Superintendent Mike Freeman announces bid to maintain seat as head of Shasta County Office of Education
Freeman was appointed to his position as superintendent in 2024. He’s the only candidate to submit a campaign filing for the position with the elections office thus far.
Mike Freeman, the Superintendent of the Shasta County Office of Education, has announced his candidacy for the upcoming primary in June.
As superintendent, Freeman holds the highest position at the office of education, and plays a key role in managing county-wide educational initiatives and advising the elected SCOE board members who oversee the county’s education budget. The office provides a number of special programs for homeless students, foster youth and caregivers as well as providing contracted business services for other schools. SCOE also manages its own school district with six schools that fall under Freeman’s direct oversight.
While SCOE provides some financial oversight to all schools in the county, in particularly by providing annual approval of budgets, individual school district superintendents and boards are empowered to make most decisions without SCOE’s involvement.
Freeman was appointed to his position by a vote of the SCOE board in 2024, replacing Judy Flores after she retired. Before his appointment, Freeman served as Flores second-in-command, as the Associate Superintendent of Educational Services. According to his campaign website, Freeman has been a K-12 educator for 25 years and holds degrees in education and Spanish. He began his career at SCOE in 2019 as part of the Instructional Services Team.
“Being a student today is hard. Raising kids as parents and guardians in 2026 is hard. Being an educator in school right now is hard. It’s all hard, but it’s worth it,” Freeman said in a press release this morning. “My role as the Shasta County Superintendent of Schools is about supporting students, families, and schools.”
He used the press release to outline his campaign priorities include school safety, championing public education, and increasing reading and math scores countywide.
Freeman also said he’s committed to supporting county-wide programs including community schools grants, and continuing to invest in community partnerships, such as the Whiskeytown Environmental School and the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.
Sixteen school superintendents have endorsed Freeman, including Columbia Elementary School District Superintendent Clay Ross, a member of the CORE committee focused on preventing substance use among Shasta County’s youth.
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