“It was a meeting to discuss what had happened in my election and what we should think about the future of LAUSD,” said Kate Anderson, who unsuccessfully ran for LAUSD School Board against Board member Steve Zimmer.

But other sources who attended the meeting characterized the mood of the meeting  as rudderless.

“Nothing came out of it,” said one frustrated reformer who was there. “It was just another sort of, ‘the ed reformers lost, what can we do about it?’ There’s a lot of those meetings. There’s no clear next actionable plan.”

Those attending the meeting included Ben Austin of Parent Revolution, Ryan Smith* of United Way, Marshall Tuck of the Partnership for LA Schools and Gary Borden of California Charter Schools Association. There were few big-money donors there, with the exception of Frank Baxter, who gave $100,000 to the Coalition.

When reached for comment, Baxter said only, “I’m optimistic about our future.”

Los Angeles has a healthy surplus of non-profits working to reform public education. But when it comes to influencing public policy, they’ve had mixed results.

“We have a strong coalition of civil rights leaders, parents community leaders that wants to see changes in LAUSD,” said Anderson. “We haven’t coalesced together as strongly as we should.”

A key problem the group faces is to figure out who will now lead the Coalition for School Reform, the independent expenditure (IE) committee created by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa that’s been a central vehicle through which reform advocates have pushed their agenda.

One source said Anderson herself was considering taking over as head, but has since decided against it.

Another option that remains under consideration is to add a year-round nonprofit 501(c)(4) advocacy group, with an eye toward pushing ed reform ideas over the long term rather than solely through election-season campaign spending.

In the meantime, sources at the meeting said that if anyone appeared to be in charge, it was the California Charter School Association (CCSA).

“CCSA is taking operational control of the Coalition,” said one source.

Another said: “CCSA is absolutely part of the answer. They have a real vested stake in this stuff. They might have the biggest natural self-interest.”

*A previous version of this post said Elise Buik of United Way was at the meeting; she was not.

Previous posts: What Next for the Coalition for School Reform?; How Ratliff Won (& Reformers Lost)*; Reform Coalition Focuses Massive War Chest on Mailers; Why the Coalition’s Going All Out to Elect Sanchez

But that story was actually written in 2003 — back when Blume was writing for the LA Weekly rather than his current gig at the LA Times — and concerned a different Coalition: the Coalition for Kids, headed by then-Mayor Richard Riordan.

Ten years later, the story is pretty much the same — only the names have changed. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Coalition for School Reform just spent over $4 million on three races, losing all but one.

And, with Villaraigosa on his way out, some donors fuming at their expensive defeat, and with the very usefulness of independent expenditure (IE) campaigns fueled by big-money donations being questioned, the Coalition yet again faces an uncertain future.

Possible changes that may be discussed at a Friday meeting include dissolving as an organization, creating a year-round non-profit advocacy group, or simply changing names when the next Board elections take place in two years.

Even before last week’s shock election that saw Monica Ratliff defeat the Coalition-backed Antonio Sanchez, a meeting was already being planned for this Friday to discuss “the 2013 board elections and to discuss preparations for future elections,” according to an email obtained by LA School Report.

With a subject line “LA Board Elections Debrief and 2015 Planning” addressed to “LA Ed Reformers and Friends,” the email was sent out at the beginning of May and has been circulating among reform allies since then.

The invitees are a veritable who’s who of school reformers, including former Board candidate Kate Anderson, Partnership for LA Schools CEO Marshall Tuck, Green Dot CEO Marco Petruzzi, Camino Nuevo CEO Ana Ponce, former Board President Yolie Flores, outgoing Deputy Mayor of Education Joan Sullivan, and Jed Wallace, President of the California Charter Schools Association.

Flores said she expects the meeting to be an informal discussion.

“I haven’t been a part of [the Coaliton], so it’ll be interesting,” said the former LAUSD Board member. “Folks have been calling me asking what I think. I’m interested in challenging folks to be much more thoughtful about how they think about Board elections. There’s some pretty basic things that I was shaking my head that didn’t happen.”

For all the post-election recriminations about the candidate that was chosen and the campaign that was run, one basic question to be answered is: are these campaigns even worth it?

A number of other big-money IE campaigns —  namely the Department of Water & Power union’s campaign on behalf of Wendy Greuel’s doomed mayoral run– suffered expensive losses this year.

Though Villaraigosa has previously pledged to continue his involvement in Los Angeles education, it’s unlikely he’ll be very involved in future School Board races, and it’s unclear if Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti’s views will line up with the current school reformers.

His wife Amy Wakeland* was the Coalition for Kids’ spokesperson in 2003, but he won the UTLA endorsement and never endorsed Coalition candidates including Board member Monica Garcia or Antonio Sanchez.

