California superintendent hopeful opposes bringing back the SAT amid math-skill concerns

Richard Barrera, president of the San Diego Unified School Board and senior policy adviser to State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, is the frontrunner to become California's superintendent of public instruction. In an interview, he said he would not support reinstating the SAT as a UC admissions requirement, despite recent criticism from UC Berkeley and UCLA faculty about incoming students lacking basic math skills. Barrera argued that first-generation and low-income students are capable of rapid improvement if given modest support, and should not be barred by testing.

He is backed by the California Teachers Association and is running against Sonja Shaw of the Chino Valley Unified School Board. The debate occurs amid concerns that high-school GPAs have risen while state test results show only about 30.5% of 11th-graders meet math standards, highlighting a possible grade-inflation problem. Critics note that the UC system dropped the SAT and ACT in 2020, leaving fewer objective measures of preparedness. Education advocate Charles Cole recalled his own experience of high grades but needing remedial college courses, underscoring the preparation gap.