisis into one of the highest-performing in the country. Now, he’s ready to do the same for California’s schools.
Elected in 2008, Richard has spent every day of the last 16 years using his experience as a community organizer to transform a district in crisis into one of the highest-performing school systems in the country.
Under his leadership as long-time President, San Diego Unified has become a national model for student success.
At SDUSD, he built a coalition of teachers, parents, and community leaders to put students first—expanding access to the arts, career pathways, and dual-language immersion, while ensuring teachers have the resources and support to achieve success.
He led the effort to pass four major school bonds totaling $11.5 billion, creating state-of-the-art campuses, fully funding music and arts education, and making San Diego the first district in California to guarantee transitional kindergarten for every four-year-old.
He spearheaded a first-in-the-nation affordable housing initiative for educators—because teachers and school staff shouldn’t have to choose between serving their students and affording a place to live.
Richard is ready to bring that same bold, coalition-driven, results oriented leadership to California’s schools as State Superintendent of Public Instruction. With students, parents, and teachers at the table, he’ll fight to restore California’s reputation as a leader in public education. He’ll work to grow a diverse pipeline of future teachers, increasing early childhood education, and securing long-term funding to build world-class public schools in every community.
