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  "description": "“I’m a true believer in public education — the son of immigrants, a first-generation college graduate, the product of public schools. That is why I am running to be state superintendent.",
  "path": "/meet-the-state-superintendent-candidates-al-muratsuchi-state-assembly-member-college-teacher/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-19T13:53:40.000Z",
  "site": "https://ielaw.news",
  "tags": [
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  "textContent": "_This story was originally published by_ EdSource_._ Sign up_for their daily newsletter._\n\nAl Muratsuchi has been an attorney, school board trustee, state Assembly member and a community college teacher, but now he seeks a new job: California Superintendent of Public Instruction.\n\nMuratsuchi, 61, wants the position so that he can continue to champion public education, something he says he has done for 20 years.\n\n“I’m a true believer in public education — the son of immigrants, a first-generation college graduate, the product of public schools,” Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, told EdSource. “That is why I am running to be state superintendent.”\n\nDuring his 12 years in the Assembly, Muratsuchi held several positions, including chair of the Education Committee and chair of the Budget Subcommittee on Education. His fifth and final term as an Assembly member ends in December.\n\nMuratsuchi was born and raised on U.S. military bases in Okinawa. He moved to California in 1982 and attended UC Berkeley and then UCLA, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree, according to his Assembly website.\n\nBefore being elected to the Assembly, Muratsuchi was a civil rights attorney, California deputy attorney general, a member of the Torrance Unified school board and chair of the Southern California Regional Occupation Center.\n\nDuring the last two fall legislative breaks, Muratsuchi taught civics at El Camino Community College in Torrance.\n\nMuratsuchi says his experience as a school board member, teacher and legislator makes him the most qualified candidate for the job, which has an annual salary of $200,000.\n\n“So, while other candidates may bring some parts of those experiences, I’m the only candidate that has that combination of all three, which I think is critically important for our next state superintendent,” Muratsuchi said.\n\nMuratsuchi said his three top goals, if elected, would be to provide more funding for schools, attract and retain teachers and champion early childhood education. These goals are reflected in bills Muratsuchi authored or supported during his tenure as a legislator, including bills to increase state funding, improve teacher pay and make kindergarten mandatory.\n\n“Teachers are one of the most important professions in our society,” Muratsuchi said. “We need to pay them to continue to attract and retain good teachers in the classroom.”\n\n“He’s been a champion of ours for many years,” said Jeffery Freitas, president of the California Federation of Teachers, which has endorsed Muratsuchi and contributed $33,900 to his campaign this year. “And he has been focused on funding education. He has tried to increase — against mountains of protest or opposition by governors and others in the Legislature — LCFF (Local Control Funding Formula) funding for our schools dramatically. “\n\nMuratsuchi has received more than$648,575 in contributions from donors for his campaign. His biggest contributors are unions and professional organizations. The Service Employees International Union gave his campaign $41,500, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union $20,400, the political action committee of the California School Employees Association $19,600, the Association of California School Administrators $9,800 and the California Teachers Association $18,115.\n\nAlong with these organizations, his endorsements include the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO; Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas; state Sens. Lena Gonzalez and Maria Elena Durazo; Assembly members Buffy Wicks, Mark Gonzalez and Blanca Pacheco; and former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell.\n\n“I think he’d be an excellent state superintendent,” said O’Connell, who added that Muratsuchi understands what it takes to run a large department like the California Department of Education.\n\nMuratsuchi is a consensus builder, “which I think the position really needs,” O’Connell said.\n\nMuratsuchi said he will take what he learned as a trustee for Torrance Unified to help him run the Department of Education. At Torrance Unified, he and other board members were responsible for school policy and worked closely with the district superintendent to oversee management of the district’s 2,200 employees.\n\nMuratsuchi said he will focus on recruiting and retaining experienced staff at the CDE, which he says it has been losing for several years.\n\nIf Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers follow through with a plan to shift management of the education department to the governor’s office, Muratsuchi said he would continue to use the position as a bully pulpit to champion education.\n\n“My commitment and passion to run for state superintendent would remain unchanged,” he said. “I would continue to see myself as the highest independently elected statewide constitutional officer in charge of public education.”\n\nIf elected, Muratsuchi said he would focus on ensuring that California’s public education system is working collaboratively from preschool to higher education. He would also identify and promote the best evidence-based educational practices and work with private foundations to fund efforts to improve and strengthen public education in the state.\n\nMuratsuchi lives in the South Bay in Los Angeles County with his wife, Hiroko Higuchi, and teenage daughter, according to his election website.\n\nMuratsuchi said his focus on education has been shaped in part by his daughter, who was 3 years old when he was first elected to the State Assembly in 2012. She is now a junior at a public high school.\n\nHe recalled watching her do jumping jacks in front of a computer during pandemic-era distance learning. It was one of the most heartbreaking moments in his life, he said. Since then, Muratsuchi said he has kept children like his daughter in mind when shaping education policy.\n\n“I would definitely, most certainly, bring my experience as a dad, as a public school parent, as the next state superintendent,” he said.",
  "title": "Meet the State Superintendent candidates: Al Muratsuchi, state Assembly member, college teacher",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-19T13:53:41.914Z"
}