State Superintendent candidate visited Clovis to decry trans athletes. Could she change law?
For the second year in a row, the issue of transgender student-athletes competing in the state track and field championships came directly to Clovis — and the leading candidate in the State Superintendent of Public Instruction race was there pledging to take a stand.
“Girls are being robbed of podiums, their scholarships, records, privacy and their safety,” Shaw said in Clovis on May 29. “This is not about compassion. It’s about fairness, safety and truth”
Gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton was there expressing a similar stance. He added that if he, Shaw and attorney general candidate Michael Gates were to win, they’d disallow transgender student-athlete’s from competing against cisgender student-athletes “on day one.”
Shaw — who calls herself the sole candidate who’ll “stand on the front lines of this fight” — would not have the authority on her own to change the law if she won.
The issue is timely as the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously voted Tuesday that individual states can choose to bar transgender girls and women from competing alongside cisgender athletes on sports teams.
But California law protects transgender public school students’ rights to be on sports teams that align with their gender identity.
“California Education Code Section 221.5(f) requires that students be permitted to participate on athletic teams consistent with their gender identity, and the California Department of Education under the leadership of the State Superintendent is tasked with enforcing Education Code,” a spokesperson for the California Department of Education said.
While the state superintendent can sponsor legislation, it’s up to legislature and the governor to initiate statutory changes, the CDE spokesperson said.
In the state superintendent race, Shaw is enjoying a slight lead over San Diego Unified school board president Richard Barrera, with the candidates respectively receiving 22.6% and 20.3% of votes. In the superintendent of public instruction role she’s vying for, she would only be responsible for enforcing the state education code — not amending it.
For the other candidates that need to win in order to pull off a conservative sweep and target transgender students’ participation in school sports, the path to prospective victory isn’t as solid.
In the gubernatorial primary race, Hilton got 24.7% of votes, while leading candidate Xavier Becerra received about 28.1%. Incumbent attorney general candidate Rob Bonta is leading with 56.6% of votes in the primary election, while Gates got about 37.9% of votes.
Before Shaw was in Clovis or running for state superintendent, she began serving on the Chino Valley Unified School Board.
Shaw was elected board president in 2022. A year later, the district was sued by Bonta over a policy that required schools to tell parents if their child requested to use a name or pronouns that differed from their official records — even without student consent.
In late 2024, the San Bernardino County Superior Court sided with Bonta and ruled that the policy violated the California Constitution.
This story was originally published June 30, 2026 at 4:51 PM with the headline "State Superintendent candidate visited Clovis to decry trans athletes. Could she change law?."
