CA Superintendent Candidate Gus Mattammal Visits Downieville

DOWNIEVILLE — Gus Mattammal pulled into Downieville aboard his bright yellow school bus known as the “Gus Bus.” The Bay Area educator and business executive is one of several candidates seeking the office of California Superintendent of Public Instruction in the June 2 nonpartisan primary. Mattammal sat for an interview with the Mountain Messenger during his 50-stops-in-50-days tour of California, which includes stops in rural northern regions he says receive too little attention from statewide leaders.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction serves as the chief executive of the California Department of Education, an agency with roughly 1,800 employees. The office directs all department functions, executes policies adopted by the State Board of Education, oversees the state’s vast K-12 public school system, licenses teachers, disburses funding, and serves as the state’s leading spokesperson on education issues. Unlike many other statewide posts, the superintendent operates with considerable independence from the governor and legislature on day-to-day administration and innovation efforts. Mattammal stressed that the role allows an energetic leader to drive change without waiting for Sacramento approval on many fronts.

Mattammal grew up in inner-city St. Louis, where his neighborhood public high school posted a 25% graduation rate for 25 straight years. He says he became the only child on his block to finish high school after his parents sacrificed to send him to an all-boys Jesuit school. “Education is a hand up,” he told the Messenger. “It’s not a handout, and it could be a hand up for a lot more people in California than it actually is.” Mattammal later earned degrees in physics and math from Pomona College and an MBA from Yale University. For the past 23 years, he has worked full-time as an educator and executive with Advantage Testing, a nationally recognized tutoring company that he expanded across 10 states. He also serves as an elected member of the Midcoast Community Council, a Municipal Advisory Council to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.

Mattammal entered the race because he believes California’s public schools fail too many low-income minority children, the same children he grew up with. He has written a 200-page book, A is for Average, that lays out his platform in detail. “I want every kid who goes through the system to be able to read a book, do math, and get a job,” he said. “Those are to me the basic core skills.” Anything else, he added, remains “moot until we get those things right.”

To improve reading, Mattammal calls for statewide adoption of the science of reading, a phonics-based approach proven effective in states such as Mississippi. He would give districts one year to switch voluntarily. After that, he would launch a public shaming campaign against holdouts. “I’m gonna get on my Gus Bus, I’m gonna come down to your community, and I’m gonna hold some cameras in front of me, and I’m gonna list the names [of the people] who are preventing the children of this district from learning how to read,” he explained. For math, he plans to adapt Singapore Math—the curriculum used by the world’s top-performing country—to California standards and make the materials available at low cost to every district.

Mattammal also wants to expand career technical education so students can graduate ready for good jobs. He would push every middle schooler to take one career technical education class per semester and create clear pathways through high school to certificates and apprenticeships.

Rural schools face unique challenges, including small enrollments and staff who wear many hats. While Mattammal admitted he didn’t have all the answers for rural communities, he says that part of the reason he embarked on his “50 stops” tour was to listen to local perspectives. “Tell me what it is you want the [Department of Education] to be doing,” he urged local educators. “I’m happy to work on it.” He views the superintendent’s job as three-dimensional: running the department, facilitating innovation at the district level, and applying public pressure to scale successful ideas statewide.

The June 2, 2026, primary will narrow the field for the nonpartisan office. If no candidate wins a majority of the vote, the top two finishers will advance to the November 3, 2026, general election. Other candidates in the crowded race include Al Muratsuchi, a longtime state assemblymember and chair of the education caucus; Richard Barrera, president of the San Diego Unified School District board and a candidate endorsed by the California Teachers Association; Anthony Rendon, former speaker of the California Assembly; Nichelle Henderson, a Los Angeles Community College District trustee; and several additional educators and administrators. Incumbent Tony Thurmond is not seeking re-election; he is running for governor instead.