A California school superintendent was named 2011 National Superintendent of the Year this afternoon, beating out Renton School District Superintendent Mary Alice Heuschel and two other finalists.

The honor was announced at the American Association of School Administrators’ (AASA) annual conference in Denver, Colo.

Heuschel was named the 2011 Washington state Superintendent of the Year by the state Association of School Administrators.

The national Superintendent of the Year is Marc Johnson, superintendent of the Sanger Unified School District.

All of the individual 2011 state Superintendents of the Year winners were brought onto the stage and congratulated by the AASA president and special guests. The four finalists were to remain on stage for the announcement. The other superintendents in the running for the national honor were Phinnize Fisher of South Carolina and Tom Trigg of Kansas.

Johnson will receive a $10,000 college scholarship presented in his name to a student in the high school from which he graduated.

The award is co-sponsored by AASA, ARAMARK Education and the ING Foundation.