"The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all."
-- - John F. Kennedy
Three weeks after the November 5, 2024 election, Los Angeles County released its final update of the vote totals. Unlike the primary election where the vote leader in two races changed as votes were counted, the results in this year's races stayed relatively steady. Sherlett Hendy Newbill, Scott Schmerelson, and Karla Griego led when the first results were released on November 5, 2024, and they were all declared winners of their races when the counting was finished. Supporters of Public Education will retain the majority in the new term.
The largest variance between the initial and final results was in Board District 1 (BD1) where Newbill saw her substantial lead fall by four and a half points to 71.07%. This is surprising as there was very little activity in the race. The Charter School Industry's chosen candidate, Didi Watts, had been eliminated in the primary election, and their operative, Michael Trujillo, had exposed the candidate not backed in the General Election by UTLA for a Tweet supporting an anti-Semitic book. With no candidate left to support, charter school supporters stayed out of the race to succeed veteran educator Dr. George McKenna.
Charter School Industry operative Michael Trujillo trying to build momentum for his candidate on Twitter.
(Image by Michael Trujillo) Details DMCA
With last-minute allegations being flung by supporters of both candidates, the race in BD5 had the potential for volatility as the votes were counted, but ended up with only a 0.36% change between election night and the final count. Trujillo's assertion that "UTLA feels they might lose both races" was exposed as nothing more than bluster when Griego easily beat his candidate. The other UTLA-supported candidate, Scott Schmerelson, also scored a win.
BD3
As the only incumbent running in the election, Schmerelson had a built-in advantage in the runoff election. However, he did not generate enthusiasm among many who had supported him previously. Instead, the focus was on defeating his opponent, Dan Chang, who had a long history of profiting off of charter schools and acted like a pompous ass during the campaign. The result was the closest election in this cycle.
Under Los Angeles' term limits law, this will be the last time Schmerelson faces the voters. As he embarks on building his legacy, will he continue on the path of acquiescence that has brought him diminishing returns from the electorate or will he finally make the moves to bring desperately needed changes to the District, including improving the delivery of Special Education services and taking control back from the unelected Superintendent?
Campaign Finance:
While the Charter School Industry was unsuccessful in its attempt to retake control of the LAUSD School Board, it was not from a lack of effort. Between the two contested races, supporters of these publicly funded private schools spent almost $6.2 million in the November election. This is on top of the almost $2.7 million that was spent in the Primary. Imagine if this $8.85 million had been spent on improving charter schools instead of helping them to avoid regulation. They could have even paid off the past-due balance owed to the students of Los Angeles Public Schools.
To compensate for the over $4.7 million that the charter school industry spent trying to convince the electorate to vote for Dan Chang, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) spent about $1.7 million in the BD3 race. Between the two camps, $479,394 was spent on advertising classified as negative.
In BD 5, the spending was evenly matched, as it was in the primary election. Without this financial advantage, the Charter Schools had much worse results.
Next Step:
In two years, the even-numbered Board Districts will be holding elections. To maintain their majority, the supporters of public schools will have to either successfully defend the seat currently held by Rocio Rivas or pick off one of the seats now held by Nick Melvoin and Kelly Gonez.
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Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special education needs, who serves as the Education Chair for the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD's District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him "a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles." For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.
