Lydia Gutierrez has logged hundreds of miles traveling across the state and spent thousands of her own money campaigning.

She has given speeches on the steps of the state Capitol in Sacramento, shaken hands at Tea Party protests in San Francisco and spoken at candidate forums closer to home.

She may not have the name recognition of her competitors in the race for state superintendent of public instruction, but Gutierrez, 52, believes she has what it takes to overhaul the state's education system.

The San Pedro resident and elementary schoolteacher in the Long Beach Unified School District is among 12 candidates vying to become California's top elected leader of K-12 instruction.

The winner of the nonpartisan race will replace current state superintendent of school Jack O'Connell, who is termed out. If no candidate wins more than half the votes in the June 8 primary, the top two vote-getters will face each other in the Nov. 2 general election.

Gutierrez's platform is vast. She has addressed topics from charter schools and teachers unions to nutrition issues and vocational training. She said her main focus, if elected, would be trimming California's education hierarchy to restore school funding.

"Streamlining bureaucracy would be a step in the right direction," she said on a rec