蜜桃影视

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Incumbent Tony Thurmond has won another bid to serve as California鈥檚 Superintendent of Public Instruction, leading the vote over opponent Lance Christensen by about 2 to 1 as of midday Wednesday with about 42% of districts reporting. 

Thurmond will guide California鈥檚 K-12 schools through a period of academic recovery and curricula reform in math and reading, along with Governor Gavin Newsom and the state legislature. 

The results come as no surprise given Thurmond鈥檚 lead in the June primaries that left the Democratic party-backed candidate just 5 points shy of the majority needed to avoid Tuesday鈥檚 runoff altogether.

His office has received criticism for lengthy school closures 鈥� California鈥檚 students learned virtually for over a year, raising concerns about .  

And though the four-year post is nonpartisan, the education and culture issues that divide Democrats and Republicans seemed to drive modest support for conservative opponent Christensen, who ran on a pledge to put parents at the helm of policy.

Christensen, a policy director for a conservative think tank and former Republican staffer in the State Senate, also advocated to expand school choice and continually criticized the 鈥溾�� California Teachers Association and hard-fought curriculum. His campaign raised $159,000 compared to the nearly $5 million by Thurmond. 

Expanding access to mental healthcare, high quality tutoring, free meals, teachers鈥� professional development and implicit bias training, and STEM learning opportunities were headed into Tuesday鈥檚 vote. 

Thurmond, who has served as California鈥檚 top schools official since 2019, has held various elected posts for 16 years including posts on Richmond鈥檚 city council, West Contra Costa County Unified school board, and California鈥檚 state assembly. 

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