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Tony Thurmond has served as California’s superintendent of public instruction since his election in 2018, overseeing the nation’s largest public school system with 5.8 million students and 10,000 schools. A Democrat, he served in the California Assembly from 2014 to 2018, representing much of the East Bay, following more than a decade in public office, including the West Contra Costa School Board and the Richmond City Council, as well as leading nonprofits serving disadvantaged youth in the East Bay.

His life of public service comes from his childhood experience. Born in Monterey, he lost his mother, an immigrant from Panama, when he was 6, after his father never returned to the family from the Vietnam War. He and his younger brother were sent to Philadelphia, where they were raised by cousins they’d never met. The family lived in poverty, relying on public assistance, including free school lunches. Nevertheless, he made his way to Temple University, where he was student body president, and then earned dual master’s degrees in law and social policy and social work from Bryn Mawr College. 

In the state Assembly, Thurmond joined the Latino and Black legislative caucuses. He also joined the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, where he worked on issues such as Holocaust education and the state’s ethnic studies model curriculum, seeking to ensure it remained free of antisemitic and anti-Israel bias. He has been honored for his efforts by Jewish organizations, including this spring by the Jewish caucus for his leadership in Holocaust education. 

Most people do not know about his Jewish connections. Thurmond, 55, was introduced to Judaism by the Philadelphia cousins who raised him. They were followers of Hebrew Pentecostalism, a Black church with roots in the Old Testament. The family kept a kosher home and observed the Sabbath and major Jewish holidays. Although Thurmond left the church in college, his attachment to Jewish practice and the Jewish people continued and strengthened. 

Thurmond is in the middle of serving his second term as state superintendent. Term limits prevent him from running again, and he has already launched his gubernatorial campaign for 2026. He told J. he hopes to become “California’s first Black and Jewish governor.”

Thurmond has two daughters, 18 and 21, and lives in Richmond. He spoke to J. in early July about his commitment to fighting antisemitism and preserving the memory of the Holocaust, as well as his educational priorities at the start of the new school year. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

J.: Do you consider yourself Jewish? Your history with the Jewish caucus in Sacramento and your actions in support of Israel and the Jewish community since then certainly indicate a kinship.

Tony Thurmond: Think of me as a convert who’s never been through a formal conversion. My understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition is that it all grows from Judaism, and I see the value and power of it and love it, and it is part of who I am. Why it’s not in any news story, I don’t know. I’ve been very open about my intersectionality all along, since the time I arrived here in the Bay Area. 

I consider Rabbi Rebekah Stern [of Reform Congregation Beth El in Berkeley] my spiritual adviser. In the Legislature, I was preparing for a vote on a bill about assisted suicide. Should I vote for it or not? I went to her and she provided me stories in Torah to guide me. That helped me. When I was sworn in as superintendent in Sacramento, she gave the blessing. 

In 2021, you visited Israel for the first time, as co-leader of a trip with the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles. What impact did that have on you? 

It was very powerful. Everyone told me not to go. They’d say, don’t go to Israel right now, wait till there’s no controversy. I said, well, when will that be? I would say the trip was helpful for me from a policy standpoint of understanding what a two-state solution might look like. I heard from Israelis, I heard from American Jews. I heard from Palestinian young people and their educators. I went there thinking, still in an aspirational way, is there a way that there can be a two-state solution where each of the different faiths still has access to the holy places that are important to them? I think it’s possible. Obviously the war set that back dramatically, but I came home with a sense of hope, having heard from people from many perspectives.

You have been very proactive, in the Legislature and as superintendent, in fighting antisemitism in California schools and advocating for Holocaust education. In the Assembly you sponsored SB 693, which established the Governor’s Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education. You oversaw the establishment of a curriculum to promote Holocaust education, and as superintendent you convened the first state-sponsored Holocaust oral history project. Where does your drive come from? 