“For me, this organization is a means to an end,” said one reformer who’s been invited to Friday’s meeting but didn’t want to speak on the record. “It’s a vehicle for a group of people, with Villaraigosa at the helm, to invest.There’s a variety of ways to do that in the future — with or without this particular name. Given the number of high-profile losses, maybe attaching the name to candidates isn’t the best thing to set them up for success.”

That being said, the Coalition for School Reform still has over $500,000 in the bank. It can change its name, but not its purpose, which is to elect School Board candidates.

“They have to spend their money on something,” said one pro-reform political consultant. “In two years, it’s gonna be another war.”

Indeed, four LAUSD School Board seats are up for election in 2015: District 1, covering mostly South LA (currently represented by Marguerite LaMotte); District 3, covering the West San Fernando Valley (currently represented by Tamar Galatzan); District 5, covering a hodge-podge of neighborhoods from Silver Lake to Vernon (currently represented by Bennett Kayser); and District 7, covering San Pedro, Harbor Gateway and South LA (currently represented by Dr. Richard Vladovic).

Will this year’s loss hurt fundraising in the future? One donor we spoke with, Frank Baxter, the former U.S. Ambassador to Uruguay who gave $100,000 to the Coalition, said he would continue to support similar efforts.

“I will never stop fighting for better education for our kids,” he said. “Whatever course that takes, I would like to be part of it.”

But one reformer, who’s been invited to Friday’s meeting, says that LA’s reform effort needs to morph into a more grassroots kind of effort, which might mean creating a new kind of organization.

“People in the reform community are talking about setting up a 501(c)4,” he said. “Not an [Independent Expenditure campaign] that pops up every election cycle, but that exists in between elections building up a base.”

Named for a section in the tax code, 501(c)(4)s are non-profit organizations dedicated to promoting “social welfare” that are increasingly being used by education organizations such as StudentsFirst who wish to be involved in political advocacy.

Unlike 501(c)(3)s, they are allowed to spend money on political campaigns and do not have to reveal all of their donors. Examples include the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Rifle Association.

The source pointed to the 2003 Blume story as evidence that the reformers have consistently failed to learn lessons from past electoral defeats.

“We are literally living that again,” he said. “We’ve learned nothing in ten years. That has to change.”

*A previous version of this post identified Garcetti’s wife as Amy Wakefield

Previous posts: New Mayor’s Wife Has School Reform Past; How Ratliff Won (& Reformers Lost)*; Reform Coalition Focuses Massive War Chest on Mailers; Why the Coalition’s Going All Out to Elect Sanchez

Mayor-elect Garcetti’s wife, Amy Wakeland

A recent LA Times piece looks at Amy Wakeland, wife of newly elected Mayor Eric Garcetti, calling her “a powerful player in [Garcetti’s] political life” and noting that in the past she has worked for unnamed L.A. Unified School District board candidates.

A helpful tipster pointed out to us that in 2003, Wakeland served as spokesperson for former Mayor Richard Riordan’s Coalition for Kids, a predecessor to the Coalition for School Reform. You can see her quoted in article’s like this one, putting out various fires for Riordan’s slate of candidates.

During the campaign, Garcetti was endorsed (but not funded) by UTLA, and did not endorse Board member Monica Garcia in the District 2 primary. He endorsed neither Monica Ratliff nor Antonio Sanchez in last week’s District 6 runoff.

Previous posts: An Unbalanced Breakfast for Mayors Villaraigosa & Garcetti; Education Small Factor in Mayoral Voting; Mayoral Debate Reveals Few School Differences; Teachers Give to Garcetti Super PAC

Sanchez has now conceded the race.* Ratliff couldn’t be reached for comment. The Daily News’ Barbara Jones reported earlier this morning that Ratliff was at San Pedro Elementary teaching, as she has been throughout the campaign.

Turnout in the race was roughly 16 percent, although according to the City Clerk, there are still more than 82,000 votes left to be counted citywide. It is unknown how many of those uncounted ballots are from District 6.

Observers, to say the least, are shocked. Recriminations within the so-called “school reform” community have already begun, with one pro-reform insider calling the result “an utter disaster.”

The small clique of UTLA activists that helped Ratliff win, on the other hand, are ecstatic.

“Am I surprised? Yes,” said Brent Smiley, vice chair for UTLA’s political action committee. “I’m truly floored. I think, ultimately, [voters] saw [Sanchez] as a politician. And they viewed [Ratliff] as what she was – a classroom teacher.”

