Support for school vouchers divides Republicans at governor’s forum

Sacramento – As the only Republican on stage, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco stood as the lone vocal supporter of school vouchers during a gubernatorial nominating forum focused on education Wednesday.

“If you’re deciding where you want to eat dinner, you choose the restaurant with the best food, and the other restaurant won’t serve you until they change their policies,” Bianco said. Bianco said. “I would be the only person to recommend a voucher system for all of your children.”

His comment, prompted by a question about how best to support rural students, drew boos and a few cheers from the crowd at the annual California School Boards Asean conference in Sacramento.

Voucher systems, which pay parents to pay for private school tuition, are highly controversial. Supporters believe that vouchers offer new opportunities for students and create a competitive environment that encourages all schools to improve. Opponents argue that it takes needed funding away from public schools.

During the event, the candidates discussed a range of issues that affect education, including public school funding, teacher shortages and achievement gaps.

Candidates on the panel include: Bianco, former state Comptroller Betty Yee, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon and California Att. Tony Thurmond of Public Instruction.

While most California voters are undecided about who to support in the 2026 governor’s race, Bianco led the field in a November poll released by UC Berkeley’s Institute for 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 US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Bequera, a Democrat and conservative commentator Steve Hilton.

A spokesman for the Association of School Boards said not all candidates for governor were invited to participate because it would be too difficult to manage. Unions instead chose candidates who were most advantageous based on several factors, including name recognition and previous offices.

All the candidates agreed on one overall message: The current state system is failing the roughly 5.8 million K-12 students enrolled in public schools.

“Something is broken,” Villaraigosa said. “Information is the currency of our economy and yet we have so many children who cannot read and write. And when you look at who these children are, they are disproportionately poor, disproportionately of color, and that is unacceptable in such a rich country.”

Each candidate offered something different about how to help.

Calderon called for more parental involvement and urged schools to increase outreach efforts and work more closely with families. Addressing the state’s housing crisis is also critical, he said.

“You can’t have an achievement gap that you can close. If people don’t have safe housing, if you have insecurity at home and you don’t know where you’re going to sleep at night, how are students going to succeed?” he said.

Thurmond said more revenue streams were needed to support the school system.

“I’m taxing billionaires so we have more revenue for California schools,” he said, adding that it’s time for the super-rich to “pay their fair share.”

Bianco dismissed claims that more funding was needed, pointing out that California has the fourth largest economy in the world.

“We’ve never had a revenue problem,” he said. “Our problem is 100% a cost problem.”

To help with the teacher shortage, Thurmond proposed developing two million housing units on surplus school-owned land to provide teachers with affordable living options.

Yee said he would prioritize general workforce housing for the public sector but not teacher housing on school property. She explained that she does not want the school district to own the land.

Yee said he will focus on improving teachers’ health care and creating a safe and healthy work environment in the classroom. She promised to value the input from the teachers.

“The regional vision that you all have about improving student achievement is something that needs to inform state policy,” she said. “What we have instead is just a lack of recognition at the state level.”

All the candidates shared reservations about California’s order to ban gas-powered school buses by 2035, with many calling for longer or more exemptions. Bianco said the mandate should be repealed entirely because the government should not be dictating what kind of vehicles are used.

The forum was held at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center in Sacramento, 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.