What does an LAUSD school board member do?

More than 538,000 students attend traditional public and charter schools in Los Angeles, the second-largest district in the nation. The district is also the county’s second largest employer with more than 74,000 educators, administrators, and support staff on its payroll.

Unlike in New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., where the mayor appoints education system leaders, Los Angeles schools are run by the school board, which voters elect directly. That makes L.A. home to the most consequential — and often, the most expensive — school board races in the country. It also makes L.A. the largest city in the country in which the mayor has no direct control over the school board.

LAUSD doesn't fit neatly into "city" or "county" categories. Although it's enshrined in the L.A. City Charter, LAUSD operates independently of City Hall. That's why you elect school board members directly. LAUSD also runs the schools in several other cities in L.A. County, such as West Hollywood and South Gate.

For the last decade, teachers unions and advocates for charter schools have spent millions against each other in these races, hoping to seat their favorite candidates on the school board. That’s because school board members have a lot of power. Among other things, school board members:

• Hire and fire the superintendent — their single most important responsibility. While the school board sets policy, the superintendent manages the day-to-day LAUSD operations. The current superintendent is Alberto Carvalho.
• Pass an $18.4 billion budget and decide how it will be distributed.
• Work with parents and resolve disputes in their district over facilities, budgets, etc.
• Vote on every charter school that hopes to open in L.A.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing challenges in the district, including declining enrollment, disparities in student learning, truancy, inadequate mental health support, and lackluster standardized test scores. In the wake of a three-day strike that shut down schools, the district agreed to double-digit raises for educators and support staff in 2023.

What’s on the agenda for next term?

• Learning loss: The COVID-19 pandemic erased years of progress in reading, writing, and math skills. LAUSD students made small gains on California's standardized math test last year, but the majority of students do not meet benchmark scores for any subject. Among the most vocal parents are those of students with disabilities, who say schools failed to meet their children’s needs during distance learning.  
• Enrollment: Twenty years ago, Los Angeles Unified schools were badly overcrowded. Now, LAUSD faces the opposite problem. The district’s enrollment declined for two decades before lurching downward at the start of the pandemic. California uses enrollment to set school funding levels, so declining enrollment means declining funding.
• Chronic absenteeism: Nearly a third of LAUSD students missed close to a month or more of school last year. While the rate of chronic absenteeism has declined from earlier pandemic highs, Black, Native American, Latino, and Pacific Islander students miss more school than their peers. A lack of transportation, access to health care, and feeling of safety could all play a role. Without consistent attendance, students lose valuable opportunities to learn and the district loses funding that could bolster classrooms with additional resources.
• Mental health: In various surveys and reporting, many students say their mental health suffered far more than their transcripts during the pandemic, and schools have struggled to hire enough school counselors and social workers. Federal funding that supported hundreds of such workers in the district runs out in September. The school board will have to figure out how to maintain and grow mental health support for students. 
• School safety: The board agreed to cut the school police department's annual budget by $25 million (35%) in the summer of 2020, after the widespread protests against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd. It redirected that money into the Black Student Achievement Plan that includes funding for counselors, social workers, curriculum changes, and community partnerships. Advocates say more than two years after the plan launched, funding is lagging and resources have not been distributed equally among all schools. 
• Green schools: The majority of LAUSD schools lack cool, shaded places for students to play and learn outdoors. The yards of about 600 schools have less than 30% “green” space according to district documents. The district has allocated tens of millions of dollars to cool campuses in the last two years and estimates it could cost up to $3 billion and take decades, to reach its greening goals.
• Early learning and care: Within the next four years, every 4-year-old in California will be eligible for pre-kindergarten classes, or transitional kindergarten (also known as TK). Los Angeles Unified has acted fast on the state’s mandate, using COVID-19 relief dollars to begin expanding TK access to all students in fall 2024. But an attention-grabbing study out of Tennessee shows that poor adoption of universal pre-K can actually hurt young learners. While the onus is on the superintendent to execute, ultimate accountability falls on the school board.

The races

There are seven LAUSD board districts. Three are on the Nov. 5 General Election ballot. Incumbent District 7 Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin won her seat outright in the primary.

Two longtime board members, Board President Jackie Goldberg and member George McKenna, announced their retirements last year, leaving an open field for Districts 1 and 5.

