Meet Bruce Ross for Shasta County Office of Education Trustee
Bruce Ross is running for one of four open seats on SCOE. He’s served on another local school district board for more than a decade and is a parent who hopes to bring a “focus on kids’ needs, not adults’ dramas” to the SCOE Board.
Communications director by day and twelve-year Redding School District Board member by night, Ross holds various titles connected to his commitment to education. None of those titles outweigh the most important to him, being a dad who wanted to get involved with his kids’ schools. Among his top priorities on SCOE are rebuilding Whiskeytown Environmental School and supporting school choice.
What background or experiences have prepared you to serve on the SCOE Board? What are your priorities as a board member?
I have served three terms on the board of trustees of the Redding School District and I’m very active with the California School Boards Association as the regional director for Shasta and five surrounding rural counties for about two years now, so I’ve really had the opportunity to learn about what’s happening not only in my own district but in other districts around Shasta County. I don’t have an education background. I am just a dad who wanted to get involved and make sure that my kids’ schools and their neighborhood schools were good.
My number one priority is Whiskeytown Environmental School, along with promoting school choice and focusing on kids’ needs over adult dramas.
What do you see as the value of public education? Have you or would utilize public schools for your children? Why or why not?
My wife and I have never considered alternatives to public schools. The American tradition of common schools, and of educating our whole populace, is what makes us a great, ‘small d’, democratic nation. I also think there is value for children to spend time with people who are not like them. Some of them you’ll get along with, some you won’t. But learning how to get along in a diverse society is an important part of growing up.
This board has seen a significant amount of conflict over the ideologically diverse views of its current members. How would you work to center the needs of students and collaborate with those you may disagree with?
Sometimes you can get sucked into arguments. I don’t need to fight with people, I can let it drop and move on to the next thing. I think the question I would always ask, and I would ask any board member when we’re making one of these decisions, is this: What does this do to improve education for kids? If I have to offer a gentle reminder about that principle, I can.
As a board member, you’ll oversee the county’s budget. What concerns if any do you have about SCOE’s current budgetary approach? What would you intend to change, if anything?
I don’t have any specific criticisms of the budget process or the current budget. I think they’re doing really good work.
One of the things that people don’t understand is what a county office of education does. For one thing, SCOE puts a lot of time and resources into early childhood education along with promoting access to childcare. Currently, SCOE is also looking at developing a new school site for children who’ve been expelled from other districts. I think that’s a great concept.
SCOE board members oversee several schools. How would you safeguard the rights of ethnically diverse children and those who are part of the LGBTQ+ community?
I think you should feel that any child, your queer child, your non-queer child, your ethnically different child, your not-in-the-minority child … every child should feel safe in their public school or their non-public school for that matter. Classrooms should have a good culture and be welcoming and respectful of all.
Shasta County serves numerous special education students. How would you work to uphold state and federal special education law and ensure the needs of special education students are met?
We’re here to do all we can to help. Special education issues and disagreements are probably the number one reason why you’re likely to have a closed session about pending or expected litigation on a school board. When you start to see the trend that there’s more lawyers involved, that’s usually a sign that something’s going wrong. Sometimes then you have to redirect the board conversation to what’s prompting all that litigation threat. Why are we talking to so many lawyers? What resources do we need to add and are we taking appropriate care?
Special education can be expensive, and that can be a challenge for school districts at times. I’m a Republican, but bless Gavin Newsom for California’s increased special education funding specifically for districts this budget year.
Oct. 7, 2026 2:15 p.m.: We have updated the story to correct a quote.
Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
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What does Mr Ross think about drag queen story hour at schools?
Chris: Has this happened in Shasta?
Bruce, as a fiscal conservative, would you call out members of your team for bad behavior? Or do you ascribe to the saying “you shall not speak poorly of your fellow Republicans no matter what.”
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Speak out or remain silent: what type of person are you?
If it would do something useful for the kids, maybe.
But I have not seen much by way of productive outcomes from school-board members calling each other out. Mostly just turns into pointless beefing on the Internet. I used to enjoy that kind of thing but have repented and changed my ways.
Kids’ needs, not adults’ dramas — I am not kidding!
I have known Bruce for sometime. My sense has always been that while he is a fiscal conservative, he is not a party policy marionette. He is a thoughtful, compassionate person who sees people, all people, as worthy of respect and being treated with dignity. An element that is lacking amongst some of our current members of SCOE.
If I lived in district one, I would vote for him.
