This article first appeared in EdSource.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra has not laid out a detailed plan for improving California schools, leaving education leaders to piece together what his administration might mean for the state’s nearly 6 million public school students.
“He’s a very thoughtful person,” said Jack O’Connell, a former superintendent of public instruction who served in the state Assembly with Becerra in the early 1990s. “He’s not going to make a flip comment just to get headlines for the day. I’m sure his proposals will be well thought out, based on research and data and study.”
Becerra has said his cautious approach to campaigning comes from years of political experience.
“I can make some really big promises. But that doesn’t get us anywhere — it may get us elected, but I would prefer not to run on inflated promises that I can’t deliver on,” Becerra told Politico in August.
His Republican opponent, Steve Hilton, in contrast, has disclosed a long list of significant changes he would like to make in California schools, if elected. He supports cellphone bans for young children, firing underperforming teachers and principals, giving parents school choice, halting funding for community schools and holding children back in the third grade until they can read at grade level.
Becerra has focused primarily on tuition-free community colleges, investing in early childhood education, protecting students in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and supporting teachers when he has talked about education during the campaign.
Continuity is a selling point
Becerra is well known in California political circles, having served as the state’s deputy attorney general from 1987 to 1990, a member of the state Assembly from 1990 to 1992, a U.S. representative for California from 1993 to 2017 and state attorney general from 2017 to 2021. He was confirmed as U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services in 2021, a position he held until 2025.
Becerra’s appeal to the political establishment in Sacramento, and voters, is that he will bring continuity and no big surprises, said Dan Schnur, a political analyst and strategist who served as press secretary for Gov. Pete Wilson.
“He and his team have correctly figured out that while Californians might want forward progress on any number of fronts, including education, they’re willing to settle for the status quo if the alternative is a Trumpian candidate like Hilton,” Schnur said.
Becerra is campaigning, in part, on a promise to fight back against Trump administration policies. He filed 122 lawsuits against the administration when he was California attorney general, including one that resulted in the Supreme Court overturning an attempt to rescind DACA.
Unlike Hilton, Becerra has not made himself available for many media interviews since the primary election in June, including one for this article.
“That innate caution is intensified by the fact that he’s such a strong front-runner,” Schnur said. “At this point, he’s a quarterback with a three-touchdown lead late in the fourth quarter. He doesn’t want to throw any interceptions, so he runs the ball.”
Becerra has a large lead over Hilton, according to recent polls. A September poll by Berkeley IGS found that Becerra had the support of 58% of the state’s likely voters, while Hilton had 33%.
Difficult education decisions await
Becerra will prioritize healthcare, housing, the economy, oversight of AI, clean energy, disaster preparedness, homelessness and fighting Donald Trump if elected governor, according to his campaign website.
But if he is elected, Becerra will also face decisions about school funding, college affordability and major changes in the California Department of Education. One of his first tasks is likely to be the appointment of an education commissioner who will oversee the CDE.
But state education leaders interviewed by EdSource say they’re not concerned that Becerra does not seem to have a comprehensive plan for education.
“Education has not been his main focus in his previous jobs,” said California State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond, who said she has spoken to the candidate about the state’s education landscape. “He does care a lot about kids and their learning. He really cares about early childhood. … I think he’ll be looking at childcare and preschool in the years prior to TK, as well to try to give kids a really good start in other ways,” she said.
Former State Board of Education President Michael Kirst calls Becerra’s education policy “a work in progress and not far developed at this point.”
“My impression is that he hasn’t even focused deeply on the subject,” Kirst said. “He will get through this time. I’m not criticizing it. He hasn’t even been elected, so he’s proceeding in his style, which is a deliberative style, talking with many people, thinking about it.”
What does Becerra say about education?
Although Becerra hasn’t revealed a comprehensive plan to improve education in the state, he has expressed his thoughts on some issues during interviews and on social media.
“If we want kids ready for college and careers, we can’t wait until high school to start helping them succeed,” Becerra posted on X in February. “That means investing in early childhood education, preparing kids before kindergarten and reducing class sizes, so every student gets the attention they deserve. The California Dream starts in the classroom.”
In May, Becerra posted on X that “the community college system is the gateway to higher education. It is the way that so many people ultimately become the Ph.D.s, the M.D.s, the lawyers, the teachers. We should make sure community colleges are not exclusive.”
Becerra also has expressed interest in the emerging high-tech economy and the need to prepare people for those jobs, Darling-Hammond said.
“I think he will be very supportive of the college and career pathways that are emerging in California that are really trying to enable young people to be in the STEM fields, the green technology fields,” she said.
A California story
Becerra, a son of Mexican immigrants, often tells the story of his parents arriving in the U.S. with only $12 in their pockets. His father — a union man — and mother worked hard to ensure their children had an education. Becerra graduated with a law degree from Stanford in 1984.
Lupita Cortez Alcalá, executive director of the nonprofit Policy Analysis for California Education, said that Becerra’s background and family struggles are familiar to many Californians. She heard him speak recently at a Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project event.
“He was the first in his family to attend college, and he’s talked about Stanford opening his eyes to the real opportunity,” Cortez Alcalá said. “Having that background and understanding about the importance of access to opportunity and how much it matters to students and their families, it resonates with me and my family and my experience.”
Becerra backs teachers
Becerra defended teachers during a recent CNN debate, after Hilton argued they should be held accountable for student academic outcomes and condemned the California Teachers Association.
“I believe that the people who are supposed to train our kids should be treated like professionals,” Becerra said. “They are underpaid compared to professionals with similar education levels. He attacks them. He says they’re doing the wrong thing for our kids.”
Although Becerra is endorsed by the CTA, the powerful teachers union may not hold much sway over him because they first chose to endorse former U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell and later recommended billionaire businessman Tom Steyer for the job, Kirst said.
Kirst said he can’t remember a primary where the Democratic candidate who won did not have the support of the CTA.
“So, he’s not as affiliated and therefore has, at least in my view, more running room to push back,” Kirst said.
CTA President David Goldberg couldn’t say why the union’s 700 delegates didn’t endorse Becerra initially.
“But he’s our choice now,” Goldberg said, adding that the gubernatorial field was replete with good candidates. “I can tell you that Xavier really resonated with our interview committee in a lot of deep and meaningful ways. So I think it wasn’t like we plugged our noses and did it. People had strong feelings about him as well.”
The CTA had donated $39,200 to Becerra’s campaign by Oct. 1. Some of the union’s 300,000 members have also canvassed neighborhoods for Becerra’s campaign. Goldberg indicated that the CTA political action committee could decide to invest more in the campaign if needed.
“Our initial thing is to get folks elected,” Goldberg said. “That’s our goal. He looks like he is well on his way to doing that.”
EdSource is California’s largest independent newsroom focused on education.
