Contact me directly at:

anastasiahopperforkcboe@gmail.com

(209) 914-2374

Facebook: Anastasia Hopper

Instagram: AnastasiaHopperforKCBOE

Introduction:

Mary Little has held this seat since 1994. She won her last election by 433 votes.

I am running to change that on November 3, 2026.

I am Anastasia Hopper — a Central Valley native, health educator, homeschool administrator, special education parent, and mental health survivor who relocated my family to Oildale in 2020 in search of safer neighborhoods, affordable housing, and better schools. I am the mother of a young adult with Autism Spectrum Disorder. I live with Sjögren's disease, bipolar 2 disorder, and fibromyalgia. I relearned how to walk three summers ago. 988 has saved my life.

I am not running away from any of that. I am running because of it.

This board needs a mother who parents in 2026. Since Mary Little first took her seat we have lived through school lockdowns, a housing crisis, COVID, distance learning, rising school violence, social media addiction, and a children's mental health crisis unlike anything any previous generation of parents has ever faced.

Thirty-two years of service is honorable. But our children need a board that lives in their world.

Who I am as a Candidate:

PILLAR 1 — BETTER STUDENT OUTCOMES

The measuring stick for every decision.

The crisis:
— Kern County reads at 29.75% — 19 points below the California average
— Only 18% of Kern students meet math standards
— The Kern County Juvenile Court School graduates only 34.7% of its students — zero qualify for UC or CSU
— Kern County's chronic absenteeism rate is 18.9% — nearly 1 in 5 students

What I will do:
— Make literacy the board's top measurable priority — every meeting, every vote, every decision
— Advocate for full implementation of California's Golden State Literacy Plan and AB 1454 — nearly $1 billion in available funding
— Add a standing educational outcome and attendance data agenda item at every board meeting
— Coordinate the existing Kern resources to better support our families in need
— Push for K-2 reading difficulty screening in every classroom
— Fight to keep McKinney-Vento homeless youth education funding — currently being eliminated by the Trump administration
— Advocate for arts, music, sports, and extracurricular programs as documented attendance and literacy interventions
— Eliminate symbolic culture war resolutions that waste board time and replace them with standing equity data — discipline rates by race, literacy proficiency by race, graduation outcomes by race

PILLAR 2 — SPECIAL EDUCATION SAFETY

Every IEP is a promise. I will make sure this board keeps it.

The crisis:
— Students with disabilities are disproportionately represented in Kern County expulsion data
— Less than half of California schools have IEP emergency evacuation plans as required by Ed. Code 56345(a)(9)
— California banned prone restraints in January 2025 — many schools have not retrained staff
— SPED parents are still fighting for cameras in classrooms to protect nonverbal children who cannot report abuse
— School staff complete Livescan background checks once — at hire — with no mandatory renewal

What I will do:
— Advocate for cameras in SPED designated classrooms across KCSOS Community Learning Centers
— Demand IEP compliance audits disaggregated by race, disability status, and income level
— Oppose disproportionate expulsion of students with disabilities
— Advocate for IEP emergency evacuation plans in every school — especially wildfire-prone Lake Isabella and Kern River Valley schools
— Push for periodic Livescan renewal for staff working directly with vulnerable students
— Ensure Max Benson's Law — the prone restraint ban — is fully implemented and staff are retrained
— Screen every RISE program student for McKinney-Vento eligibility
— Support non-police crisis response protocols in all KCSOS alternative education settings
— Advocate for mental health professionals as core staff in every RISE program school

PILLAR 3 — FISCAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND LABOR PROTECTION

Public dollars belong in classrooms — not in pay raises.

The crisis:
— The KCBOE voted itself a pay raise from $80 to $2,000 per month — a 2,400% increase — without adding additional duties
— KCSOS is selling surplus property at 1001 Tower Way for approximately $3 million with no public plan for reinvestment
— The Kern County Juvenile Court School graduates only 34.7% of students — zero qualify for UC or CSU — with no board-level accountability
— Over 1,300 school districts have joined social media addiction litigation against Meta, Google, TikTok, and Snap — no Kern County district has joined yet

What I will do:
— Advocate for prevailing wage and union labor protections on all KCSOS public works and construction projects
— Recommend reinvestment of 1001 Tower Way proceeds in UV-C air purification ($42,900) and solar energy installation (projected $75,000-$200,000 in annual savings) for Community Learning Centers
— Bring union apprenticeship pathway representatives into career day events at the Kern County Juvenile Court School and RISE program schools
— Advocate for KCSOS to join the social media addiction litigation — and designate any settlement funds for mental health services and counseling
— Apply a restorative justice lens to all expulsion appeals — with a presumption toward keeping students in educational settings
— Audit expulsion appeal decisions for racial and disability disparity and publish results publicly
— Hold charter schools to equitable enrollment and outcome standards as a condition of renewal
— Demand public annual reporting on all KCSOS alternative school outcomes — graduation, attendance, post-school destinations
— Never vote for a board pay raise while programs are being cut

YOUR INVESTMENT

What your donation does — and why it matters right now.

I am a corporate-free candidate. Every dollar in this campaign comes from working people — neighbors, parents, educators, and community members who believe Kern County's children deserve better.

Mary Little won her last election by 433 votes. This race is decided by a margin smaller than the number of people who attended your last community event. Every dollar you invest closes that gap.

Here is what your investment does in this campaign:

$15 — A box of donuts for a teacher break room visit. Reaching 15-20 educators who deserved to be seen and thanked — and who deserve a board member fighting for their contract.

