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Our call — see the breakdown
The race
Franklin-McKinley School District (South San Jose) elects its five-member board at large. Three seats are up on November 3, 2026 — the terms of Rudy J. Rodriguez, Marc Cooper, and Steven Sanchez all end in November 2026, per the district's own June 9, 2026 election resolution — and four candidates are running: the three incumbents plus challenger Gilbert Borrayo. Voters choose up to three. There are no trustee areas and no appointed-in-lieu seats in this race, per the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters' Final Qualified List.
The district's governing facts are hard ones: enrollment has fallen from 9,673 (2011–12) to 5,766, the district carries an almost $23 million budget shortfall after one-time COVID money ran out, and the board voted 3–2 — after a postponement fight — to close three elementary schools (San José Spotlight). Every candidate in this race owns a piece of that record or must answer for it.
The candidates
Marc Cooper (incumbent) — Record (proven, documented by the board's own actions and Spotlight's reporting): Cooper is the board's parental-rights dissenter. He was previously censured by the board for his connection with Informed Parents of Silicon Valley, an organization openly opposed to teaching critical race theory and gender-expansive education in schools. In September 2026 the board admonished him again after he used a board meeting's 9/11 remembrance to argue that the Supreme Court has ruled America a Christian nation and distributed gifts to board members and the superintendent; the board's September 11 letter said he "disregarded the views of others, made misleading claims about the law, and created the impression (that) we condone his actions, which the board does not." Cooper responded that he does not hate Muslims, that his wife is from a Muslim country and became a Christian, and that the country's roots are Judeo-Christian. On the closures, Cooper voted with Rodriguez and board president George Sanchez to delay the closure decision by two weeks (Spotlight). Credit: He is the only candidate in this race with a documented record of opposing CRT and gender-expansive teaching — the exact curriculum fight this page covers — and he cast that record against his own board's majority at real political cost (two censures). Dirt, stated fairly: The censures themselves are proven facts, and the board's charge that his Supreme Court claim was misleading is on the record; his dais conduct, not his positions, is what his colleagues punished. Voters get both facts here.
Steven Sanchez (incumbent, board vice president) — Record: Sanchez voted against delaying the closure decision and then for closing the three schools, telling Spotlight: "We still have lost 40% of our enrollment since 2010. Over half of our schools are 50% used or less. That is not sustainable." On the Cooper admonishment he said, "Our district must remain a place where every family feels respected and represented, regardless of their faith, culture or background." Credit: He took the fiscally unavoidable vote — closing half-empty schools in a $23 million hole — and said why, on the record, with the enrollment math. That is fiscal stewardship under pressure. Dirt: None located beyond the closure vote itself, which this page scores as a credit, not a flaw.
Rudy J. Rodriguez (incumbent) — Record: Rodriguez voted to delay the closure decision and told Spotlight he would never support closing schools and urged alternative plans; on the Cooper matter he was the trustee who publicly demanded Cooper's resignation at the meeting, calling his comments "hateful, divisive and unrepresentative." He is endorsed by Democrats for Public Education for re-election (the organization lists the race as "vote for 3 of 4"). Credit: Long service; a consistent neighborhood-schools position his constituents can judge. Dirt: Refusing, as a stated absolute, ever to close a school in a district that has lost 40% of its students and faces a $23 million shortfall is a documented fiscal position — and it is the opposite of stewardship. His resignation demand targeted the board's one documented curriculum dissenter.
Gilbert Borrayo (challenger) — Credit: Borrayo is endorsed by Democrats for Public Education ("Website TBA," per the endorsement list). Dirt: None located. Gap: No campaign site, platform, questionnaire, or statement on closures, curriculum, or the deficit was located in this pass. Unproven.
Pros and cons
- Cooper — Pro: The race's only proven parental-rights/curriculum record — censured for ties to an anti-CRT parent organization and unbowed. Con: Two board censures/admonishments for dais conduct, including a misleading-claims finding by his own board; voters who want the positions without the friction should weigh that honestly.
- Steven Sanchez — Pro: Proven fiscal stewardship: owned the closure math in public. Con: Part of the board majority that admonished Cooper; no documented curriculum positions.
- Rodriguez — Pro: Experienced; accessible neighborhood-schools advocacy. Con: "Never close a school" is a proven anti-stewardship position in a collapsing-enrollment district; led the resignation call against the board's dissenter; establishment-endorsed.
- Borrayo — Pro: Establishment endorsement shows organized support. Con: Published nothing findable — no position on the $23 million hole he would inherit.
Record gaps
Searches run for every candidate (October 25, 2026): Registrar's Final Qualified List (roster); the district's June 9, 2026 election resolution (whose terms expire); San José Spotlight's Franklin-McKinley archive — the Cooper admonishment story (Oct. 2026), the closure-delay story, the consolidation coverage, and its 2022 results file (all three incumbents won these seats in 2022); Democrats for Public Education's 2026 endorsement list (Rodriguez and Borrayo); GoodParty.org pages; candidate-name web searches for campaign sites and questionnaires. Borrayo is the gap: an endorsed challenger with no findable platform, documented as such.
OUR CALL
Endorse Marc Cooper and Steven Sanchez (two of your three votes). They earn it on opposite, documented grounds. Cooper is the proven parental-rights vote on this board — his censure file is the record of a trustee who fought CRT and gender-expansive teaching inside a hostile majority, and proven alignment outranks dais friction (which we print, not hide). Sanchez is the proven stewardship vote — the trustee who read the enrollment math aloud and closed half-empty schools in a $23 million deficit rather than pretend the money existed.
No endorsement for the third seat. Rodriguez's documented positions — never close a school, remove the dissenter — fail this page's tests on the record. Borrayo published nothing on which an endorsement could rest.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website. Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same. --- Sources — bulleted with URLs. - Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters — Final Qualified List of Local Eligible Candidates, Nov 3 2026 General Election — https://files.santaclaracounty.gov/exjcpb1296/2026-09/qualified-list-of-local-candidates-9-28-26.pdf?VersionId=CM6jbwAVTLFIjLakj6hJku2l9KPAIxli - Franklin-McKinley School District — June 9, 2026 election resolution (board members' term-end dates) — https://fmsd.community.diligentoneplatform.com/document/eacb6c98-82e4-4034-a4fe-e7db25fa50af/ - San José Spotlight — San Jose school trustee admonished for discriminatory remarks (Cooper censure history; Rodriguez resignation demand; Sanchez and Hoang statements) — https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-school-trustee-admonished-for-discriminatory-remarks/ - San José Spotlight — San Jose education leaders delay decision on school closures (3–2 delay vote; enrollment and $23M shortfall) — https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-education-leaders-delay-decision-on-school-closures/ - San José Spotlight — Franklin-McKinley School District news archive (3–2 closure vote) — https://sanjosespotlight.com/tag/franklin-mckinley-school-district/ - Democrats for Public Education — Endorsements Nov 2026 (Rodriguez; Borrayo) — https://www.sccdpe.org/ - GoodParty.org — Franklin-McKinley School Board candidates — https://goodparty.org/elections/ca/franklin-mckinley-elementary-school-district/position/local-school-board AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.