California Post89%
Gavin Newsom passes ‘biggest power grab in California history’ over State Superintendent role 68%
By Zain Khan60%
7/2/2026, 9:56:18 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 24 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Appeal to Authority, and Framing Effect, with Ambiguity (Equivocation) as the most egregious example at 24.6% saturation with 153 hits. Analysis detected 1,055 faulty-reasoning hits from 622 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 61.8% and a BS Rank of 68% (6,629 of 20,473 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 67.60% of the article peer group.
Republican candidate for California State Superintendent Sonja Shaw has accused Gavin Newsom of orchestrating a sweeping power grab and leaving the office she wants to run powerless.
“Newsom couldn’t win at the ballot box, so he changed the rules.
He just rammed through one of the biggest power grabs in California history,” Shaw told the California Post.
“This isn’t education reform.
California's children deserve leaders who answer to the voters.”
She led the June primary with 1,737,377 votes (22.6%), finishing ahead of Richard Barrera, who received 1,557,939 votes (20.3%), according to the Associated Press.
The two will advance to a runoff election in November after no candidate secured a majority in the crowded field.
Shaw was referring to Assembly Bill 181 (AB 181), an education budget trailer bill signed by Newsom last week.
The measure was fast-tracked alongside California’s 2026-27 state budget, allowing it to move through the Legislature as part of the budget process rather than the traditional committee hearing process used for most standalone bills.
AB 181 removes much of the Superintendent's executive authority over California's public education system.
Previously, the Superintendent oversaw the California Department of Education, managing thousands of employees while administering state grants, contracts and education programs.
Matt Klink, a Sacramento-based political strategist, said the timing of the change is tough to ignore.
“Coming just months before the November runoff, and weeks after Sonja Shaw finished first in the primary, the timing is impossible to ignore.
Some Democrats will call it governance reform,” he told the Post.
“Politically it looks like Sacramento saw the possibility of a Republican parent-rights candidate winning statewide office and moved to make the office significantly less powerful before voters could decide.”
“This is a major political move by Gov.
Newsom because it changes the practical meaning of an elected office voters are about to fill.
The State Superintendent would still be elected, but the real management authority over the California Department of Education would shift to a governor-appointed director,” he added.
Shaw said voters had chosen “an independent watchdog, not another political puppet controlled by the Governor.”
She also argued Newsom's administration is responding to mounting frustration among parents over California's education system.
“I’ve faced lawsuits, political attacks, and relentless efforts to stop me from speaking out.
But I’ve never backed down, and I’ve never given in,” she said.
She vowed to continue challenging Newsom's education agenda both on the campaign trail and, if elected, from the office itself.
“California can no longer postpone reforms that have been recommended regularly for a century.
So we are going to modernize the governance system by unifying the policymaking State Board with the Department of Education that implements those policies,” he said when announcing the proposal.
When asked about Shaw's accusations, the governor's office pointed to those remarks and defended the proposal.
“And we’re empowering the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to help align our education policies from early childhood through college.
These critical reforms will bring greater accountability, clarity, and coherence to how we serve our students and schools,” he said.
The office said the bill was subject to multiple rounds of hearings and had the support of more than 950 organizations.
“Subsequently, before being adopted by the Assembly and Senate earlier this week, the proposal was the subject of multiple hearings in both houses of the Legislature that lasted multiple hours,” the governor’s office told the California Post.
“Ultimately, all statewide school management associations, leading superintendents and education professors, major education equity organizations, and over 950 organizations overall expressed their strong support,” the office said.
The California Post has contacted, Barrera, the democrat in the the November runoff for comment.
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85%flagged-word coverageSonja Shaw
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