$25 — Flyers for one full voter registration shift at the Kern County Fair. Reaching 250 families. Every voter registered knows my name first.

$50 — Half a yard sign. Your yard. Your block. Your neighbors seeing this campaign is real.

$100 — A targeted mailer to union households in Trustee Area 3 — reaching families the KIM Central Labor Council has already identified as our most motivated voters.

$250 — A community event sponsorship. The SALT Stomp Out Suicide Walk. Haunted Library on Halloween. Events where my name reaches thousands of Kern County families.

$500 — One week of digital advertising reaching every registered Democratic voter in Trustee Area 3.

$1,000 — A full direct mail piece to every union household in the district. The most targeted, highest-converting voter contact tool available in a local race.

This seat was decided by 433 votes. We do not need a massive budget. We need enough to reach the right people at the right time with the right message.

If 1,000 people give $15 — we get there.

Will you be one of them?

SECTION: ENDORSEMENTS

Who is standing with this campaign — and why I asked for each one.

✅ Democratic Women of Kern
Endorsed by membership vote

Democratic Women of Kern is Kern County's largest and most influential Democratic women's organization — and the organization that directly inspired this candidacy. On June 13, 2026 their members called for someone of conscience to run against a 32-year incumbent on the Kern County Board of Education. I answered that call.

After a formal endorsement process — including a written questionnaire, a candidate interview, and a democratic membership vote requiring over 60% approval — DWK voted to endorse this campaign in September 2026.

I pursued this endorsement because the women in that room have been fighting for this community longer than most candidates have been paying attention. Their standards are high, their process is rigorous, and their endorsement means something real. Earning over 60% of their membership vote is not a formality. It is a mandate.

When the women who mobilized you decide to stand behind you — that is the campaign working exactly as it should.

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✅ Dr. Chris Cruz-Boone — BCSD Board President
Public endorsement

Dr. Cruz-Boone was the only BCSD member to vote against a board pay raise while programs were being cut. She is a champion for students and educators who has consistently chosen principle over politics. I asked for her endorsement because I want to be the board member she has always been — and because when the most respected education leader in Bakersfield says your name, people listen.

Her words: "Anastasia is a passionate champion for special education and she brings the heart, determination, and advocacy our students and families deserve."

✅ Vice Mayor Manpreet Kaur — Bakersfield City Council, Ward 7
Early endorsement confirmed

Vice Mayor Kaur has been a consistent voice for working families, immigrant communities, and the people of south Bakersfield. I asked for her endorsement because the families she represents are the same families whose children fill the classrooms this board is supposed to serve. Her support signals to every voter in south and east Bakersfield that this campaign is for them.

✅ California Working Families Party
Endorsed

The WFP was built to elect candidates who are accountable to working families — not corporations, not PACs, not special interests. I am a WFP member who campaigned for this endorsement because I believe the party that recruited, trained, and elected officials like Zohran Mamdani and Randy Villegas should be behind this race too. I completed their questionnaire, sat for their interview, and told them exactly who I am. They said yes.

✅ Kern County Democratic Central Committee
Dual endorsement

The KCDCC endorses Democratic candidates at the local level across Kern County. I pursued this endorsement because local Democratic infrastructure — voter contact lists, precinct organization, community relationships — is exactly what a first-time candidate without a political machine needs. Their dual endorsement signals to every Democratic voter in Trustee Area 3 that this is a race worth showing up for.

✅ Kern Inyo Mono Counties Central Labor Council — AFL-CIO
Endorsed

The KIM CLC represents working families across Kern, Inyo, and Mono Counties — including IBEW Local 428, Painters and Allied Trades District 36, the Teamsters, and dozens of other affiliated unions. I pursued this endorsement because prevailing wage, apprenticeship pathways, and fiscal accountability for public works spending are not talking points for me. They are convictions. I sat in their endorsement interview and told them about how my small trade business was closed during Covid-19, and I understood what it meant to have to start over when unprotected. They endorsed me the same week.

Their letter: "This endorsement is a meaningful recognition of your commitment to working families, good-paying jobs, and strong communities throughout our region."

✅ Kern Inyo Mono Counties Building and Construction Trades Council — AFL-CIO
Endorsed

The Kern Inyo Mono Counties Building and Construction Trades Council represents every construction trade union in Kern County — electricians, painters, plumbers, carpenters, ironworkers, operating engineers, cement masons, sheet metal workers, and more. When the Building Trades endorse a candidate they are putting the full weight of organized construction labor behind that campaign.

This endorsement began with a single conversation.

At a community mixer I met Julian Najera of Painters and Allied Trades District 36. He told me about workers going unpaid on public works jobs in Kern County — laborers who showed up every day and did not receive the wages they earned. I went home and wrote him a letter. That letter became a relationship. That relationship became a KIM Central Labor Council endorsement. And the Building and Construction Trades Council followed.

I pursued this endorsement because prevailing wage protections on KCSOS public works projects, union apprenticeship pathways into the Kern County Juvenile Court School, and fiscal accountability for every public dollar this board spends are not talking points for me. They are convictions.

The Building Trades know the difference between a candidate who supports labor and a candidate who shows up for labor. I intend to be the latter — from this campaign and from that board seat.

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In CLOSING:

The incumbent won by 433 votes. The children of Trustee Area 3 have been waiting 32 years for someone to fight for them from that seat.

I am Anastasia Hopper. I am a mother who parents in 2026. And I am asking you to invest in what we are building together.

💙 Donate today