Long Beach Unified Superintendent Jill Baker announced Thursday that she will retire at the end of the 2025-26 school year, after over 34 years working for the district.
A replacement has not been announced. The district said more information about the leadership transition will “be shared in the months ahead.”
Baker was promoted to the top job from her role as deputy superintendent in August 2020, becoming the first woman to hold the job and replacing longtime superintendent Chris Steinhauser. She beat out nine applicants for the position and was largely considered the frontrunner, the Long Beach Post previously reported.
“Student experience and performance have remained central drivers in my work,” Baker said in a video released Thursday, referring to her long career as an educator, which began in the classroom.
She assumed the superintendent role at a pivotal moment and was tasked with navigating school closures and reopenings during the COVID-19 pandemic. More recently, she has led the district through a controversial grading policy, new rules on phone use designed to reclaim attention and protect student mental health, initiatives to promote Black student achievement and belonging, a revamped approach to school safety and a series of cuts and strategies aimed at addressing the district’s dire financial situation tied to declining enrollment.
“Dr. Baker has led Long Beach Unified with integrity, vision, and deep humanity,” Board of Education President Diana Craighead said in a press release. “Her commitment to students, staff, and community has strengthened our District and positioned us well for the future.”
Craighead and her fellow board of trustees extended Baker’s contract through October 2029 at the Oct. 15, 2025, meeting, in what Craighead called “a vote of confidence,” one customarily conferred to senior district staff, though the extension provoked frustration that superintendent-level contracts were secured at a time when teachers were in extended contract negotiations.
Baker didn’t give a specific reason for her retirement or its timing.
“The decision to retire has not rested lightly with me because there is so much more to do. At the same time, I hold deep trust in those who are here and those who will come next,” she said in the video.
Indeed, her successor will inherit the problems of a large budget deficit, declining enrollment and fallout from recently announced cuts to programs and staff.