Sonia Shaw and Richard Barrera will advance in the race to see who will be California’s next state superintendent of public instruction.

Shaw, school board president in Chino Valley Unified, and Barrera, school board president from San Diego Unified, will face off in the Nov. 3 general election.

In California’s primary system, the top-two candidates with the most votes advance to the general election. Shaw received the most votes at 1,732,747 (22.6 percent) followed by Barrera with 1,553,704 votes (20.3 percent), according to unofficial election results. Nichelle Henderson, faculty adviser at California State University and a community college trustee came in third with 735,928 votes (9.6 percent) and Wendy Castaneda Leal, superintendent of Semitropic Elementary School District, came in fourth with 673,779 votes (8.8 percent). ACSA-endorsed candidate Al Muratsuchi came in fifth with 8.4 percent of the vote in a crowded field of 10 total candidates on the ballot, including three state legislators.

According to EdSource, this will be the first time California voters have selected a SPI who is not a state legislator since 1982 when Bill Honig was elected to the office.

New provisions must be added to annual notice for 2026-27 LEAs have a number of mandatory provisions to add to the annual notice for the upcoming 2026-27 school year, according to a recent client news brief from the law firm Lozano Smith.

School districts, county offices of education and charter schools must provide parents and guardians with the annual notice at the start of each school year.

Several new laws have been enacted recently in response to antisemitic bullying, immigration enforcement and health concerns, among other topics. The laws dictate adding language to the Annual Notice to notify parents of their rights and responsibilities.

According to Lozano Smith, the following provisions must appear in the 2026-27 annual notice:

• Antisemitism — Uniform Complaints (AB 715).
• Immigration Status and Enforcement - Family Preparedness Plan Act of 2025 (AB 495).
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Immunization (AB 144).
• Epinephrine Delivery Systems (SB 568).
• Dental and Eye Exams / Release of Directory Information for Unhoused Students (AB 677).
• Military Families / Continuity of Special Education for Transfer Students (AB 1412).

Two other provisions are encouraged or applicable to certain schools. The brief advises that LEAs may want to consider updating their board policies to ensure compliance with the parental curriculum notice and opt-out concepts outlined in Mahmoud v Taylor. In addition, public schools that serve grades 7-12 and issue student ID cards are now required to include contact information for “The Trevor Project’s LGBTQ+ suicide hotline” by July 1, 2026.

For a full description of these provisions, including links to information that must be included in the annual notice, visit content.acsa.org/annual-notice-of-parental-rights-and-responsibilities-reminders-for-2026.

40 percent of kids say parents haven’t talked about AI safety More than 86 percent of children report using artificial intelligence, often with little guidance from adults on its limitations or how to use it safely, according to a new survey from Common Sense Media.

The survey asked 1,204 children age 9 to 17 about how, why, and how often they use AI. The survey found that while an overwhelming 86 percent of children use AI, and nearly a quarter do so every day, more than four in 10 kids say no parent or guardian has ever talked with them about AI safety.

The report offers the most comprehensive look at how a generation of kids uses a technology that continues to evolve rapidly. While well over eight in 10 kids who use AI use it for entertainment and homework help, the survey reveals a more complicated, and at times troubling, picture. More than half of kids who use AI have turned to it for advice about their health or body, and over one in three AI users have used it to discuss their feelings or personal problems. One in six kids who have used AI chatbots have seen inappropriate material, and only one-third told a trusted adult.

“AI is the most powerful and fastest-moving technology of our time, and the guardrails simply haven’t caught up,” said Common Sense Media Founder and CEO James P. Steyer, in a news release. “Our children are taking some of their most personal questions to chatbots that aren’t designed with their safety in mind, and many are doing so without talking to a parent or teacher about how these products work.”

The report also surfaces troubling associations between more frequent AI use and well-being. Kids who use AI daily or weekly are more likely than infrequent or non-users to report feeling lonely. Among kids who have used AI to discuss feelings or personal problems, a quarter say they sometimes feel AI understands them better than most people. These patterns warrant urgent attention from parents, caregivers, educators, and policymakers.

The survey’s other key findings include:

Taken together, the findings reveal a generation already deeply engaged with AI but largely on its own in figuring out how to use it responsibly. Kids are turning to AI for unsafe purposes, often without the AI literacy education they need.

The report was released June 8 by the new Common Sense Media Youth AI Safety Institute, a first-of-its-kind research and testing organization dedicated to ensuring the AI that children use is safe and developmentally appropriate.

As Common Sense Media’s first census on youth AI use, this research will anchor future tracking of how the technology is shaping childhood. Read the full report at www.commonsensemedia.org/AI-Tweens-Teens.