It really comes natural to me. I don’t think we can sit on the sidelines and watch any form of hate be allowed to prosper. It struck me, seeing the dramatic spike in antisemitism, that we need to get to young people to make sure they are not co-opted by neo-Nazi groups. That’s why we set up the oral history project. The Holocaust is history that happened, and if our students know about it, if they hear about it firsthand from those who experienced it and who suffered, they will be able to empathize and not fall down the path of engaging in hate speech, even making jokes. 

I am sensitive to seeing acts of antisemitism because of my own personal experience, but I’m also sensitive to seeing any kind of hate against any group. I’ve taken it upon myself to say we’re going to stick our nose in any time there is a conflict that comes to our attention on a school campus. When young students tell me that they feel threatened and bullied and that they need someone to help them, I’m going to show up for them.

Given that the war in Gaza is still ongoing, what do you anticipate in the public schools this next semester, and how will you deal with it? 

The first thing is that no student should ever feel unsafe coming to school, and I know that there are accounts of Jewish students who feel uncomfortable being identified as Jewish. And that tells me that there’s been a breakdown in some way. I regularly speak to parents in Berkeley, Oakland and other places who have raised concerns. My intervention has often been at the superintendent level, asking what’s going on? How can we help you right this situation? This year I co-sponsored a bill that would allow us to create an Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education so we can have staff to do investigations and help us unravel where these things are taking place. 

On Oct. 7, I tweeted about Israel’s right to defend itself from attack. I know that people want to use the war as a teachable moment, and if they’re going to do that, they have a responsibility to do that without imparting whatever their view is on students, and certainly not in a way that makes students feel uncomfortable for who they are, not for a Jewish student, not for an Islamic student, not for a student of any background. And clearly, there have been places where it seems like things have gone too far. We don’t have direct authority over any school district. There are 1,000 districts, and they all have their own school boards. But we are constantly doing all we can to use the bully pulpit to counter antisemitism, to bring resources into the classroom.

Ethnic studies will become a required class starting in the 2025-2026 school year and a graduation requirement starting with the class of 2030. The state has developed a model curriculum that underwent revisions after concerns were raised by Jewish groups, among others. The new, improved model curriculum is not required in any district; it is suggested, but districts can teach ethnic studies in any way they wish. Some local school districts have adopted the so-called Liberated curriculum, which presents Israel as a colonialist enterprise. How do you view all of this? 

I have maintained that ethnic studies is something unto itself. It’s about four groups, the experience of Black students, Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans. If people want to have a debate about Israel and the Palestinian people, they can have that, but they should not have that in the ethnic studies conversation, because that is not what ethnic studies is. When I arrived at the Department of Education as a first-year superintendent, there were some teachers who’d already put BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel] into the ethnic studies conversation and some stereotypical language into the [model curriculum] draft. And I said this must be removed immediately. I held a press conference with the Jewish caucus and we removed it.

You’ve always focused on empowering youth, reducing literacy gaps and promoting social and economic equity. Any new areas of focus this year? 

For as long as I can remember, people always talked about the achievement gap. And I think that we can close it. And I think the best way to close it is by focusing on reading and math, because we all know reading is a gateway skill. I’ve been able to help secure $500 million for reading coaches to make sure that teachers have the support to support kids when they learn to read. I sponsored the bill that the governor just signed, making a personal finance class a requirement as of 2031, so kids learn how to balance a budget, how to open a bank account — practical, hands-on things about how the economy works so they can manage their personal life.

Is it unusual for a Superintendent of Education to co-sponsor legislation? 

Not at all. Last year I sponsored 20 bills, and three of them were signed into the budget midyear. As a former legislator, I realized that to get things done, you must get them funded in the budget or enacted in law, and so I’ve used legislation as part of my toolkit. Now we’re implementing the biggest investment that we’ve ever seen to help students recover from learning gaps and learning loss: the learning block recovery grant. It pays for extra tutoring and longer school days, the kind of things that are going to help our students overcome some of the biggest challenges that they experience. I’ve used legislation and advocacy in the budget as a way to help fill the gaps of what schools need to help our kids be successful.

You know, every 4-year-old in the state gets free preschool and two meals a day now because of a bill that I sponsored — because I was that kid on the free lunch program.