“We have a crisis with our youngsters,” board member Richard Vladovic told the district’s chief academic officer.

LA Unified’s chief academic officer came before board members Tuesday with an upbeat-titled report called “Breaking Our Own Records,” but instead of resting on the improvement in overall test scores, the four school board members in attendance grilled her for nearly two hours throwing out terms like “frustrating,” “depressing” and “disappointing” and saying the district is in “crisis” when educating certain segments of the student population.

“I had to say this because it depressed me as an educator and after eight years I was told it was going to get better, and I’ve been assured it will get better,” said board member Richard Vladovic, chairman of the Curriculum, Instruction and Educational Equity Committee that met Tuesday. “I’m most concerned about those children not getting what they deserve, and that is quality education.”

Math scores highlighting groups that need attention.

Board member George McKenna said, “I’m as frustrated as I can possibly be. The data is miserable. Test scores are still almost embarrassingly low. It is continually depressing and disappointing.”

The committee was discussing the list of lowest performing schools and other test score numbers that the district was touting as “breaking our records!”

Chief Academic Officer Frances Gipson pointed out that the district’s record 75 percent graduation rate is up from 72 percent last year, and she showed other upward trends in the Smarter Balanced Assessments. She also noted that 265 schools are now participating in the Early Language and Literacy Plan, up from 85 in the 2015-16 school year.

“Some of the scores are record-breaking, but we have not hit the finish line yet,” Gipson said. “Our goal for graduation is 100 percent.”

Gipson tried to paint a positive spin repeating district catchphrases including “A District on the Move” and “All Hands on Deck” used by Superintendent Michelle King. But the four of seven board members on the committee were having none of it. Other members of the committee included representatives of three unions and USC and UCLA.

She pointed again to the increase in students meeting or exceeding English Language Arts standards, to 39 percent, up from 33 percent last year. Math scores rose to 29 percent from 25 percent in 2014-2015.

But then came the board members’ harsh reaction to zero improvement for English learners’ math scores: only 5 percent met standards, and only 4 percent met English standards, up one point. There was no improvement for students with disabilities: 6 percent met math standards two years in a row, and 8 percent met English standards.

Frances Gipson

Gipson said some successes were made through personalization of graduation goals and a dozen different types of interventions. “We are assessing what worked best for students and are accelerating that while eliminating things that did not work best.”

Another new number showed that 42 percent of students received a C grade or better in each of the 15 required A through G courses. Even though students can graduate by getting a D in those classes, Gipson said they want to strive for a C grade or better. California’s public universities require a C or better in those classes.

State math score rankings for the largest school districts in California.

School board President Steve Zimmer said, “I want to ask staff what specific crisis we are addressing? What do we need to see in due time? We need to reflect the urgency to see some positive results in continuing areas of inequity and our failure for public education.”

Zimmer said the board needs to hear “some type of strategy plan and urgency and honest feedback of what we need to do.”

Gipson had staff members from Beyond the Bell, Counseling Services and the Charter Schools Division ready to explain other recent successes in various departments but cut some of the presentations short as the board members asked her questions for nearly two hours.

“This group does represent a sense of urgency,” Gipson responded. “We have taken some bold steps.”

Gipson said she plans to report back with how some of those bold plans are working at school sites.

“We have a crisis with our youngsters and our youngsters need the very best, and if we are paying someone 15 percent more why aren’t they concentrated in schools that need it the most?” asked Vladovic. “There needs to be a concentrated plan. We are in the process of being confronted with a budget crisis that we have never confronted before, and people don’t know that.”

George McKenna and Scott Schmerelson.

Vladovic was particularly concerned with Long Term English Speakers who have scored persistently at 23 percent and never higher. “I feel like we have written them off,” he said.

Board member Scott Schmerelson echoed that, saying, “I’m not concerned about the cracks in the system, but the craters.” He also referred to students continuing from fifth to sixth grades or eighth grade to high school without the appropriate skill sets.

McKenna pointed out that some schools celebrate successes while African-Americans and poor children are still failing. “Is it that these poor children have gangs, or don’t have a momma or a daddy, or there’s no literacy at home? I got all that! So, what are the extreme measures that we should do?”

McKenna pointed to math scores, for example, that showed 18 percent of African-Americans and 23 percent of Latinos exceeding standards while Asians hit 70 percent, Filipinos hit 56 percent and whites were at 57 percent. Economically disadvantaged students scored 23 percent compared to 50 percent for non-economically disadvantaged.

McKenna, the only African-American on the school board, added, “Girls do better than boys and African-American males are at the bottom of the ladder. Am I surprising anyone? Absolutely not! What else can we do? Do we tell them to sing and dance and play baseball?”

McKenna said the district must focus on middle schools because only then “graduation becomes an aspiration rather than an illusion.”

Gipson pointed to working with the community colleges, using block schedules, holding twilight classes, getting grants and creating a director of innovation to review what is working in education. She also said a new dashboard computer program allows teachers to quickly figure out what each student needs to improve on the most.

Gipson said her team “ended some curriculum chaos” by pulling together many different teams and figuring out how to support each other. The district tripled their work in English language development. Gipson said the district saw a large drop in reclassification percentages because of changes in state accountability, and, because the year is from October to October, she said she expects some better numbers in a few weeks.

Zimmer said, “I think we are on the right path, but I want to caution that if we want to eradicate the school readiness gap we have to see the literacy foundation results” and see how early learning initiatives are directly linked to early elementary and math initiatives.

“We need to align the resources with the neediest students,” Gipson said.

One of the committee members, Mojgan Moazzez, principal of Logan Street Elementary School and representing AALA, the principal’s union, praised Gipson and said, “I have personally seen how she works with schools and has allocated resources where it is needed.”

The school board members wanted to see a more precise plan of action to help the lowest-performing students.

“And if we believe in the plan, why not have the plan anchor our approach?” Zimmer asked.

Vladovic added, “We need to see a plan rather than wishes of what we want to do. We need to shore up those youngsters and need a timeline and expected outcomes and what will happen if they are not achieved. We have to make a change.”

“We are doing it now,” Gipson said.

Vladovic continued, “We want to see some real particulars in what you’re doing. I truly believe all kids can learn. It’s our fault, … not theirs. I’m hoping you’ll do it. Let’s not just wait.”

After the meeting, Gipson was asked if the board seemed particularly harsh.

She answered, “We all want better. We have done better. We have a way to go.”

Number of concussions at LAUSD schools for the past two years.

Rising concussion numbers have spurred LA Unified to examine how to better monitor head injuries and ensure the safety of student athletes.

