The ballroom at the Sacramento Hilton Arden West was bursting with energy last Friday evening as teachers and school administrators joined family and friends in celebrating the top teachers in Sacramento County. Reminiscent of the Oscars, the ceremony concluded with the announcement of the two Sacramento County Teachers of the Year 2026. Students introduced their teachers with heartwarming introductions, and the teachers gave enthusiastic speeches, leading up to the big moment—when last year’s champions ceremoniously tore open two envelopes, revealing the winners of the annual competition.
The top Sacramento County teachers for 2025–26 are Bethany Hancock, a 3rd-grade teacher at Elk Grove Elementary School (Elk Grove USD), and Derek Tahara, a 3rd-grade teacher at David Lubin Elementary School (Sacramento City USD).
Sacramento County Board of Education Trustee Heather Davis presented the two teachers with the top honor the Board bestows: the Elinor Lincoln Hickey Award of Merit. The Sacramento Scottish Rite also continued a long-running tradition of awarding perpetual trophies to the winners. News Anchor Richard Sharp from KTXL Channel 40 was the emcee at the ceremony. He also hosted a live interview of the County Teachers of the Year this morning on FOX40 News in the Morning.
The competition and awards ceremony were coordinated by the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE). Both teachers are now eligible to advance to the statewide competition, where five teachers will be selected as California Teachers of the Year.
What Inspires the Teachers?
As part of the county application process, district Teachers of the Year write a series of six, 750-word essays. SCOE collects some of these insightful and inspirational words and publishes selections in an anthology called Why We Teach. Keepsake printed copies were available at the awards ceremony and a PDF copy is available for download:
- Why We Teach—excerpts from the application essays submitted by this year’s competitors
Awards Ceremony Playback
The Sacramento Educational Cable Consortium (SECC) is producing a video of the awards ceremony that will air on Comcast channel 15 and stream on the SECC website:
- Saturday, September 13 (4:30 p.m.)
- Sunday, September 14 (9 a.m.)
What’s Next?
Throughout the school year, the district Teachers of the Year are honored at events, including ones anticipated to be hosted by the Sacramento Kings, Sacramento River Cats, and Sacramento Republic FC. The sponsor of the Sacramento Republic and Sacramento River Cats games is SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union.
The two winners join an elite group of teachers who have represented Sacramento County over the years. Previous Sacramento County Teachers of the Year are listed online—including Elinor Hickey, the namesake of the award the teachers received. Hickey was County Teacher of the Year 1978. She served for many years as a County Board of Education trustee, and a SCOE community school was named for her.
