It’s clear what the next state superintendent will no longer do upon assuming office in January: run the California Department of Education. A new education commissioner appointed by the next governor will take on that responsibility under legislation Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in June.  What’s unclear is what the next state superintendent will actually do. Whoever wins next month’s election for the job — either Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified school board, or Richard Barrera, president of the San Diego Unified’s school board — will spend the next four years creating a new job template for future state superintendents.  Four times between 1928 and 1968, voters turned down opportunities to get rid of the superintendent position altogether. Assembly Bill 181 took a different tack: It consolidated responsibility for managing the education department and overseeing school improvement under a new education commissioner. It tacitly acknowledged that the elected state superintendent would remain an independent voice, free to roam California critiquing the state of education, advocating for positions they ran on and lobbying the Legislature to adopt them.  Live debate: Candidates for SSPI face off as the role changes  Join EdSource on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. for a live virtual debate with two candidates for California Superintendent of Public Instruction. Register here  The bill also granted the next superintendent some additional responsibilities. The person will become the first nongovernor-appointed member of the State Board of Education, and a member of the Community Colleges’ Board of Governors. The law provided initial funding for a small staff of about a dozen deputies and clerical staff.  But AB 181 was intentionally vague about other, bigger responsibilities, in part because Newsom and key Assembly leaders who authored the bill couldn’t agree on additional roles.   Changes to the role haven’t been central to either candidate’s campaign. Resolving the uncertainty in the new role will be a big part of the job, and the candidates have so far offered contrasting perspectives on how they’d approach the issue.