“I love football,” said board member Richard Vladovic, who noted that this week the NFL for the first time recognized a link between football and brain disorders. “But I’m very concerned about long-term effects on our children. We need to look at this for our children and warn families of the risks.”

The Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee asked for a report on sports safety with the possibility of bringing additional safety recommendations to the full board. Their call comes in the wake of last year’s Will Smith biopic “Concussion” about the doctor who brought the issue to light.

The LA Unified statistics presented Tuesday to the committee show that 222 concussions or possible concussion injuries have occurred so far this year, compared to 199 for the entire 2014-2015 school year. But it doesn’t mean that more concussions have occurred, only that the district has better ways of identifying and reporting them.

LA Unified has 30,000 students involved in 14 sports from golf to water polo. Cheering will become an official sport districtwide in the 2017-2018 school year.

“We feel these are only a portion of actual concussions,” said the district’s director of student medical services, Dr. Kimberly Uyeda. “I think we are doing better in collecting the data.”

Trenton Cornelius and Dr. Kimberly Uyeda

Trenton Cornelius, the district’s Interscholastic Athletics Coordinator, noted that the statistics may be alarming and said more concussions occur in soccer than football. He said, “It appears like we are doing worse, but we are getting better with treatment and diagnosis about concussions. Our athletic personnel are trained, and it is due to the training that we see the concussion numbers have increased. I fully expect this trend will decline as more safety protocols are in place. We see an increase because now there is education and training to diagnose and report, so this is the only way that we have documentation to see that these kids are treated.

In the past, students who were hit on the field and knocked down but say they are OK would be put back into the game immediately, but that doesn’t happen anymore, insisted Earl Perkins, the assistant superintendent for school operations. He said that six high schools have medically trained personnel at games through a pilot program, and they hope to expand that in the future.

“You don’t have to be unconscious to have a concussion. There are subtle signs that people who are trained appropriately can pick up,” said Uyeda. She said that the district is guided by state laws, strict guidelines and forms required by the district. “The conventional wisdom you have to be knocked out is long gone. Our professional development and continual training are important.”

The new MiSiS computer system coordination is expected to help track students who have a history of head injuries as they go from sport to sport, but the record-keeping has only now begun, Cornelius said.

“In the last few years we have had the ability to track [students with multiple concussions], but that’s only as good as the reporting,” Uyeda said.

Coach Manuel Douglas of the championship Narbonne High School football team said he was not concerned about the school board looking into the sport’s safety. He and his staff have been regularly trained on medical signs, and their helmets and shoulder pads are inspected annually like at every LA Unified school.

“Football is a violent game,” Douglas said. “Knock on wood, we have not had many concussions. We train differently, so that it’s not as likely we’ll get as many head injuries. We’re not always a full-go contact during practices.”

Even volunteer coaches, such as Narbonne’s volunteer assistant coach Brandon Manumaleuna, must meet a full list of fingerprint and background checks and have training in CPR, concussions and other first-aid care on a regular basis.

“I don’t expect that they’ll take football out of the school district,” Douglas laughed.

In fact, school board member George McKenna pointed out, “When we have budget cuts and we talk about cutting athletics, the community rises up like nothing else. They’d rather not go to school five days a week than cut athletics.”

Every student participating in sports must have a medical clearance before they join a team. State laws have specific procedures that don’t allow students to return to play for at least seven days after a concussion, and only with outside medical approval.

“It makes it so that there are no mistakes and that a student is not allowed to play sooner than they should,” Uyeda said. “It is not determined by the school or a coach.”

Vladovic said he thinks there should be a warning to all parents. “I don’t want to take dreams away, but we also have legal obligations.”

The district has strict rules about playing and practicing in the heat and when games are delayed due to high or low temperatures. Also, because of concerns about child abuse such as in a case in Torrance Unified School District, Cornelius assured the committee that “there are no procedures where any athlete would be disrobed either fully or partially.”

The athletics staff was asked to come back to the committee in May to give details about the forms that families are asked to sign and the warnings parents are given about students playing sports. They also wanted to know details about how it is determined when a student can no longer play sports after suffering too many injuries.

Board member Monica Ratliff, who admitted she is not necessarily a football fan, added, “We want to make sure our students are safe while out there.”

The Rancho LPG tanks in San Pedro.

The LA Unified school board yesterday became the first elected body to ask government officials to move one of the largest above-ground butane gas facilities in the country. Located in San Pedro, the highly-flammable gas is housed in two storage tanks not far from three LAUSD school sites.

School board member Richard Vladovic, who represents the area and has been pushing to move the gas tanks for the last five years, said they posed was a greater risk of disaster than the Porter Ranch methane leak. That leak resulted in the temporary relocation of two schools.

“It’s a very dangerous situation,” said Vladovic, pointing to the Rancho Liquefied Petroleum Gas facility, which is close to Taper Avenue Elementary School, Johnston Community Day School and the Vic and Bonnie Christensen Science Center.

The resolution, which won unanimous support by the seven-member board, warns of “a vapor fire, pool fire and boiling liquid evaporative vapor explosion” and calls for a relocation “to an area where it does not pose any harm to students and their families.” The board asked the superintendent to let city, federal and state officials know of their support.

“You guys leading charge is very much appreciated because, God forbid, there should be an accident,” said activist attorney Noah Weiss. “You can look in the mirror and go to sleep knowing you did whatever can be done.”

Weiss said the LAUSD resolution could nudge the Los Angeles City Council and harbor commission to take action after years of activists’ complaining about it. He said the owner of the facility is the same company, LPG Holdings, that owns the Santa Barbara pipeline that leaked last year. Weiss also raised concerns about whether the company has adequate insurance.

LPG Holdings considers the site safe and points out that is has been on the hillside location nearly 40 years. A company website addresses concerns about the site and explains how the company is involved in many local civic activities. It says more safety construction was completed three years ago.

Butane is a colorless gas that could cause drowsiness, asphyxia and frostbite if someone is in contact with it. The gas is transported by rail.

Congresswoman Janice Hahn, who represents the area and whose children went to Taper Elementary, sent a letter to the board, read by her district director Lara Larramendi, saying, “These tanks are located not in an industrial area but a residential area — so families live near them and children attend school … and take part in recreational activities near this hazardous area. This is unacceptable to our mutual constituents.”

Larramendi said the school board’s action is a “big step” to solving the concerns about the two 12.5 million gallon refrigerated tanks and five 60,000-gallon storage tanks.

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As LA Unified deals with looming deficits that could reach $600 million, a recent independent Financial Report attributes a large share of it to the ever-increasing costs of health benefits for present and retired employees.