Those involved in the race are crediting Ratliff’s poise as a candidate, her ballot designation as a classroom teacher, and a small but devoted group of volunteers; they blame Sanchez’s loss on his lack of familiarity with education issues, the ineffectiveness of the campaigns on his behalf, and low voter turnout.

At least one observer credited UTLA’s endorsement of both Ratliff and Sanchez, which conventional wisdom credited as a major advantage for Sanchez, as having had the completely unintended effect of protecting Ratliff.

While Ratliff’s campaign was greatly outspent, local know-how may have played a part in her victory.

Smiley (who does not speak for UTLA) was part of a small group of teacher-activists who worked tirelessly on the Ratliff campaign, posting on list-serves and on Facebook and going door-to-door, targeting likely voters.

“Because there are so many of us who have done these campaigns before, we know how to do this,” he said. “We know which voters to focus on.”

Ratliff won the early mail-in vote by roughly four percentage points, which was not much of a surprise given the past performance of other UTLA-supported candidates like Steve Zimmer.

Much more surprisingly, Ratliff came close to breaking even on ballots cast on election day, marking a stunning loss for the field organizations of both the Coalition for School Reform and SEIU Local 99, which were both supporting Sanchez.

“Antonio Sanchez’ understanding of the needs of our communities made him a strong voice for our schools,” said SEIU Local 99 head Courtni Pugh in a statement. “While we are disappointed that he was not elected to the LAUSD School Board, we look forward to working with Monica Ratliff.”

The Coalition and the SEIU spent over $2 million to elect Sanchez. Ratliff, meanwhile, spent roughly $50,000 and had no special interest support.

The defeat may prove to have some long-term benefits for LA’s school reform movement.

“It’s stunning, but in way, it’s good,” said the pro-reform insider we spoke with. “It shows you can’t buy an election.”

Many will, no doubt, blame the candidate himself.

“Sanchez was definitely a bad candidate,” said the reform insider.  “I don’t think he had any affinity for education. This was just a stepping stone for him.”

Others may blame the recruitment and selection of the candidate by the Villaraigosa team.

The Coalition for School Reform appeared confident in the days before the election. Multiple sources said they had internal polls showing Sanchez up by as many as 20 percentage points.

And the independent expenditure campaign appeared to be saving up hundreds of thousands of dollars for the next elections, in 2015, rather than spending down as they might have done if they’d expected a close race.

Now the reform movement in LA faces the reality of having spent roughly over $4 million (once all the bills are paid) only to lose two out of three 2013 School Board races.

Making matters worst, its driving force, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, is out of a job and his replacement — Eric Garcetti — is by many accounts unlikely to be as devoted to the reform approach to education as his predecessor.

One of the biggest oddities of the race was the teachers union’s dual endorsement of both Ratliff and Sanchez, which tied UTLA’s hands when it came to supporting Ratliff.

That strategy, harshly criticized by pro-Ratliff activists like Diane Ravitch, now looks like it may have worked out.

Even though Smiley supported Ratliff, he was also an architect of the dual endorsement strategy, saying that both candidates were perfectly acceptable, and arguing that it would be better to have teachers decide who to vote for themselves.

If this meant that UTLA couldn’t spend any money on Ratliff, it also meant that the Coalition couldn’t attack Ratliff for being beholden to the union, of which she was a chapter chair and House of Representatives member.

“We took away from the Coaltion the one thing they desperately needed — a negative message,” said Smiley. “We didn’t let them hit the teachers union. They had absolutely nothing negative to say.”

Indeed, there was no negative campaigning whatsoever in the runoff — neither by Sanchez, the Coalition, or the underdog Ratliff.

Not that Smiley planned it that way: “I’m not gonna lie to you and say that was the plan. It wasn’t.”

The Coalition for School Reform congratulated Ratliff on her victory.

“Although thousands of votes remain uncounted, it appears that Monica Ratliff has won the District 6 runoff for Los Angeles School Board.  The Coalition for School Reform congratulates member-elect Ratliff and looks forward to working with her.”

For most of the morning, the Sanchez campaign was not prepared to give up.

“The turnout was 16.76%, and in extremely low, I would say historically low-turnout elections, anything can happen,” said Sanchez spokesman Mike Shimpock in an email statement. “Unfortunately, anything did happen and Antonio finds himself behind. But there still are many outstanding ballots to be counted, and anything could happen again, only in our favor. I think we need to wait and see what the clerk says their timeline for completing the canvass is before we make any decisions.”

Sanchez’s Latino surname and fluency in Spanish is also a built-in advantage (though Ratliff’s mother is from Mexico).

“You’re looking at a very Latino district,” said Mike Shimpock, Sanchez’s campaign consultant. “And this is a district where ethnic identity voting still makes a difference on election day.”