GOP shill. Thumbs down…
I’ve known Bruce Ross since he was an editor at the Record-Searchlight. I’ve seen him at the YMCA, in the pool playing with his kids. He is a Republican who says good things about Newsom. He’s able to say “queer child” without offending. I will vote for him.
Because Trump’s politics have severely affected Shasta County school kids (and staff) in very negative ways, it’s fair to ask how much a political candidate supported this radical change by voting for, campaigning for, and endorsing Trump and his Republican Party, which installed people to carry out these policies, and yes, Bruce Ross is an active member of that machinery.
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It’s also understandable that not all SCRCC members are monolithic, and in many ways, Ross seems kind of like a Safe and Sane Republican. And of course, speaking ill of Trump in this country is a political kiss of death. And yes, SCOE is elected, thus a political entity.
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Voters know this: If you voted for or supported Trump, Shasta County’s educational systems could face $15–20 million in annual federal funding exposure risk across early childhood, special education, and other federally supported programs, due to Trump and his Republican Party. That’s not all, folks.
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Because of Trump and the Republican Administration, at least $162,390 in Shasta County SNAP-Ed funding was eliminated, and an estimated $1.2 million/year was shifted onto Shasta County government for CalFresh administration. This feeds a lot of kids.
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And, as we are voting in 26 days, please remember this: Like the Iran war, not one Democrat voted for ANY cuts in education or for Trump’s plans to do so! Think before you vote!
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SCOE’s upcoming December 16, 2026, budget study session should help determine whether those risks will lead to program or staffing reductions for Shasta County schools. Full disclosure of all this information is needed! It will be interesting to see how the new SCOE Board works to undo the damage to Shasta County education.
In my opinion, any candidate for the SCOE Board (and particularly those who self-identify as “republican”) must address the question of how Shasta County will be affected by the ongoing “republican” plan to abolish the Department of Education.
It’s a fair question that likely won’t be answered directly by any local candidate who identifies as Republican. It’s still the kiss of death to defy Trump and buck the MAGA hive mentality, especially in communities like Shastanistan. Maybe that will change following the midterms, but for now the GOP norm is to be mealy-mouthed about Trump/MAGA policies even if you recognize their toxicity. That’s exactly why I want to know if Bruce supports taxpayer-funded school vouchers for Christian schools.
Honestly, Ed, the dissolution of the Department of Education has not had any noticeable effect on school districts that I know of. Maybe the county office is different, but that is something I have not seen.
On the district level, one of the biggest sources of federal supplemental money for schools serving students from poor families is Title I. It adds up to real money. It used to come through the Department of Education. Now it comes from the Department of Labor, but it is the same money.
Just one example of how less has changed than meets the eye, at least from my local perspective.
Bruce, starting a comment with “Honestly” is not a license for evasion.
The “dissolution of the Department of Education” has already caused major damage nationwide, as noted here:
https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/plan-abolish-education-department-one-year-later
And it is also clear that the “republican” party, since its takeover by trumpists, has been weaponized to mount a direct attack on the “…great, ‘small d’, democratic nation…” you claim to support.
Many years ago you admonished me when I said that the republican party had been degraded to the state of having no principles or ideology beyond institutionalized corruption.
You could honestly disagree with my opinion then.
You cannot, today.
Trump cut 26% of Title I funding in 2025. He disrupted the allocation of $12 billion from K-12 education spending that Congress had already allocated, most of it before he took office—that’s two-thirds of the total allocated by Congress. California’s share was $800 million. He canceled $2.2 billion in grants across 30 K-12 and higher education programs.
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Really? Nothing has changed locally? Or are we just pretending that nothing has changed because fealty to Der Pumpkinführer is mandatory?
I learn new things every day, but if it has had a substantial impact on the Redding School District, our Chief Business Official has not mentioned it that I recall. Things could be different for the county office based on their different portfolio of programs.
I might agree that you personally can’t do much about the acute damage Trump and the Republican Party have inflicted on education across this nation, including in Shasta County schools. We can ignore it and hope it goes away, but anyone running for SCOE should at least be honest about it.
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C. Kelstorm, who was endorsed by the Shasta County Republican Central Committee (and you are an officer of the committee), stated that he came in second because voters confused Mike Gallagher with James Gallagher, running for California’s 1st District race. Sure, I guess a few MAGA folks did that. But even if you lived in the supervisor’s district, I know you’re that ignorant!