The district spends 14 percent of its budget on active and retired employee health benefits — which is more than it spends on instructional books and supplies. It is also more than the entire budget of existing classified employee salaries, which are jobs in the district that don’t require teaching credentials.

In a report for the Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee recently, the district’s Benefits Administration director, Janice Sawyer, said that the district offers a relatively generous health benefits package.

“We want to retain talent in the district; that’s why we have those health benefits,” said Sawyer. But, she notes that the population of retirees is growing, compared with the active employee base, and the district is not putting any money aside to pay for those promised benefits.

To fund retiree obligations, the district would have to sock away $868 million a year, Sawyer said.

Meanwhile, the district is making it tougher to be eligible for lifetime medical benefits. Anyone hired before 1984 needs to work only five years before retiring to get fully-paid individual and family medical benefits. Today, district employees have to work 25 consecutive years before retiring, and the age at retirement added to the number of service years must reach at least 85.

“It seems like we’re making it harder and harder for people to be eligible, and maybe we should just say we’re not going to do it anymore,” said board member Mónica Ratliff, chair of the budget committee. “We’re making people jump through hoops.”

Board member Richard Vladovic said it was important to honor the promise made to retirees, but “the promise wasn’t made to new employees, and we have to ensure the solvency of the district.”

Ratliff added, “I wonder if we don’t have the money in the long run if it comes to a point that we stop making the promise.”

In California, only one other school district — San Diego — pays full health care for active employees and their dependents. Long Beach school district pays full benefits for employees only, not families, and most of the other districts pay partial insurance benefits and don’t pay any health benefits after retirement.

LA Unified has 225,000 employees, and gets about 68,000 calls a year for questions about benefits, Sawyer said. She said the district is known for its generous health benefits program since the 1940s and it has tried to control the costs of those benefits since the 1960s.

In some parts of the report, Ratliff also noted serious problems when one type of employee could be working the same 7 1/2-day and be eligible for benefits while another would not.

“That seems like it would call for a lot of unhappiness and unfairness in equity,” said Ratliff. The staff said the unions are working to fix that with the district’s Health Benefits Committee.

Ratliff also wondered why teacher assistants are only eligible for half benefits.  “How are they doing that if they have kids?” she asked.

Ratliff said her priority as a board member is to figure out how to keep the district from going bankrupt. The district has eight unions with a benefits program that includes life insurance, medical, dental and vision — while working and after retirement.

But, it’s not all perfect. Vladovic, who is covered by the district’s health care as a retired employee, said the dental benefits are not as good as they could be.

“All you need is one root canal and there goes your benefits for the entire year,” he said.

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School board member Richard Vladovic

A major contributor to LA Unified’s pending fiscal crisis is unfunded federal and state mandates that have deprived the district of hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years.

The exact number is difficult to calculate because the total not only reflects the amount the district seeks in reimbursement but what percentage the governments return to the district. In some cases, it’s little more than 20 cents on the dollar.

“It’s all very, very complicated,” said school board member Richard Vladovic, who brought the issue to light last week during a budget committee meeting. “The state controls everything; they impose the mandate and we have the responsibility to fulfill them. And the federal government does the same thing.”

The reluctance of the state and federal governments to send dollars into the district and the ever-falling reimbursements rates is nothing new for LA Unified.

But the need for those missing dollars has become more urgent with budget deficits projected within a few years as the number of enrolled students declines and district expenses rise.

A recent report from an independent panel brought in by Superintendent Ramon Cortines warned the school board that under current trends, the district faces a deficit of $333 million in 2017-2018, $450 million in 2018-2019 and $600 million by 2019-2020. And those numbers would erode the district’s credit worthiness, driving the deficits up even higher.

Vladovic suggested that just by meeting its legal obligation on supporting special education, the federal government would ease the district’s financial struggles by $800 million.

“It’s so unfair,” he said. “They only reimburse us at something like 11 percent and law says it should be closer to 40 percent.”

At the budget committee meeting, the district’s Chief Financial Officer, Megan Reilly, told the board the state owed the district more than $200 million.

Vladovic turned to the camera live-streaming the meeting: “They haven’t paid us, for those of you watching, the state owes us that much more money, and I’ll get off this soap box, they owe us more and [we have] more requirements and they do not follow the law and yet we have to follow the law every bit. We can certainly use that $200 million, trust me.”

Reilly’s deputy, John Walsh, told LA School Report that his office is investigating an estimated $227 million owed by the state as well as money owed by the federal government. He pointed out that the independent financial report urges the district to press Washington for full funding for the students with special needs.

The district’s lobbyists have warned that a plan now in the House of Representatives could cost LA Unified $78.7 million of its Title I money for low income schools, which translates to 22.9 percent of its funding.

The district’s looming deficits could also be affected by the future of Prop 30, a ballot initiative approved by state voters in 2012 that raised income taxes on wealthy individuals for seven years and increased state sales taxes for four years. Much of the money has been going to support public education.

The prospect of extending those revenue streams is now in the hands of two groups that want to get a new initiative on the ballot next year. By one estimate, passage would generation as much as $9 billion a year for another 15 years.

Mike Szymanski contributed reporting to this story.

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Mónica Ratliff, chair of the Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee, said that it didn’t seem fair that the charter schools did not have to deal with the same rules and regulations that govern others schools.

She also made it clear that the board members were not looking to turn the entire district into a charter district. Four of the seven elected members of the school board are on the committee, and she said, “I am not hearing that most of the school board wants to go all charter.”

But, the reason that the idea was brought up was that there are autonomies available to charter schools that the district schools cannot access, and there may be ways to get those autonomies through state waivers to the traditional public schools. Ratliff said, “There are a lot of acrobatics to go through.” Then, she added that maybe charter schools can help them figure it all out.

School board member Richard Vladovic said, “The reason why I brought the idea up was not talking about changing our contract; I was trying to figure out a way that we not be under so many rules.” He said he wanted to figure out how to expand benefits that the district’s charter schools also get to help greater numbers of students.

Yet, Vladovic did imagine that if the entire district became charter in “our wildest dream” he could see that LAUSD could meet the requirements outlined by the state. He said, “I’m trying to figure out why wouldn’t anyone want to do this if it frees us up,” he said, asserting that three-fourths of the state Education Code doesn’t help children.

Devora Navera Reed, the district’s associate general counsel, told the committee in her report that more than 50 percent of the teachers of the district would have to approve a charter petition and the district would have to prove it could meet the standards. She said the petition would have to be approved by both the state board of education and the state superintendent of public instruction.

As much as Ratliff insisted that they weren’t looking at changing the entire district, she asked questions as if she were considering it. For example, she asked what would happen to the charter schools in the district — they would all come up for renewal together, she was told — and how they would be handled — they would be still under the board’s oversight.