Internal polls are said to show a decisive advantage for Sanchez, but voter turnout could play a huge role.

“If the turnout is above 15 percent, Sanchez wins running away,” said Brent Smiley, a teacher and vice chair of UTLA’s political action committee. “If it’s below 15 percent, then things get interesting.”

The Ratliff campaign has been hampered by the fact that the candidate has kept her day job, teaching at San Pedro Elementary, leaving her fairly little time to raise money and talk to voters.

“For better or worse, School Board districts are huge, and it’s almost impossible to win if you have no opportunity to campaign in front of voters,” said Shimpock.

He’s predicting a 10 point victory for his client — roughly the same margin of victory that Sanchez held over Ratliff in the primary.

A source close to the Coalition for School Reform’s campaign on behalf of Sanchez said a recent internal poll had Sanchez over the 50 percent threshold, but declined to say what the margin was.

The Coalition, which has spent $3.8 million on three 2013 School Board races, has run a decidedly low-key campaign in the primary, running no TV ads, sending out only positive mailers, and spending less money than it did during the primary.

“The plan was always to have money in the hopper for the next race, in case the next mayor doesn’t raise money,” said one pro-school reform insider.

Even so, the Coalition and SEIU Local 99 have spent over $2 million on behalf of Sanchez. Ratliff, by comparison, had spent $55,000 as of May 14, much of it on a handful of slate mailers and direct mail — as well as some rulers identifying her as “Mònica” Ratliff — in an attempt to remind voters that she’s half Latina.

Though she has made remarks about wanting to get rid of “big money” from the School Board race, Ratliff has not gone on the attack against her opponent.

District 6 turnout in the primary was 17.6 percent, about 3.5 percentage points lower than city-wide turnout, which is expected by many to rise by a few points, perhaps to about 25 percent, in the runoff.

“Historically, there’s a five to eight percent boost in turnout [from the primary to the runoff],” said Shimpock. “I think it’s gonna be even less this time. And this district would behave similarly.”

Smiley, who’s volunteering for Ratliff’s campaign, issued a bold prediction:

“I think [turnout’s] gonna be less than 15 [percent]. I’ve been knocking on doors. The most common response is, ‘Sanchez who?’ and ‘Ratliff who?’ Neither side has reached enough voters.”

The Coalition source told us that based on early returns, the number of absentee ballots was expected to be roughly the same as it was in the primary.

One wild card is the City Council primary, which includes sitting School Board member Nury Martinez. If voters are excited about that race, it could push turnout up.

But even if turnout does drop tomorrow, Sanchez still remains the slight favorite, if for no other reason than he’ll have a field campaign run by the SEIU Local 99, the union which represents classified workers (and went undefeated in the primary).

“[Steve] Zimmer wouldn’t have won without the SEIU on his side,” said one former consultant aligned with UTLA. “Monica [Ratliff]’s got none of that.”

Previous posts: Walking San Fernando with Antonio Sanchez; Door-to-Door in Sunland with Monica Ratliff; East Valley Power Politics Shaped District 6 Runoff; Reform Coalition Focuses Massive War Chest on Mailers

District 6 candidate Antonion Sanchez walking on Saturday.

Antonio Sanchez always introduces himself to voters the same way, telling them within ten seconds that he grew up in Pacoima, went to San Fernando High School, and graduated form Cal State Northridge before going on to UCLA.

And so when he canvases precincts in San Fernando on Saturday, he knows most of the streets. He even knows some of the voters — both from growing up in the area and from working on a number of political campaigns, from as far back as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s election in 2005 and Cindy Montanez’s failed State Senate run in 2006.

Although he’s a first-time candidate, the 31-year-old Sanchez also enjoys a panoply of political connections to labor groups, State legislators and East Valley community groups. As a result, nearly $2 million has been spent on Sanchez’s behalf by outside groups, making him the clear favorite in the race.

Spending a couple of hours this past Saturday walking a precinct with Sanchez and his friend, Pete Brown, it’s clear that the connections are an advantage about which Sanchez is unapologetic — but also something he has to answer for.

Sanchez and his friend Pete Brown

An ally who worked with Sanchez on previous campaigns, Brown is  just one of a number of volunteers walking precincts that day — many of whom are young politically active Latinos.

Many of the residents instantly recognize Sanchez when he knocks on their doors.

“You look older in the picture!” says one woman in Spanish, laughing. Sanchez laughs and replies in Spanish.

Like many others in the East Valley, she’s gotten scores of glossy mailers with his face on them — some sent by his own campaign but more often than not by either SEIU Local 99, which represents LAUSD classified employees, or the Coalition for School Reform, a group of wealthy donors that includes New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and developer philanthropist Eli Broad.

