If you’ve ever sat through a school board meeting anywhere, you know how tedious and super bureaucratic they can be. So why would you want to be a school board member, and why are millions of dollars being pumped into our school board elections?
Because many people want to control what goes on at the second-largest school district in the country, its almost 575,000 students, 73% of whom are Latino, and its $20 billion budget. There are charter schools and their wealthy backers and there are some people who want to make some money and diminish the teacher’s union’s power and influence. Others want to support or continue cutting the LAUSD Police Department’s budget.
Others want to see the district spend more money on setting up mental and emotional health counselors, programs, and resources for students or continue to work on programs to make up for student learning loss over distant, online learning during the pandemic. And many people just want to rant and rave against the COVID-19 vaccine and the district's mandate that staff has to get vaccinated, like everything involving political power in L.A. The school board is small, with only seven board members representing 575,000 students and their parents, so every seat on the board is a big deal. Let’s meet the candidates.
District 2:
District 2 includes downtown, Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, Los Feliz, and East L.A.