Incumbent board Vice President Scott Schmerelson faces middle school math teacher Dan Chang in District 3.

If you’re unsure what district you’re in, the county has a helpful tool online. Select “District Map Look Up by Address” from the first drop-down and type in your home or address number and street name.

The LAUSD candidates for the District 1 board seat: Kahllid Al-Alim (left) and Sherlett Hendy Newbill.

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Credits from left to right: Kahllid Al-Alim and Jewett L. Walker Jr.

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District 1

• State of the race: Current board member George McKenna is retiring after a more than 50-year career as a teacher and administrator in LAUSD, Inglewood, Compton, and Pasadena schools. This seat is now up for grabs.
• Where: L.A.’s Mid-City, Crenshaw, Arlington Heights, and Westmont neighborhoods
• The candidates:
  
  • Kahllid Al-Alim, community organizer/parent
  • Sherlett Hendy Newbill, education policy advisor
• Quick take:
  
  • Hendy Newbill’s experience more closely matches current District 1 board member (and mentor) George McKenna, with decades of experience as a high school leader and strong endorsements from sitting board members and other political leaders. Al-Alim’s education experience is based on his experience as a parent and grassroots organizer, helping push the district to increase funding for Black students and alternatives to policing.
  • Al-Alim’s campaign lost a groundswell of support and the endorsement of the powerful teachers union after social media posts endorsing antisemitic ideas resurfaced during the primary. He has since apologized.

Go deeper: Full details on District 1 candidates and campaign contributions

The LAUSD candidates for the District 3 board seat: Dan Chang (left) and Scott Schmerelson.

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Credits from left to right: Dan Chang and Cooper Bates.

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District 3

• State of the race: Incumbent Scott Schmerelson was elected to represent the district in 2014 and again in 2020. He is now up for reelection. Dan Chang teaches math at a North Hollywood middle school and has education job experience ranging from fundraising to charter school management.
• Where: West San Fernando Valley and Studio City
• The candidates:
  
  • Dan Chang, public school teacher
  • Scott Schmerelson, teacher/counselor/Incumbent Boardmember
• Quick take:
  
  • Two-term incumbent Schmerelson’s decisions are often rooted in his more than 30 years as an LAUSD Spanish teacher and administrator. In an interview with LAist, he talked about navigating district bureaucracy to meet the needs of individual schools in his district. Chang said his ideas for change were born from his classroom teaching experience and his education background also includes stints in charter schools, fundraising and educational technology.
  • The candidates diverged the most when discussing how the district should handle independently run charter schools. Schmerelson supports limiting their access to traditional public school campuses in high-needs communities while Chang says co-locations benefit students and families from either school.

Go deeper: Full details on District 3 candidates and campaign contributions

The LAUSD candidates for the District 5 board seat: Karla Griego (left) and Graciela "Grace" Ortiz

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Credits from left to right: Hoops Shoots Photography and photo courtesy Graciela "Grace" Ortiz

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District 5

• State of the race: Jackie Goldberg emerged from semi-retirement in 2019 to
  return to LAUSD’s board. She announced she would retire — for real this time — in 2024. This seat is now up for grabs.
• Where: This is an unusually shaped district that cuts through a wide variety of neighborhoods: Eastside communities of Eagle Rock, Glassell Park, parts of Silver Lake, Hollywood, and Koreatown. The district skirts downtown and covers
  Vernon, Maywood, Huntington Park, and South Gate.
• The candidates:
  
  • Karla Griego, teacher, parent
  • Graciela "Grace" Ortiz, teacher, city councilmember
• Quick take:
  
  • Both Griego and Ortiz have extensive experience working with vulnerable and under-resourced student populations; Griego is a longtime special education teacher and Ortiz oversees a team trying to get absent students back in the classroom.
  • They both believe schools still lack the funding needed to help students thrive. Both were critical of the district’s decision to eliminate a literacy program focused on students in kindergarten through third grade.
  • Their campaigns split the endorsement of major school labor groups. Griego’s agenda closely matches that of the teachers union and is focused on systemic changes like increasing investments in alternatives to school police. Ortiz talked about finding compromises on some of the most contentious issues including charter schools and school policing.

Go deeper: Full details on District 5 candidates and campaign contributions

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This voter guide originally published Sept. 4.