Superintendent & Executive Leadership

Dr. Gustavo Balderas, Superintendent

Dr. Gustavo Balderas began his life as the child of migrant farm workers in the Eastern Oregon town of Nyssa and developed his love of learning and passion for education in Oregon Public Schools, from kindergarten through his doctoral degree in educational leadership at the University of Oregon.

Dr. Balderas has been an educator for 36 years. He has served as superintendent in California, Washington, and Oregon, and has held numerous state and national positions.

His career highlights include being twice named National Superintendent of the Year, by AASA and by the National Association for Bilingual Education. He was also State Superintendent of the Year in Oregon and the Oregon Latino Educator of the Year. He received the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents Equity Leader Award and the ERDI Mike Kneale Excellence in Leadership Award. He was named Alumni of the Year from Western Oregon University and Top 100 Educator Influencers in 2023 by District Administration. Two positions that he is incredibly proud of serving in include his role as Past President of the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents and Past President of AASA.

In every district he has worked, he has closed both achievement and opportunity gaps for all students by implementing articulated systems to improve outcomes and by using data to help inform all decision making in the school system. He always leads through a strong equity lens, focused on our students most marginalized. He has worked diligently to diversify the workforce to be more reflective of the students each system serves. Beaverton School District was named the best district in the country by K-12 Dive under his leadership.

Dr. Balderas has been and is involved in numerous state, regional, and national organizations, and committees. He served on the Oregon State Board of Education as a superintendent liaison, the AASA Executive Committee, Chiefs for Change Board, Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents Executive Committee, and is a co-founder and inaugural president of the Oregon Association of Latino Administrators.