SACRAMENTO — As the lone Republican on stage, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco stood out as the only vocal supporter of school vouchers during a gubernatorial candidate forum Wednesday focused on education.
“If you are deciding where you want to eat dinner, you choose the restaurant with the best food, and the other restaurant is not going to get your service until they change their policies,” Bianco said. “I will be the only person offering voucher systems for all of your kids.”
His remark, prompted by a question about how to best support rural students, earned booing and a couple of cheers from the crowd at the California School Boards Assn.’s annual conference in Sacramento.
Voucher systems, which provide public money to parents to pay for private school tuition, are highly controversial. Supporters believe vouchers offer new opportunities for students and create a competitive environment that encourages all schools to improve. Opponents argue it takes away needed funding from public schools.
During the event, candidates discussed a range of issues that impact learning, including public school funding, teacher shortages and achievement gaps.
The candidates at the forum included: Bianco, former State Controller Betty Yee, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon and California Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
While many California voters remain undecided on who to support in the 2026 governor’s race, Bianco narrowly led the field in a November poll released by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times. The top Democrat in the survey was former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter. Tied for third place were former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, and conservative commentator Steve Hilton.
A spokesperson for the school boards association said all candidates running for governor were not asked to participate because it would have been more difficult to manage. The association instead invited the candidates it considered most viable based on several factors, including name recognition and previous offices held.
All of the candidates agreed on one overall message: The state’s current system is failing the roughly 5.8 million K-12 students enrolled in public schools.
“Something is broken,” said Villaraigosa. “Information is the currency of our economy and yet we got too many kids who can’t read and write. And when you look at who those kids are, they are disproportionately poor, disproportionately of color, and it is unacceptable in a state this rich.”
Each candidate offered slightly different takes on how to help.
Calderon called for more parental involvement and urged schools to improve outreach efforts and work hand-in-hand with families. He said addressing the state’s housing crisis was also crucial.
“You cannot have an achievement gap that you narrow,” he said, “if there is not secure housing for people. If you have uncertainty in the home and you don’t know where you are sleeping at night, then how are students going to succeed?”
Thurmond said more revenue streams were needed to support the school system.
“I am going to tax billionaires so we have more revenue for California’s schools,” he said, adding it was time for the ultra rich to “pay their fair share.”
Bianco disputed the assertion that more funding was needed and pointed out California is the fourth-largest economy in the world.
“We have never, never had a revenue problem,” he said. “Our problems are 100% a spending problem.”
To help with the teacher shortage, Thurmond proposed developing two million housing units on surplus school-owned land to provide educators with affordable living options.
Yee said she would prioritize general workforce housing for the public sector but not educator housing on school property. She explained she did not want school districts to become landlords.
Yee said she would focus on improving teachers’ healthcare and creating a safer and healthier working environment in the classroom. She vowed to value input from educators.
“The local perspective that you all have about how to improve student achievement is what needs to inform state policy,” she said. “What we have instead is just a lack of recognition, frankly, at the state level.”
All candidates shared reservations about California’s mandate phasing out gas-powered school buses by 2035, with most calling for a longer timeline or more exemptions. Bianco said the mandate should be nixed entirely because the government should not dictate what types of vehicles are used.
The forum was held at Sacramento’s SAFE Credit Union Convention Center near the state Capitol. The school boards conference brings together more than 3,500 school board members, superintendents and other education leaders from across the state.
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