Some voters are wary of this kind of backing.

“I’m gonna vote for you ’cause I know you went to San Fernando High School,” says a voter. “The only thing that’s suspicious is, where are you getting all this money from? I’m getting all these flyers, all these people coming to the door.”

Sanchez calmly explains to her that many of these are paid for by outside expenditure groups whose campaign is independent from his.

“It’s a lot,” says the woman, clearly sick of her mailbox getting stuffed with campaign literature.

“There has been a lot of money,” admits Sanchez, who then seeks to reassure her: “I’m gonna be fair, I’m going to have an open door policy.”

The northeast boundaries of the country’s second-largest school district extend all the way to the San Gabriel Mountains. San Fernando — its own city, independent from Los Angeles — sits in the shadow of the massive mountain range.

Unlike the City of Los Angeles, which is also choosing a new Mayor on Tuesday, there isn’t much else on the ballot in San Fernando — just a Community College race and Sanchez’s runoff against Monica Ratliff.

Some precincts here had a voter turnout of around 4 percent in the March primary. But it’s still fertile ground for Sanchez, because of its high concentration of Latino voters, and because off Sanchez’s roots in the area — although he only sort of grew up in Pacoima.

His parents grew up on the same block in Michoacan, Mexico. His dad was one of 15 children, his mom was one of 12; Sanchez says he has hundreds of cousins in Mexico. His parents moved to Chicago, where Sanchez was born. The family moved back to Mexico, and then to North Hollywood (where Sanchez lives now). When Sanchez was about 10, his dad, a bus driver for the MTA, bought a house in Pacoima.

“It’s what I remember,” he said. “I went to Pacoima Middle School. And I spent every summer in Mexico.” He credits his fluent Spanish to those summers.

Much has been made of Sanchez’s political connections. But Sanchez also has a history of political activism that started when he went to CSUN.

“I used to protest the war, and tuition hikes,” he says. “My dad made me cut my hair when I graduated.”

Indeed, Sanchez isn’t ashamed or embarrassed by his many political connections — like his friends up in Sacramento, or the fact that he Councilman Jose Huizar’s appointee to the Los Angeles redistricting commission, which fell under heavy criticism for it back-room deals and cynical gerrymandering to reward and punish various council members.

“I don’t think my campaign should be considered less legitimate because I’ve been involved,” he says. “I think it’s a good thing. I walk into neighborhood council meetings and I know half the people there.”

Asked if he’s thought about running for higher office after serving as School Board member, he replied, “I have no idea. I don’t think it would be wise to plan anything.”

Would he promise to serve out his first four-year term?

“Oh come on! Of course!” he says. “After Tuesday, it’s the next four years, making sure I have a strong staff, making sure I visit one school a week.”

Just who Sanchez picks as his staff members has been the subject of much rumor and innuendo. Sanchez says he hasn’t thought much about it. But people have been bringing it up: “I’ve had people mention, ‘Hey, you should give me a call.’ From all levels.”

He says his criteria for choosing staff won’t be ideology; it’ll be work ethic.

“I’m used to working seven days a week,” he says. “They’re gonna have to get used to working 7 days a week.”

Sanchez is by all accounts a tireless worker. He says he’s spent the first five hours of every day making fundraising phone calls, has campaigned full-time for the last two months, visiting schools, talking to parents, and going to fundraisers.

Since Thursday, it’s all about making calls and going door-to-door, reminding voters to vote.

He admits: “Dude, I’m mentally drained.”

Previous posts: East Valley Power Politics Shaped District 6 Runoff; Reform Coalition Focuses Massive War Chest on Mailers; Sanchez Supports Classroom Breakfast & Teacher Dismissal Initiatives; Why the Coalition’s Going All Out to Elect Sanchez

Close-up of Coalition mailer for District 6 candidate Antonio Sanchez

As of May 4, the independent expenditure (IE) committee known as the Coalition for School Reform had a staggering $850,000 left in the bank, according to papers filed with the City Ethics Commission.

That dwarfs the $55,000 left in the coffers of the Antonio Sanchez campaign, whom the Coalition is supporting, as well as the $21,000 held by the Monica Ratliff campaign.

Both are seeking to win the District 6 (East Valley) School Board runoff election that’s being held May 21.

Rather than airing new ads on television or radio, or going for broke with a door-to-door field operation, Coalition spokesman Addisu Demissie said the group would spend heavily on direct mail.

“The good thing about mail is, we can talk to different people in specific ways,” Demissie told LA School Report.  “It’s more efficient that way. You know how expensive TV can be in Los Angeles.”