Board member Ref Rodriguez, who founded a charter school, said this was a good opportunity to dive deeper into possible waivers the district could ask for, like charters do that.

Board member George McKenna asked staff to come back with a detailed explanation of what benefits to instruction the autonomies would provide and report back at the next committee meeting.

Vladovic pointed out that it would be great to not have to deal with state laws and the state board of education and said, “This is a chance to be really, really innovative.”

Ratliff said to Vladovic, “I love your bold approach.”

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti at Leland Street Elementary. (Credit: Twitter @LAMayorsOffice)

Los Angles Mayor Eric Garcetti today announced a new program that will help identify students in LA Unified whose parents are veterans or active-duty service members so that they can receive extra resources available to them.

Joining Garcetti at Leland Elementary School in San Pedro, where he announced the new program, were LA Unified school board member Richard Vladovic and LA City Councilman Joe Buscaino.

“For too long our city has been unable to strategically target resources in a way that directly and efficiently supports our military community,” Garcetti said in a statement. “This small change will radically increase our capacity to support veterans and their families as they adjust to life during and after military service.”

The program, announced the day after Veterans Day, represents a collaboration among the Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs, LA Unified, the University of Southern California’s Building Capacity Project and the Los Angeles Veterans Collaborative, according a press release from the mayor’s office.

As part of the program, the school district will identify students from military families by adding questions to the district’s mandatory student emergency information forms, which will then “help district and school officials direct critical services and apply for new federal funding for campuses with high enrollment among military and veteran-connected families,” according to the release.

Children of veterans experience high levels of stress and are at an increased risk for substance abuse, weapon carrying, victimization by peers and thoughts of suicide, according to the mayor’s office, and the new forms will help get these students more recreational opportunities, tutoring resources and advocacy assistance.

“As a veteran, I have seen firsthand the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform. Their families also pay a price,” LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines said in a statement. “Because of frequent moves, their children are often the ‘new kids in class,’ who find themselves trying to fit in months after school started. At LA Unified, we want to do everything we can to help these students and their families, who deserve our heartfelt appreciation for their service.”

Vladovic posted a picture to his Facebook page from the event that featured him on stage showing off his old field jacket from his Army days to the students gathered in the school’s auditorium.

“It is very important that we not only honor the brave men and women who have served this nation, but educate the next generation on how to honor those who serve and inspire them to be the future leaders and defenders of our nation,” Vladovic said in a statement. “We must remember their service, as well as their sacrifices; the time spent in hardship, away from home; and, on occasion, the sacrifice of their very lives to keep us safe.”

As part of the program, 5,000 resource guides authored by the Building Capacity and Welcoming Practices team will be distributed throughout the district “to assist schools in developing school-based interventions for children in military, Guard, Reserve and veteran families,” according to the release.

The collaboration “has been remarkable,” Ron Avi Astor, the USC School of Social Work professor, who co-authored the guides, said in a statement. “Being able to provide services and resources to those schools with high concentrations of military and veteran students will be a model for other mega urban school districts like Chicago and NYC where a large proportion of veteran and military families live.”

In presenting a detailed accounting of community input for LA Unified’s superintendent search, the president of the search firm urged the seven board members to reach consensus on what they are looking for in their ideal candidate.

“You do not want to make this decision on four votes,” said Hank Gmitro of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates. “You want to all agree.”

After the presentation, Gmitro told LA School Report it’s not unheard of for a school board—even one with such diversity as LAUSD’s—to agree on a single candidate. “It happens most of the time that the whole board agrees on one person,” Gmitro said.

After Gmitro and members of his team reviewed overall results of two weeks of 9,400 surveys and 120 community meetings, board President Steve Zimmer asked how the firm could possibly come up with candidates that have a proven track record on two strong, but nebulous characteristics that arose time and again from many participating in the feedback process: “equity” and “building trust.”

Gmitro said it’s a matter of “our vetting and your interviews and the kinds of actions they took and the results they achieved.”

By their questions to Gmitro and his team, the board members seem to be laying groundwork for finding a superintendent comfortable with fulfilling the priorities of the board, rather than bringing “an agenda” or “ego” to the position, a not-so-veiled reference to past superintendents.

“They want a humble person,” said Darline Robles, a member of the search team who summed up the characteristics that emerged from community forums. “Not someone who comes in whose ego is the forefront.”

But already, there were early signs of potential friction. In a discussion of what documents the board to consider in refining a list of preferred characteristics, Mónica Ratliff suggested they disregard a generic list provided by the search firm for general guidance and stick with the survey results. George McKenna disagreed, saying some of the firm’s suggestions might prove valuable and should be included.

As a sign of the possibility of more friction ahead, Mónica Garcia looked at the camera that was broadcasting the meeting live and said, “I hope that the potential candidates are watching this.”

The board agreed to meet in closed session at 1 p.m. next Tuesday for what Gmitro described as “a starting point for your discussion.” Already resumes have been submitted, but the firm assured the board that it would not seek potential candidates until the profile is completed.

Among the major preferred characteristics that arose from the community meetings, people said they wanted a superintendent who, among other things, is committed to a long term, does not come in with an attitude of “you are broken and I want to fix it,” can collaborate with different stakeholders, has an urgency to meet an equity agenda, has a political acumen and communicates effectively.

Gmitro said the community input went flawlessly, although everyone said they had hoped for more numbers. Of the 120 meetings, 24 were open to anyone, 14 were staff focus groups, 60 were specific focus groups, and 22 were individual interviews with school board members, the mayor of Los Angeles and others identified by the school board to question.

“We have our homework, I want to take this all in,” said board member Richard Vladovic. “I’m happy with the progress, but not satisfied with the results yet.”

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The question arose when the board was trying to figure out what to do with the surplus of $45 million from last year. That’s merely pocket change when it comes to a $7.8 billion annual budget, but it brought up some philosophical differences among the board members.

Board member Mónica Ratliff, who prides herself on championing fiscal responsibility, asked where the money was going to go and when it was going there. She urged that the money be added to an irrevocable trust for LAUSD retiree health benefits.

But, board member Richard Vladovic, who recalled a time school budgets were far more unpredictable, said he would prefer to have the money remain more flexible for a possible catastrophe. He argued to keep the money in reserve for emergencies. Board president Steve Zimmer agreed, citing four fiscal challenges the district is now facing: state funding unpredictability, federal under-funding, debt liabilities and a declining enrollment.

“These are the major issues we are facing, and the area that we can make the most impact as a board is the declining enrollment,” he said.