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I’m sure you are aware of the many policies and cuts by your endorsed 2024 candidate, Trump, and his Republican Party that have hurt our education systems. And I understand that even so, you will deny it; Republicans’ first rule of law: “Speak no ill of any fellow Republican,” known as the R.P.’s “Eleventh Commandment.” And as an officer of the party, I’m guessing you know that, because Democrats sued your party and your political leader, and the $6.8 billion Trump cut from federal education funding nationwide was restored; or maybe you don’t. Will you help SCOE reach out to our next Congressional Representative, Jared Huffman, to shore up schools in Shasta County?
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My questions are: What books would you personally like to ban? What do you think about CTR for high school seniors? I know you said you’re a bit of a fan of public schools, but what about funding Christian and private schools that take money away from public schools? We know the Democratic state of CA has made funding religious schools difficult. What about repealing Prop 13, which guts public education in CA? What about your political leader, Trump’s energetic support for Moms For Liberty in our public school systems? Are you fine with that? What about protecting LGBTQ rights in our public schools? What about sex education and birth control and hygiene availability for high school kids who want it; they’re having sex, you know.
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And although local colleges aren’t part of SCOE, your political party has cut billions in college funding and made student assistance harder to get, but don’t you hope economically disadvantaged students can access higher education after they leave high schools in SCOE’s jurisdiction? Will you actively work with Democrats to help make college entrance more available?
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Today, our kids face more complexity and challenges than ever. Transparent honesty must be the education system’s first policy. Hiding our heads in the sand won’t solve it…
I don’t know Bruce personally, but I’ve interacted with him enough online to feel good about voting for him, even though our politics are disparate.
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Bruce says: “My number one priority is Whiskeytown Environmental School, along with promoting school choice…”
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Awesome on the support for WES camp. I’d like elaboration on “promoting school choice.” Bruce is a Republican, and in much of the Republican South, “supporting school choice” now means giving taxpayer-funded vouchers to parents who elect to send their kids to private Christian schools. I’m 97.3% sure that Bruce doesn’t mean that. Based on his support for mainstream public schools, I doubt that he favors bleeding public schools white to fund private schools. I’d like some kind of confirmation, though, because not only no on vouchers, but HELL no.
That is an interesting question but a hypothetical one. There is no school voucher system for K-12 schools in California, and the county Board of Education could not create one.
The county board can hear the appeal if a family requests an interdistrict transfer and is denied, or if a district denies a charter school’s petition for authorization. Without prejudging any particular case, my instinct would be to give families options that work for them.
I believe it was a binary yes/no question.
“That’s exactly why I want to know if Bruce supports taxpayer-funded school vouchers for Christian schools?”
Is your answer “yes?”
I’m not sure how to interpret your answer. I mean, it’s clear that you skirted the question of whether or not you support vouchers for private religious schools by pointing out that they don’t exist in California. I’ll rephrase the question.
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If a district were to deny a charter school’s petition to create a faith-based charter school and the petitioners appealed to the County Board of Education, are you saying you’d be inclined to rule in favor of approving the Christian charter school so as to provide families that option?
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That should be a hard no. Not, “I can’t prejudge a hypothetical proposal, but I’ll err on the side of providing options.”
Charter schools is California must be non-sectarian. I am not aware of a religious school that has ever been proposed as a charter.
So, I support school choice but not illegal things.
There are rumors here in the Eastern part of the valley of a group of parents, disgruntled with secular curriculum, organizing to create a faith-based charter school. They’ll probably dress it up as secular if they’re not stupid, but that’s not how it’s being marketed.
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Frankly, I don’t trust a SCOE with the likes of Author Gorman and his M4L allies to resist that effort, especially if opposition by the unallied board members is going to comprise averting their collective gaze. It likely will take a lawsuit to stop it.
I have not heard that rumor, and I couldn’t usefully respond to rumors anyway.
I’d consider any charter petition with an open mind, but they are public schools run with public money and need to serve all.
(And the site only allows so many embedded replies, but this is to Esteban’s last comment.)
Don’t dodge the question. “School choice” is generally a scam to allow religious schools access to public funds. The fact that it doesn’t currently exist in California is irrelevant to the question of whether you support it. Do you?
Selah
Right here in Shasta County we have more or less open enrollment among and within districts, and a rich network of charter schools, so families have a lot of options to pick from within the public school system. That is not the norm everywhere in California, but either way it has nothing at all to do with religious schools.
You have dodged this question several times. I have no faith that you will stand up to Gorman, LaBarbera and Moms for Lunacy. You have lost my vote.
Selah