The Coalition’s recent mailers have all been positive — in contrast to some of the pieces sent out in the primary, some of which were negative.

Sounding fairly confident, Demissie stressed that the general election doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and that the money spent during the primary — some of which went to talking to and registering non-traditional voters — would have an effect on the runoff.

“A lot of the benefits of running a strong primary and coming in first, we’re gonna see the benefits of that next week,” he said. “It’s compound interest.”

The Coalition’s beefed-up 2013 field campaign has continued, according to Demissie, but is not expected to generate massive increases.

“What we’ve been doing in our field is talking to non-traditional voters, doing voter registration, particularly in the Latino community,” he said.  “It’s not a huge number to be honest. It’s on the margins. That’s the kind of work that field does — it gets you three percent.”

The Coalition for School Reform has been a semi-permanent organization throughout the Villaraigosa years, promoting reform-friendly School Board candidates. With the election less than one week away and no television advertisements currently on air, it’s unlikely that the Coalition will spend all of its money before May 21.

The Coalition could save some money for the next School Board elections in 2015.

Coalition flyer on behalf of D6 School Board candidate Antonio Sanchez

The Coalition for School Reform has already spent nearly $200,000 since the March 5th primary to support Antonio Sanchez‘s bid to replace Nury Martinez as District 6 Board Member.

With around $1 million left in the bank thanks to recent donations by former Mayor Richard Riordan ($50,000), New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ($350,000), and philanthropist / art collector Eli Broad ($250,000), you can look for the Coalition to be spending a whole lot more as we enter the final three weeks of the campaign.

And yet, with the teachers union having endorsed both candidates, and therefore somewhat of a non-factor in the election, and both remaining candidates having committed to supporting LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, it’s worth asking: why’s the Coalition still raising (and spending) so much money, and what are they doing with it?

“We take nothing for granted,” said Coalition spokesman Addisu Demissie, who added that much of the money would go to beefing up the Coalition’s field organization. “We learned in the primary that turnout is important, so we’re investing heavily so that we turn out voters in May.”

Indeed, despite its massive financial advantage, the Coalition has several reasons  to take every possible step to ensure that Sanchez is elected.

The reasons for the Coalition’s concerns are fairly straightforward:

The Coalition’s field operation for the March primary wasn’t powerful enough to secure a win for District 2 candidate Kate Anderson or a majority vote for Sanchez (which would have precluded the need for a runoff in District 6).

Sanchez’s runoff opponent, Monica Ratliff, has been endorsed by the LA Times and the LA Daily News.

Ratliff finished second in the primary with 34 percent, just 10 points behind the much better-funded Sanchez.

More importantly, she’s a teacher, which makes her popular with other teachers — many of whom vote and have friends and relatives who vote — and also a union representative for her school — which makes her popular with union members. Teachers were a main reason Bennett Kayser defeated Luis Sanchez in 2011.

A source close to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is the unofficial fundraiser-in-chief for the Coalition, said there was another reason to spend so much on Sanchez: to remind him what side his bread is buttered.

“Antonio Sanchez will know who got him elected,” said the source.

The Coalition does not want another Steve Zimmer.

Demissie denied that binding Sanchez to its reform agenda was a reason for the continued fundraising and spending: “The Coalition supports him because we think he’s the best candidate for LAUSD.”

The Coalition’s mailers have all been positive so far, touting his endorsements from Riordan, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and a host of others.

Previous posts: Rumors Swirl Around Sanchez Staff Possibilities; District 6 Candidate Commits to Support Deasy; Undaunted, NYC Mayor Gives $350,000 to Reform Coalition; Coalition for School Reform Gets Big Donations

“For years, the funding in these sorts of races was only on one side with the union,” said Bloomberg spokesman Marc LaVorgna. Mayor Bloomberg is “committed to providing a counterbalance.”

During the primary, Bloomberg gave $1 million to the Coalition, which supported three candidates: Monica Garcia, Kate Anderson and Sanchez. According to the LA Times, this was the largest campaign contribution in School Board history.

Anderson lost narrowly to incumbent Steve Zimmer; some blamed a backlash to big out-of-state donations from non-Democrats such as Bloomberg and Rupert Murdoch.

When asked if Bloomberg had any second thoughts about giving to the Coalition after the primary results, LaVorgna replied simply: “No.”

The Coalition, whose chief fundraiser is LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, recently got checks for $250,000 from Eli Broad, and $100,000 from Michelle Rhee’s organization, StudentsFirst.

So far, the Coalition has spent roughly $130,000 in support of Sanchez in the May 21 general election. SEIU local 99 and the Los Angeles Federation of Labor are also running IEs for Sanchez. His opponent, teacher Monica Ratliff, currently enjoys no IE support.