“I feel that we need the maximum flexibility to remain solvent,” Vladovic said.

LA Unified’s Chief Financial Officer, Megan Reilly, said the district has about $72.4 million for emergencies. She said that is less than half of one month’s payroll (which is more than $200 million). She asked the board to approve a technical amendment for a report to the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

Since the 1960s, the district has offered lifetime health benefits, which helps attract teachers from across the country. The district needs to set aside $500 million a year for 30 years to cover the $5 billion future obligations for retiree benefits, according to a state budget analysis. Last year, the district began setting aside money in an irrevocable trust, and that is where Ratliff wanted the money to go immediately.

Zimmer pointed out that the school board did not have to make a specific motion because Superintendent Ramon Cortines and his staff could move the money as they see fit. But, Ratliff shot back, reminding  Zimmer how he has said “a lot of times how important it is for the board to weigh in and take a stand.” Zimmer smiled, admitted to saying that a lot and called for a vote.

It went 5-2 to put the money into the trust as soon as possible. Vladovic and Zimmer voted against it.

Cortines said, “I believe we should be putting more money into the trust. I would do it tomorrow.” He said he felt that putting the money aside for the retiree benefits was “a matter of integrity” and “we need to show people we are serious about it, and we cannot put it off.”

Board member Mónica García said this was a step in the right direction for the “sobering responsibility of commitments we have made.”

LAUSD school board member Monica Ratliff is sworn into office by her mother in 2013

Get ready for some pomp, circumstance — and politics.

The first half of tomorrow’s LA Unified school board meeting, starting at 10 am, will be a swearing in ceremony for four newly elected board members by people or, in some cases, groups of people, of their choice.

Scott Schmerelson, Ref Rodriguez, George McKenna and Richard Vladovic — will be taking an oath, each committing the next five years to the district.

Voters recently approved a measure to align school board elections with other statewide races in order to boost voter turn out. That means the four board members will sit on the board until 2020.

2020!

The ceremony and brief reception afterward are taking place at the Edward R. Roybal Learning Center Gymnasium, just a few blocks from LA Unified headquarters.

Following the festivities, the full board will convene at 1 pm for the first meeting of the new fiscal year to elect a new president, a process that in recent years has not provoked much public debate but this year may prove to be different. A lot different.

Board members Mónica García and Mónica Ratliff expressed an interest last week in waiving a term limits rule to enable Vladovic, president since 2013, to lead the board a third consecutive year. The current board rule allows a president to serve only two consecutive years.

While neither Monica has moved to add it to tomorrow’s agenda, Jefferson Crain, board secretariat, says it can be brought up as part of the election. 

“A waiver does not have to be separately on the agenda since it is germane to the election,” he told LA School Report.

Like other board issues, a resolution to waive the rules and elect a president requires four votes. It’s conceivable that the board would split 3-3 on suspending the rule, leaving Vladovic’s vote as the deciding factor in whether he would serve another term. While he voted for the rule when it was first passed in 2013 and he abstained last week on a motion by Ratliff to waive the rule, he could still vote to suspend the rule, essentially putting himself back in office.

If an effort to suspend the rule fails, any of the other six could be elected although Steve Zimmer, the current vice president, would appear the front runner.

Neither Ratliff nor García returned messages seeking comment.

Another order of business for the new board is the appointment of board vice present, as well as members to serve in a variety of roles, including positions on the Los Angeles County School Trustees Association, California School Boards Association and the Council of Great City Schools.

OK, so let’s play this out.

One of the Mónicas — Ratliff or García, or maybe both — offers a resolution next week waiving the rule that sets term limits at two, enabling Richard Vladovic to serve a third one-year term as the LA Unified board president.

The effort needs four votes to pass. How do the members vote? Here’s a guess:

Mónica García:  Already indicating she’s in favor of a one-year suspension of current rules, she votes yes.

Mónica Ratliff: Ditto.

Newly-elected Ref Rodriguez: He votes for it. Why? The last person he wants as board president is Steve Zimmer, the current vice president. Zimmer trashed Rodriguez for standing by as Rodriguez surrogates trashed Bennett Kayser in the election campaign.

Newly-elected Scott Schmerelson: He favors term limits so he’s a no vote.

George McKenna: On Tuesday, he voted against Ratliff’s resolution to waive the rule, so he’s a no. Unless he flips.

Zimmer: No.

That makes it 3-3, with Vladovic’s vote decisive.

Vladovic voted for term limits in 2013. On Tuesday, he abstained (along with Kayser), leaving Ratliff’s effort one vote short of passing. Does he abstain again, thereby assuring that the gavel passes into new hands? 

It comes down to how badly he wants to serve another year as president. It also comes down to how active a role he wants in the search process for who succeeds Ray Cortines as the next superintendent.

Vladovic has become much more assertive in recent months as board president. He’s appeared more energized and engaged.

If he votes no or abstains, he would appear consistent to his position, respectful of the board rules as they are, and the board will have a new president.

A yes vote would require an explanation.

The members vote in alphabetical order. If this speculation holds, it would be 3-2 in favor of the one-year waiver when it’s Vladovic’s turn, which means Zimmer will know the outcome before it’s his.

Richard Vladovic

His margin of victory over his District 7 challenger, Lydia Gutierrez, was 12.57 percent.

In District 3, challenger Scott Schmerelson beat two-term incumbent Tamar Galatzan by 9.53 percent of the vote, and in District 5, challenger Ref Rodriguez ousted one-term incumbent Bennett Kayser by 6.69 percent.

Overall, only 8.57 of the 841,643 registered voters cast a ballot, the clerk said.

* UPDATED

Voters wanted change, but the changes came from opposite directions.

For the first time since 2009, two seats on the LA Unified school board turned over at the same time in elections yesterday that proved once again how little Angelinos care about the people setting policy for the 643,000 kids attending city public schools.

Two incumbents lost — Tamar Galatzan in District 3 and Bennett Kayser in District 5. But each winner hews more closely to the views of the incumbent who lost in the other race, making the day’s results a political wash.

Scott Schmerelson, the primary runner-up who won with 55 percent of the vote to beat Galatzan, is a career LAUSD school administrator who had heavy backing of the teachers union, UTLA. 

Ref Rodriguez, the primary winner who won with 54 percent of the vote to beat Kayser, is a charter school co-founder who had heavy backing from the state’s charter schools association and other reform interests.

The charters did everything they could to defeat Schmerelson. The teachers union did everything it could to defeat Rodriguez.

Where that leaves the board in terms of ideology is probably not much different than where it was on Monday, with Schmerelson replacing Kayser as the pro-union member and Rodriguez replacing Galatzan as the pro-reform member.

