LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Former school board member Jackie Goldberg topped the 10-candidate field in today's special election in the Los Angeles Unified School District's District 5 with all precincts reporting but appeared short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff.
Goldberg received 48.26 percent of the vote with all 122 precincts and an unknown amount of vote by mail ballots counted, according to semi-official results released by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
Huntington Park City Councilwoman Graciela “Grace” Ortiz held a 53- vote lead over Heather Repenning, a former teacher and aide to Mayor Eric Garcetti, in the race for second. If Goldberg does not receive a majority when all the ballots are counted, she would face the second-place finisher in a runoff May 14.
Ortiz had 13.3 percent of the vote, Repenning 13.09 percent.
There are still many outstanding ballots to be counted, according to Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean C. Logan. An updated vote count will be released Friday, Logan said.
Educator Cynthia Gonzalez was fourth with 9.16 percent and Allison Bajracharya, a former executive of the California Charter Schools Association, fifth at 5.89 percent.
No other candidate had more than 4 percent.
The vacancy was created last July when board member Ref Rodriguez pleaded guilty to conspiracy and other charges for laundering campaign donations from family and friends. He resigned from his board seat the same day.
District 5 stretches from Eagle Rock, Highland Park and to Atwater Village, Los Feliz, and Silver Lake south to Vernon, Maywood, Huntington Park, Cudahy, South Gate and Bell.
Goldberg, 74, is a former teacher, LAUSD board member, Los Angeles City Council member and Democratic state legislator. Two LAUSD board members last year unsuccessfully tried to have her appointed to the seat to serve out the balance of Rodriguez's term, which runs through next year. But the proposal was rejected in favor of calling the special election.
Goldberg is heavily backed by United Teachers Los Angeles, the union representing the district's teachers. The union has been pouring money into Goldberg's campaign, hoping to undo a board majority that generally favored expansion of charter schools in the district.
Rodriguez's departure left the board with a 3-3 split on the issue, and a Goldberg victory would swing the panel back in UTLA's favor.
“I'm running to be a strong progressive voice on the board who will put the interests of the students first, and as someone who will not have a big learning curve when elected,” according to a statement on Goldberg's campaign website. “I believe my experience and passion for helping students will be a steadying force on a board that continues to face turmoil.”
Ortiz is also a licensed social worker and longtime LAUSD school counselor.
“What I can promise the people who live in Board District 5 is that I will work tirelessly on their behalf and that I hope to never let them down,” Ortiz told CNS. “I promise that the success of our students is what will guide me in my decision process during my tenure on the school board.”
Repenning has the backing of Garcetti and several City Council members, along with a host of labor unions.
Repenning told CNS that LAUSD schools are “not currently set up to meet the challenges facing the many students whose families are living in poverty, 80 percent of which qualify for free and reduced lunch.
“Many of our families have enrolled their kids in charter schools which are not subjected to the same level of transparency and accountability as district schools, and many union jobs have been lost in this process,” Repenning said.
Gonzalez, a longtime teacher and a high school principal in South Los Angeles, said on her website she has a “deep understanding of what works in the district and what needs to improve to make all of our schools great schools for kids.”
Bajracharya is also a former chief operations and strategy officer for Camino Nuevo Charter Academy in the MacArthur Park area.
“As a parent, former teacher and school leader, I understand the strengths and weaknesses of LAUSD from all perspectives,” she told City News Service.
“I believe it is essential that every child in L.A. have access to great schools that give them the opportunity to graduate and succeed. Unfortunately, that's not the case now. I am running because I believe I have the experience and credentials to turn that around.”
The other candidates were:
-- Nestor Enrique Valencia, a Bell City Council member, who said he has worked on LAUSD school site councils. He said the district “must invest in teachers so that they can continue to help students succeed.”
-- Ana Cubas, a professor at East Los Angeles College and founder/president of the nonprofit Latina Public Service Academy. She said she will work to make the district more transparent in its business dealings, “fight to empower teachers and parents” to improve reading and writing scores and increase the number of students fully proficient in English.
-- Salvador “Chamba” Sanchez, a community college teacher who said the district must work to turn around low-performing schools, saying he has seen “firsthand the academic inadequacy of my students who had recently graduated from high schools.”
-- David Valdez, a former member of the county Arts Commission, who said he is committed to capping classroom sizes, ensuring teachers have supportive services at school sites, fighting for increased education funding and revitalizing district art programs.
-- Rocio Rivas, a neighborhood council member who said she is running “to protect my son's civil right to a free and quality public education.”
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