Previous posts: Coalition for School Reform Gets Big Donations; Runoff 2013: Slow Fundraising Start for District 6; Defiant Mayor Promises Continued Involvement; Update: UTLA-PACE Spends, Bloomberg Donates

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg Donates $350,000 to LAUSD Reformer’s Campaign
With the runoff now less than a month away, Bloomberg has given the coalition an additional $350,000 – again at Villaraigosa’s request – to support the election of Antonio Sanchez to the District 6 seat. LA Daily News
See also: LA School Report

Teacher Evaluation Bill Opposed by Unions Dies in Committee
Legislation that would have required more frequent evaluations of educators was killed by a state Senate committee Wednesday under strong opposition from teachers’ unions. LA Times
See also: LA School Report, SI&A Cabinet Report

Jerry Brown Vows Battle With Democratic Critics of Education Plan
Gov. Jerry Brown offered a spirited defense of his plan to overhaul the state’s education system Wednesday and warned Democratic critics of his plan that they were “going to get the battle of their lives” if they attempt to change key parts of his proposal. LA Times
See also: EdSource, Fresno Bee

Law That Holds Parents Accountable for Kids Truancy Applied Differently Across Southern California
Last week, six parents in Orange County who had let their kids miss up to 22 days from school were charged with two misdemeanors: contributing to the delinquency of a minor and failure to reasonably supervise or encourage school attendance. KPCC

Calif. Neglecting Thousands of English-Learners, Lawsuit Claims
More than 20,000 English-learners in California’s public schools are not receiving language instruction and the state department of education is failing in its role to ensure that schools educate such students, alleges a lawsuit filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union. EdWeek
See also: LA Times, KPCC

Tom Bartman, Who Helped End LA School Busing, Dies
Tom Bartman, who helped end forced busing for integration in the Los Angeles Unified School District, has died. He was 67. KPCC

Funeral Today for Sal Castro, Who Led ’68 Chicano Student Walkouts
Funeral services will be held Thursday morning for former teacher Salvador “Sal” Castro, who played a central role in the 1968 Eastside school walkouts to protest inequalities in education for Latinos in the Los Angeles Unified School District. LA Times

Arrests Made in Fatal Stabbing at High School
An 18-year-old man was playing handball at Cleveland High School in Reseda when he was fatally stabbed and three suspects were arrested in connection with the death, police said on Thursday. NBC LA

State Probes Burbank Third Grade Cheating Report
Burbank school officials say a third-grade teacher has been put on leave after a student reported a got help with answers on state standardized tests. KPCC
See also: LA Times

State Toughens Regs for Interns Teaching English Learners
The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing will now require non-credentialed Teach For America teachers and other intern teachers to receive more training in how to teach English learners and to get weekly on-the-job mentoring and supervision. EdSource

Democratic Party Schism Over Scandalous Schools: Gloria Romero, Slimed by Teacher Unions, Says Sober Up
A few days ago, the teachers union wing of the California Democratic Party tarred the growing numbers of breakaway Democrats who, in sync with President Obama, point the finger at teachers unions as a big obstacle to fixing crappy schools. LA Weekly

LA Mayor’s Race: How the Candidates Stand on Your Issues
Even though the mayor doesn’t have any direct authority over the Los Angeles Unified School District, many voters said they want the next major to play a role in education. KPCC

As Restorative Justice Spreads, When Do You Suspend?
Critics of suspensions, and the zero-tolerance policies that fuel them, advocate for restorative practices, which have been making inroads across the country to demonstrated positive effect. But restorative practices take time, in a way that simple punishment does not. EdWeek

Help on the Road to Higher Education
Parent College gives fathers and mothers an introduction to campus life so they can help their teenagers gain admission. LA Times

A Curriculum Crunch for California
While education reformers in Sacramento continue to obsess about how easy it should be to fire teachers and how important tests should be in evaluating their performance, almost no one is talking about the central issue of what students are supposed to be learning in the near future. LA Times Editorial

Hawthorne Middle School Teacher Wins Honor
A teacher at Bud Carson Middle School in Hawthorne is among three to be named California Teachers of the Year by Project Lead the Way, a nationwide nonprofit that partners with schools to offer a hands-on engineering curriculum. Daily Breeze

Educators Want Concrete Data to Build New API Indicators
In the search for a more perfect school accountability system, classroom teachers and district administrators joined school advocates in a call last week for more concrete indicators – like daily attendance, fitness marks and discipline records. SI&A Cabinet Report

Eli Broad

The Coalition for School Reform’s District 6 (East San Fernando Valley) runoff election coffers have been replenished thanks to big donations received from Los Angeles philanthropist Eli Broad and StudentsFirst, Michelle Rhee’s education advocacy group, among others.