At the very least, the results brought the board its only Republican, in Schmerelson, and its only openly gay member, in Rodriguez.

In the other race, voters in District 7 kept board President Richard Vladovic in place for a third term, a winner over Lydia Gutierrez, although it remains to be seen whether he’ll be reelected as president. He was the only candidate who had the support of both the charter schools and the teachers union.

All three winners get a 5 1/2-year term, as the city is moving these off-year and largely ignored elections to the even-year ballot that includes Federal and state elections. The incumbents who lost will remain on the board until June 30.

The outcomes yesterday remove one of the testiest relationships among the board’s seven members, that between Galatzan and District 6 representative Mónica Ratliff, two lawyers who rarely view policy through the same lens.

On the other hand, it creates what could become an even testier one between Rodriguez and Steve Zimmer, District 4, who set aside his usual calculated language the other day in favor of a blistering attack against Rodriguez and his backers for the nasty and personal nature of their campaign material against Kayser.

His remarks came a few weeks after he appeared at a Kayser fundraiser in which he gave an emotional us-versus-them stemwinder, pointing to the Armageddon ahead if a charter-backed candidate wins the seat.

“We cannot let them take control of the school board because if they take control of the school board, they’ll have control of who becomes the next superintendent of this district,” he warned at the time. “They’ll have control over the budget. They’ll have control over the policies. They‘ll have control over the schools.”

Among all board members, Zimmer is the one who casts himself as the Solon of the group, seeking peace and compromise, even if his side doesn’t get the better of the argument.

Now, he will sit beside a colleague at board meetings whom he apparently loathes — ideologically, if not personally.

As for whether Zimmer’s fears are justified, a lot depends on Schmerelson. While the teachers union spent half a million dollars to support him, he said last night, “I intend to be perfectly fair,” dismissing any notion he can be categorized as pro-this or anti-that.

As for turnout, it was pathetic. The largest numbers came in Schmerelson’s race, where 9.1 percent of registered voters cast a ballot. In Rodriguez’s race, it was 8.4 percent, and only 5.8 percent turned out in the Vladovic race.

And in each case, those who voted by mail determined the outcome. Schmerelson, Rodriguez and Vladovic all had leads before the first precinct was counted, which suggests they had the most passionate voters.

No one could blame the candidate backers for the lousy turnout. By a rough and still incomplete accounting, the charter schools spent about $1.2 million in since the primary on Galatzan, Rodriguez and Vladovic, with a new reform-based group, Great Public Schools: Los Angeles, kicking in another $475,000 for the same three.

The teachers union spent about $950,000 on Schmerelson, Kayser and Vladovic, and the service employees union, SEIU Local 99, spent about $440,000 for the Galatzan, Kayser and Vladovic. Former LA Mayor Richard Riordan spent $67,000 to help Galatzan and Rodriquez. 

Add it up and it’s over $3 million, a number sure to climb — all to get an average of 7.6 percent of eligible voters to set policy in the nation’s largest independent school district.

* Corrects earlier version to say Rodriguez becomes the only openly gay member of the board, not the first. Others have served before him.

]]> https://www.laschoolreport.com/vladovic-breezes-to-a-third-term-with-largest-margin-of-board-races/ Wed, 20 May 2015 13:06:22 +0000 http://laschoolreport.com/?p=34893

LAUSD school board President Richard Vladovic

LA Unified Board President Richard Vladovic successfully held his District 7 seat last night, winning a third term by the largest margin of the day’s three elections in a race with the lowest turn out.

He won with 56 percent of the vote to Lydia Gutierrez’s 44 percent.

Mike Trujillo, a campaign consultant to Vladovic, told LA School Report, that Vladovic’s appeal lies in his ability to strike the right balance on a range of issues.

“Dr. Vladovic’s educational career has always been about putting students, parents and teachers first, Trujillo saids. “His political career is much like that of Goldilocks where the porridge is never too hot, never too cold, always just right.”

Apparently, the mix also appealed to political action committees on the reform and union sides.  Vladovic was the only candidate in all three of the races to receive endorsements from pro-charter advocates, including the California Charters Schools Association PAC and labor groups UTLA and SEIU.

Gutierrez had no major endorsements and little campaign money throughout the election.

Despite that she made an impressive splash in the March primary race finishing only five percentage points behind Vladovic. And as recently as April, an internal poll of District 7 voters by the California Charter Schools Association Advocates and Great Public Schools: Los Angeles, showed Gutierrez, leading by 37 percent to 34 percent, with 29 percent undecided, in a statistical tie. The margin of error was 4.9 percent.

Last night’s defeat marks her fifth failed bid for public office since 2008. In her most recent before now, she came in third in a run for state superintendent last year against Tom Torlakson and Marshall Tuck.

Vladovic was first elected to the board in 2007 and became president in 2013. Over most of that time the board slashed billions from the district budget.

But with more than $700 million in extra revenue coming in next year, he says he wants now to focus on leading the district into more prosperous and efficient times through priorities that include proper distribution of money to schools that need it most, a MiSiS system that works, a teacher evaluation system that’s fair and a better use of best practices districtwide.

Lydia Gutierrez

Things are getting nasty in what had been a relatively quiet and peaceful race for the LA Unified school board seat in District 7.

Candidate Lydia Gutierrez, who is challenging incumbent and board President Richard Vladovic, responded sharply to several campaign flyers circulated by the political action committee for SEIU Local 99, a union of school workers that is supporting Vladovic.

The flyers attack Gutierrez for some of her political views that are associated with Tea Party Republicans. (See the flyers here and here.

She said in a statement the flyers include “outrageous statements that have nothing to do with the educational welfare of our children.”

Gutierrez, a school teacher at Long Beach Unified who has never held political office before, made a name for herself in the fall when she finished third in race for State Superintendent of Public Instruction and received nearly a million votes. Many of her voters were Tea Party backers.

The flyers accuse her of holding “extremist” views, describing her as someone who favors banning teaching the theory of evolution, opposes gay marriage and opposes abortion for any reason.

In a response, Gutierrez did not address issues individually but suggested that all of her views do not align with the flyers although the views do align with conservative positions. Gutierrez has expressed support of teaching creationism in the past. She also said in her statement, “Every child has the right to pray on school campuses and every parent has the right to bring up their children with their own family values according to their beliefs—this should be respected, not denigrated or ridiculed.”

Gutierrez said she had discussed the flyers with her advisors and “decided to continue to ‘take  the high road’ and not fall into negative and false claims against my opponent, Richard Vladovic.”

