California education leaders sound alarm over Newsom’s ‘brazen power grab’ stripping superintendent position

Californians working in the state's education sector are warning against what they describe as an "undemocratic power play" by Gov. Gavin Newsom to strip authority from the state's Superintendent of Public Instruction. Assembly Bill 181 , passed as a budget trailer bill for the 2026–27 fiscal year, shifts day-to-day managerial power from the state superintendent to a newly created position: the Education Commissioner. Unlike the independently elected superintendent, the new commissioner will be