Frank Lara is a bilingual elementary school teacher, union leader, and community organizer based in San Francisco’s Mission District. He is a member of the Peace and Freedom Party of California and an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). He currently serves as Executive Vice President of United Educators of San Francisco (UESF), the 6,000-member teachers’ union for the San Francisco Unified School District. He is running as a nonpartisan candidate for California Superintendent of Public Instruction in the June 2, 2026 primary, representing the left-most position in the field on education policy, labor, and social justice.
Lara was born to immigrant parents and raised in Calexico, a working-class border city in Imperial County. He first began organizing for immigrant rights as a student at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where he graduated in 2008. He earned his teaching credential with bilingual authorization shortly after graduation and began his career teaching in the Mission District, knowing he wanted to work in a multilingual environment with immigrant families. He quickly took on leadership roles, becoming a union steward and a master teacher mentoring new bilingual educators. He was awarded the Teacher 4 Social Justice “Thank-a-Teacher” Award in 2015 and the 826 Valencia “Teacher of the Month” Award the same year.
After Trump’s election in 2016, Lara organized anti-fascist marches and a 3,000-student march against family separation and child detention. That same year, he was nominated to the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) Racial Justice Task Force and was awarded the CFT “Pride of the Union” Award in 2017. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he helped organize a campaign among educators to donate stimulus checks to undocumented families — who were excluded from federal relief — raising over $100,000 and earning the Bay Area Jefferson Award for Supporting Undocumented Workers. He was elected Executive Vice President of UESF in 2021. He also ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2014 as the Peace and Freedom candidate in California’s 12th Congressional District.
Endorsements
United Educators of San Francisco (UESF), Peace and Freedom Party of California, Green Party of California, Vote Socialist California, and a coalition of San Francisco community organizers, union members, and immigrant rights advocates including an attorney and former San Francisco Board of Supervisors member and a commissioner from the SFUSD Board of Education. A full list is available on his endorsements page.
Reputation/Scandals/Successes
Core Strengths and Positive Reputation
- The Only Active Classroom Teacher in the Race: Lara is the only candidate in the superintendent’s race who is currently working as a full-time K–12 classroom teacher — not a former teacher, not a faculty adviser, not a school board member. His platform is grounded explicitly in the lived daily reality of teaching in an underfunded, multilingual urban public school, and he draws a sharp contrast with what he characterizes as the disconnect between Sacramento politicians and actual classroom conditions.
- Deep Roots in Immigrant and Working-Class Communities: Lara’s biography — immigrant family, border-town upbringing, bilingual educator in the Mission District, decade of organizing alongside undocumented families — gives him an authenticity on immigrant rights and economic justice that is unmatched among the candidates. His grassroots record includes raising $100,000 for undocumented families excluded from federal COVID relief, organizing student marches against family separation, and serving on the CFT’s Racial Justice Task Force.
- Boldest Structural Platform in the Field: Lara is the only candidate proposing a statewide ban on school vouchers, a moratorium on new charter schools, and mandatory unionization of all existing charter and private schools that receive public funding — a maximalist pro-public education position that no other candidate in the race advocates. He also proposes free childcare, universal pre-K, free community college, ICE out of schools, and a hard cap on class sizes backed by state funding.
- Proven Union Leadership at Scale: As Executive Vice President of UESF since 2021, Lara has led a 6,000-member union through significant institutional challenges — including organizing the union’s response to SFUSD’s payroll system failure that missed payments to over 4,000 employees — and built it into what supporters describe as one of the strongest educator unions in California. He currently serves on the CTA Financing Public Education Committee, shaping union positions on school funding legislation statewide.
Criticisms and Vulnerabilities
- Minimal Fundraising and Very Low Name Recognition: Lara has raised only a small fraction of the funds raised by the field’s leaders — well below even the mid-pack candidates — and has minimal statewide media coverage outside of progressive and labor outlets. Due to a shortage of major endorsements and minimal fundraising, most analysts consider it unlikely his campaign will advance to the general election. In a top-two primary with 10 candidates, breaking through without institutional money or a major union endorsement (the CTA backed Barrera, the CFT backed Muratsuchi) presents an enormous structural barrier.
- Platform Substantially Exceeds the Office’s Authority: Many of Lara’s signature proposals — a statewide charter moratorium, mandatory unionization of private schools, universal pre-K funding, and hard class-size caps — would require legislation from the governor and legislature to implement, and several would face significant constitutional and legal challenges. Critics have noted that running on a platform that the superintendent cannot unilaterally deliver risks creating a mandate the office has no power to fulfill.
- Outside the Political Mainstream in a Statewide Race: Lara runs explicitly as a socialist candidate affiliated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, under the Peace and Freedom Party ballot line. While this gives him ideological clarity and a committed activist base, it places him well outside the political mainstream in a statewide nonpartisan race where the median California voter — and most of the Democratic establishment — is significantly to his right. Even most progressive Democrats in the field have declined to endorse positions as far left as his.
- No Administrative, District, or State Policy Experience: Unlike candidates with school board (Barrera, Shaw), legislative (Rendon, Muratsuchi, Newman), or community college governance (Henderson) experience, Lara has no direct experience managing a large public institution, a multi-billion-dollar budget, or working within the Sacramento policy process. Supporters argue his union leadership at UESF provides relevant institutional experience; critics argue it is insufficient preparation for overseeing a $150 billion statewide education system.
Campaign Contributors
Lara’s campaign has raised minimal funds compared to the rest of the field, relying primarily on small individual donations and grassroots support. Full contributor details are available at Transparency USA (FPPC #1481348).