“Everything that I have ever said about him is on the record or his supporters have published it,” she said. “I do not  make things up the way they are doing out of anxiety about Vladovic’s chances as we get closer to the  election.”

Gutierrez also demanded an “immediate retraction” of the flyers, and questioned whether any member of the union should “be near children.”

“Every SEIU Local 99 member should be outraged that their union would attack an individual who is a union member on her personal beliefs and distort the truth,” Gutierrez said. “This reveals that they have no respect for children and their faith, to the extent that they would literally ridicule, denigrate and bully students if they did not hold the same values as SEIU Local 99. It is questionable whether their organization should even be near children if they would stoop this low.”

SEIU did not respond directly to any of Gutierrez’s calls for a retraction but issued a statement, saying, “SEIU Local 99 members’ support for Dr. Richard Vladovic is based on his solid record of commitment to students and working families. There is a clear distinction between the candidates in this race and our literature reflects the facts of the candidates’ records and affiliations.”

The election is Tuesday, May 19.

Following the Los Angeles Times tepid endorsement of Vladovic over his challenger, Lydia Gutierrez, the Los Angeles Daily News today also picked Vladovic over Gutierrez with an equally unenthusiastic thumbs up.

Vladovic has a “bad reputation” with colleagues and “makes too little effort to engage the press and public,” the Daily News’ editorial board wrote, before saying that it “recommend(s) a vote for Vladovic, without enthusiasm.”

This comes after the Times said that Gutierrez is a “weak candidate who lacks the necessary grasp of the district’s major issues. So Vladovic it is.”

Vladovic, who according to some polling data was trailing Gutierrez recently, must be asking himself, ‘With friends like these who needs enemies?’ And some readers might be wondering, ‘With such unenthusiastic support, why offer an endorsement at all?’

Milken Institute Global Conference takes on education

The Milken Institute Global Conference — a gathering of 3,500 leaders from around the world in the areas of politics, science, technology and business — took place this week in Los Angeles, and the event featured several panels discussing topics that are frequent issues at LA Unified.

Earlier this week we posted about a discussion of the future of digital technology in the classroom, but there are a few other videos worth taking a look at. One examines  the issue of school reform, and the other about how to increase graduation rates for low-income students. Check out a link to the graduation discussion below.

Student artwork at Central Library 

Artwork by LA Unified students will be displayed in the  Los Angeles Central Library’s atrium, beginning tomorrow and remaining through May 22. 

According the district, the artwork will feature “prints of original paintings, sculptures, drawings, graphic designs, and media arts. It’s part of the continuing ‘Let’s Celebrate!’ series sponsored by L.A. Unified’s Arts Education Branch.”

An opening reception also will be held from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m tomorrow, featuring some of the student artists.

Lydia Gutierrez

Lydia Gutierrez, a teacher from Long Beach Unified who is mounting a vigorous campaign in LA Unified’s District 7 to unseat board President Richard Vladovic in the May 19 elections, is turning a campaign message for Vladovic against him.

A letter supporting Vladovic’s election circulated to voters this month and paid for by the teachers union political action committee, argues, “We need to provide the parents, educators and community a stronger voice so that we don’t have a rerun of the iPad fiasco.”

Gutierrez responded with a press release yesterday, pinning the “iPad disaster” squarely on Vladovic. She reminds voters that the FBI and now the Securities and Exchange Commission are looking into various aspects of the program, which rolled out with support of the entire board. Vladovic has served on the board since 2007 and as president since 2013. 

“It was Vladovic’s responsibility to obey the law and use your tax dollars wisely,” she says in the release. “As president, he set the agenda and voted twice for what turned out to be a billion-dollar failure.”

The iPad program was originally designed as a $1 billion effort to get a digital device in the hands of every LA Unified student and teacher as a tool for instruction. It went bust as glitches and problems plagued it from the beginning. Superintendent Ramon Cortines finally ended it early this year as unsustainable.

It has endured, however, as a campaign issue in at least two of the three board races, as Vladovic and Tamar Galatzan in District 3 have been criticized for their support of it.

Gutierrez’s press release was off-base on a few other things, however. Her contention that the FBI “discovered that buying iPads with bond money may have been a violation of federal law” is wrong on two counts: The FBI has not announced it has discovered anything, and the agency’s interest was not the use of bond money but the procurement process as it related to the district’s relations with Apple and Pearson.

Despite Vladovic’s winning the support of the teachers union and the state charter schools association, Gutierrez has waged an aggressive campaign against him. One internal poll last month conducted by the charters and another group found that she was leading Vladovic though the difference was within the margin of error.

Lydia Gutierrez

LA Unified board President Richard Vladovic appears to be in the political fight of his life.

A recent internal poll of District 7 voters by the California Charter Schools Association Advocates and Great Public Schools: Los Angeles, which the groups shared with LA School Report, showed his challenger, Lydia Gutierrez, leading by 37 percent to 34 percent, with 29 percent undecided, in a statistical tie. The margin of error was 4.9 percent.

“A shocker,” said Dan Chang, executive director of Great Public Schools, which has endorsed Vladovic along with the charter group and the teachers union, UTLA.

Vladovic, who is running for a third term in the May 19 runoff election, has been board president since 2013. Four years ago, he breezed to reelection with 63 percent of the primary vote, and this time, he is the rare candidate — maybe the only candidate — to run for the school board with the backing of both the teachers union and the charter schools. (The teachers did not endorse him in the primary.)

“Dr. Vladovic has always run an aggressive campaign and this election will be no different,” said his campaign consultant, Mike Trujillo. “Putting students, parents and teachers first has been the hallmark of this former teacher, principal and now school board member.”

Yet Vladovic now finds himself in a tight race that proves party affiliation has little bearing on a school board election: Gutierrez, a Republican, is seeking her first victory in her fifth run for public office since 2008 — and she’s running strong in a district where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by 4-to-1. In the primary, she finished only 5 percentage points behind Vladovic, who is a Democrat.

Gutierrez declined to answer a series of questions from LA School Report, seeking her reaction to the poll and comment on various positions that reflect her social positions, including her support for teaching creationism as an alternative theory to evolution.

In an emailed response, she insisted that she has never “brought up” those issues as part of this campaign, adding, “I am focused on the educational needs of our students in LAUSD, and how can my vote, once I am elected to the board, be used to implement procedures that will stop the wasteful use of tax dollars on projects that show a lack of planning to help benefit our students from being successful in life.”

While neither she nor Vladovic has made party affiliation or social issues part of their campaigns, Gutierrez has made no secret of her position on issues that would clearly define her as a social conservative, winning her wide support: She strongly opposes abortion. She worked to uphold Proposition 8, which sought to ban gay marriage in California.

