Gloria Romero (Courtesy Photo)

It was a close finish, but it's official: Voters have denied Sen. Gloria Romero her next elected seat, halting her aspirations to bring education reform to the office of the state superintendent of public instruction.

Instead, they picked retired school superintendent Larry Aceves and Assemblyman Tom Torlakson to face off in a November runoff for the state's top elected education position.

Political novice Aceves came out on top of the non-partisan race with 18.8 percent of the vote; Torlakson won 18 percent; and Romero was close behind with 17.2 percent. The remaining votes were split among nine other candidates.

Romero, who has long represented parts of the San Gabriel Valley, said Wednesday she is disappointed

Election 2010

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by her close loss and said the status quo won.

"I am deeply saddened by the outcome of this race, which had signaled so much hope for the possibility of true education reform in California and an overdue shakeup of an education morass which remains complacent with failure," she said in a statement.

Romero had championed major education reforms in her run for the seat, including expanding charter schools and open enrollment between districts. She had the support of the well-financed reform group EdVoice.