José Magaña

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José Magaña

San Jose Unified School District school board Trustee Area 2

Tenure

2019 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

6

Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 8, 2022

Education

High school

Ceres High School

Other

Reach Institute for School Leadership, 2013

Personal

Birthplace

California

Contact

Campaign website

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José Magaña is a member of the San Jose Unified School District school board in California, representing Trustee Area 2. He assumed office on January 1, 2019. His current term ends on December 11, 2026.

Magaña ran for re-election to the San Jose Unified School District school board to represent Trustee Area 2 in California. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Magaña completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Jose Magaña was born in California. Magaña attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy and graduated from the Reach Institute for School Leadership in 2013.

Elections

2022

See also: San Jose Unified School District, California, elections (2022)

General election

General election for San Jose Unified School District school board Trustee Area 2

Incumbent José Magaña defeated Andres Macias in the general election for San Jose Unified School District school board Trustee Area 2 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		José Magaña (Nonpartisan)	72.9	9,649
		Andres Macias (Nonpartisan)	27.1	3,590

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 13,239
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Endorsements

To view Magaña's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.

2018

See also: San Jose Unified School District elections (2018)

General election

General election for San Jose Unified School District school board Trustee Area 2

José Magaña defeated Helen Chapman, Peter Allen, and Roumen Boyadjiev in the general election for San Jose Unified School District school board Trustee Area 2 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		José Magaña (Nonpartisan)	42.9	7,314
		Helen Chapman (Nonpartisan)	39.9	6,803
	Submit photo	Peter Allen (Nonpartisan)	12.7	2,167
	Submit photo	Roumen Boyadjiev (Nonpartisan)	4.4	752

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 17,036
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2022

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released October 29, 2018

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

José Magaña completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Magaña's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

The first male in his family to graduate from college, José began his career as a teacher in San José. After teaching, he transitioned into education technology as a teacher coach. He coached and worked alongside more than 500 teachers, leaders, and school districts across the country to better incorporate technology into their math and early literacy programs nationwide. Vice President Magaña served as a Senior Leader as the Managing Director of Impact for City Year San José/Silicon Valley. There he managed the education non-profit's largest department, where he oversaw over 120 staff, as well as academic, socio-emotional, and after-school support for 14 schools. José now fundraises money to provide students with high-impact tutoring all throughout the USA. Vice President Magaña also serves as a Vice Chair on the Library and Education Commission for the City of San José. Elected in 2018, Vice President Magaña has used his Certificate in Education Finance from Georgetown University to help secure policy wins like library cards for all, updating student grading policies, expanding ethnic studies, and a budget surplus after employee raises. Vice President Magaña and his wife, also an educator, live with their two daughters and puppy in San José.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• This work is personal. My life story serves as an example of the power of a public education system that prepares our students academically, and to be productive members of society. As a child of a teen mom and incarcerated father, education was my guide. And this is why my wife and I have each dedicated over a decade of service in education. I have been a teacher, teacher coach, education non-profit senior leader, and education policy/finance expert. Our children, staff, and community deserve a trustee who understands our education system and who has done the work. My daughter starts school in SJUSD next school year, and she and her classmates deserve a trustee who understands education.
• I am an education policy and finance expert. I know what it takes to run effective school systems and I have what it takes to find tangible solutions, bring resources to our district, and improve student outcomes. Unlike my opponent, I can actually show my work. For example, during my time in office, we gave all students library cards, updated our district Equity Policy, updated our grading policy, expanded gun safety measures, and increased training and pay for employees while keeping a budget surplus. I not only know the system, but have successfully navigated it to best support our students. Visit www.jose4sanjose.com to learn more.
• MAGA Trump Republicans are targeting our school boards all across Santa Clara County. My opponent is one of those MAGA Republicans who wants to bring his extreme politics to SJUSD. Candidates like my opponent MAGA Macias are already deceiving our community by spreading blatant lies about who and what policies he supports. He has not had any involvement in the community, has not regularly attended board meetings, and lacks any experience in education. My opponent’s campaign is funded and supported by right-wing, MAGA convservative extremists like his campaign treasurer and largest donor. Don’t let MAGA Macias and other MAGA candidates deceive you. Visit www.jose4sanjose.com to learn more

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I have spent over a decade serving in education. Whether it was my time as a teacher, coach, non-profit leader, or education policy/finance expert, I am fully dedicated to education policy. As Trustee, I have done the work and will continue to do the work on the following policy areas in education:

Student Academic Improvement, High-Impact Tutoring, Student Safety & Mental Health, Arts, STEM, & After School Programming, Employee Retention, More Resources from the Community, Transparent Communication.

I am the only candidate who has the experience, expertise and tangible wins that can move our district forward after the difficulty of the pandemic. My public service has been dedicated to equity, our children, and our most vulnerable. My opponent's experience has been yelling at board meetings or not attending any at all. His extremist positions would demonize certain populations of students, families, and staff. Our schools need proven, mature, and collaborative leadership, not extremist politics.

My daughters, neighbors and community deserve the best leader to help move the district forward. We need experience not extremism. Visit jose4sanjose.com to learn more.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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San Jose Unified School District school board Trustee Area 2

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