And on an issue that continues to play out in school districts across the country, she supports the teaching of creationism, as indicated by a voter guide published last year by electionforum.org during her campaign last year for California State Superintendent of Public Instruction. She came in third, behind Tom Torlakson and Marshall Tuck.

Electionforum.org describes itself as a site to find “information based on candidates’ views, records and positions from a Christian worldview.”

In her response to LA School Report, she did not deny holding any of those positions.

Trujillo said Vladovic supports abortion rights and gay marriage and opposes the teaching of creationism. He also supports the Common Core State Standards — Gutierrez does not — and he favors state mandates for vaccinating children while Gutierrez prefers to leave the choice with parents. The LA Unified board yesterday passed a resolution by unanimous vote, supporting a state initiative to mandate vaccinations.

Josh Rosenau, program and policy director of the National Center for Science Education, an Oakland-based nonprofit organization that defends the teaching of evolution and climate science in public schools, said creationism, also known as intelligent design, is being taught in nearly every state despite decades of federal court rulings that prohibit it.

He said it’s more commonly taught in rural areas by teachers who either don’t know about its legal status or by teachers who believe their approach to the pedagogy does not violate the law.

“I would be surprised if it’s not being taught in California,” Rosenau said. “Which is not to say it’s not showing up in LA Unified, but it’s more likely in rural areas and urban areas. We get plenty of calls from places like Redding and the Central Valley.

But party ideology and positions on social issues may be less importnt in a school board race than other factors that would appear to give Gutierrez advantages. She is a Latina in a district where the plurality of voters, 39 percent, identify as Hispanic and a majority of registered voters, 52 percent, are female.

Also, on the ballot, she is identified as “school teacher,” which she has been for decades and may resonate with average voters. Vladovic is identified as “school board member/educator.”

Through the last filing period with the LA City Ethics Commission, ending on April 4, neither of the poll sponsors nor UTLA had thrown any money behind Vladovic. But that’s likely to change, Chang said.

“There are active discussions taking place among all the groups,” he said. “We’ll figure out how to help Dr. Vladovic.”

Gutierrez has no outside support so far, either. But she didn’t have any for her primary campaign, and that didn’t seem to hurt her.

Richard Vladovic

A skirmish has broken out between LA Unified board President Richard Vladovic and Lydia Gutierrez, his opponent in the May 19 runoff election for District 7, over the issue of vaccinations for students.

In response to Gutierrez’s opposition to a state senate bill that would bar parents from opting out of vaccinations for their children, Vladovic yesterday accused her of “knowingly and willingly” endangering the lives of LA Unified students.

“Ms. Gutierrez, there is plenty of room for differences of opinion on the School Board, but there is no room for policies that put our children at risk,” he told her in a letter, a copy of which was given to LA School Report. “Your position is not only extreme, it is dangerous. I urge you to revise your position — for the sake of the over six hundred thousand LAUSD students that would be affected should an outbreak occur.”

Gutierrez responded on her Facebook page, accusing Vladovic of “misrepresenting” her position.

“Vaccinations are important to the lives of children and their parents. My belief is ‘only’ that children are checked for allergic reactions prior to receiving any vaccinations. I personally had an allergic reaction to a chemical I ingested which I had to learn to walk again with permanent nerve damage. Vladovic should spend more time finding money to give teachers a raise since they haven’t received one in 8 years, instead of wasting time misquoting my viewpoint.”

Her comment has drawn more than 160 “Likes.”

An email message sent to Gutierrez for further comment went unanswered.

The conflict arose after a state Senate committee on Wednesday voted 6-2 in support of a bill that effectively makes vaccinations mandatory, removing an exemption that allows parents to send children to school without the shots, based on their personal beliefs.

Some parents object on the grounds of maintaining freedom over government mandates while others cite their belief that vaccines cause autism despite assurances from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that no link has been established.

For Vladovic, who won the March primary with just 42.6 percent of the vote to Gutierrez’s 37.6 percent, it was a rare public display of censure. As board president, he generally moves things along gently at board meetings and expresses opinions without criticizing those holding opposing views.

His letter to Gutierrez was unusually sharp in tone, and it appeared to give him an issue on which he can draw a clear distinction from his opponent.

“There are times in the course of an election where candidates are called to address issues that go beyond mere differences in leadership styles or accomplishments,” he said in his letter. “Issues that get to the heart of why we are involved in this crucially important field of education. This is one of those times.”

At its next meeting, scheduled for April 14, the school board is voting on a resolution that urges the state legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown to approve the senate bill “as a way to protect all students from potentially serious yet preventable diseases.”

The measure is sponsored by Tamar Galatzan and George McKenna and is expected to pass easily.

LA Unified school board President Richard Vladovic

The LA teachers union, UTLA, has decided to endorse LA Unified school board President Richard Vladovic in his reelection bid for the District 7 board seat.

While it’s his third run for the seat, it’s the first time the teachers are throwing support his way, making him that rare candidate who has won the endorsements of both UTLA and the California Charter Schools Association.

“I am honored to have the support of teachers in Los Angeles,” Vladovic said on his campaign website. “I will continue to fight to ensure that school employees and students feel empowered so together we can continue to provide a strong education for a better Los Angeles.”

UTLA did not respond to messages seeking comment, leaving open the question of whether the union will spend on Vladovic’s behalf.

The District 7 race is one of three on the May 19 runoff ballot involving the school board. Two other incumbents are defending their seats — Tamar Galatzan in District 3 and Bennett Kayser in District 5. Galatzan won her primary and will face Scott Schmerelson in the runoff, and Kayser advanced by finishing second to Ref Rodriguez.

Vladovic, who has served as president since 2013, moved into the runoff by narrowly defeating Lydia Gutierrez, 42.6 percent to 37.6. He won the endorsement of the charter group but not UTLA.

Given the margin of victory, the union’s support might come in handy in the runoff.

Gutierrez, a former teacher in the Long Beach Unified School District, is a Republican who won nearly 1 million votes statewide last year in challenging Tom Torlakson for State Superintendent for Education. With backing from the charter group in the primary, Vladovic beat her by only 657 votes among 13,086 cast.

Success in his first runs for board came with less uncertainty. In 2007, he won in the general election with 54.2 percent of the vote. Four years later he won reelection with an outright victory in the primary, with 63.1 percent of the vote.

UTLA and the charter group waged a million dollar spending war in this year’s primary, largely focused on District 5, with UTLA supporting Kayser and the charters helping Rodriguez.

The charters also spent to aide Galatzan. After sitting out the primary, UTLA is backing Schmerelson in the runoff.