According to reports just filed with the LA City Ethics Commission, Broad gave the Coalition $250,000. StudentsFirst contributed another $100,000. A LA-area business consulting group called Aurora Management Partners contributed $30,000 to the Coalition, and Century City 1800 Partners gave $20,000. As LA School Report reported Monday, the Coalition had $230,000 in its war chest at the beginning of April. These new contributions push that amount to $630,000.

Previous posts: Runoff 2013: Slow Fundraising Start for District 6; Runoff: Union & LA Times Might Shift Endorsements

In terms of direct campaign fundraising, Ratliff hasn’t raised any money at all since the primary election, and Sanchez has raised just $15,000 since early March.

As for the IE committees, the latest financial reports from the LA City Ethics Commission cover a time period between mid-February and April 6:

*UTLA-PACE, the teachers union’s political arm, received $237,000 in contributions, as well as $628,000 in “miscellaneous cash increases” but only has $73,000 left for the runoff because the union spent heavily in the weeks leading up to the primary. (See report here.)

*The Coalition for School Reform received $712,000 in contributions during the same time period. But it also spent heavily on the primary, so the Coalition has $230,000 in its account to spend on the District 6 election. (See report here.)

*And the Local 99 branch of the Service Employees International Union collected $398,000 between February and April. It has $261,000 to spend on the runoff. (See report here.)

In terms of spending, outside groups including the Coalition for School Reform and the LA County Federation of Labor spent almost $1.3 million to support Sanchez in the primary, but they have spent only $66,000 on him since then.

L.A. School Reform Effort Draws Diverse Group of Wealthy Donors
Republicans, liberals, Hollywood notables and global corporate executives are among those who gave to the Coalition for School Reform. LA Times

LAUSD Chief John Deasy Draws Fire as He Pursues Aggressive Reform Plan
The reforms that Deasy enacted – and just how aggressively he’s pursued them – have put the fast-talking New Englander at the center of a heated debate over the future of the nation’s second-largest school district. LA Daily News

Interest in Teaching Continues to Drop in California
Interest in teaching is steadily dropping in California, with the number of educators earning a teaching credential dipping by 12% last year — marking the eighth straight annual decline. LA Times
See also: EdSource

A To-Do List for L.A.’s Next Mayor
I want the next mayor to be an education mayor, but not by simply operating his or her own network of schools. I’d like the mayor to create an Office of City Schools to provide a one-stop informational shop for families. LA Times Opinion (Gloria Romero)

Villaraigosa’s Legacy
Throughout Villaraigosa’s tenure, there has consistently been a sense that he has fallen short of his potential and delivered less than he promised. LA Times (Jim Newton)

Race for Campaign Cash; Mayor’s Race Exceed $10 Million
In the Los Angeles Unified School District board campaigns, the primary race for the District 6 seat had generated more than $1.2 million in donations, but in the runoff, contributions are off to a slow start. LA Daily News

As Nation’s Schools Get More Diverse, Instruction of Students Learning English Remains Bleak
Of all the challenges facing minority students and their schools, English learners are arguably the most disadvantaged. It’s hard to find enough teachers who are qualified to instruct them, and there’s little consistency in the programs used to educate them. AP

Growing Charter Network Under SBE Draws Interest From Lawmakers
A sharp increase in the number of charter schools petitioning – and receiving – permission to open from the California State Board of Education has attracted the attention of the Legislature. SI&A Cabinet Report

California Pension Fund to Divest From Gunmakers
California’s pension fund for teachers made official on Friday its plan to divest holdings in firearms companies whose weapons are illegal in the state. Reuters

Robot Experiment Coming to Los Angeles Classrooms
A dragon-like robot will soon grace the classrooms of one Los Angeles elementary school in hopes of helping first-graders adopt healthier eating habits. KPCC

California High Schools Are Sick of the Coachella Cut Day ‘Mess’
In L.A., administrators and teachers at some of the top schools that have struggled to contend with the empty classrooms of Coachella Fridays are finally learning how to deal with absence in the age of the music festival. Atlantic

LAUSD Manager Scot Graham Suing District Regarding Alleged Harassment
A Los Angeles Unified School District manager is suing his employer, alleging the district failed to prevent former Superintendent Ramon Cortines from sexually harassing him. Scot Graham’s lawsuit was filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court. LA Daily News

New Program Creates ‘Education Champions’ for Every Foster Child
California is on the leading edge of an innovative effort to give foster children a fighting chance in school.  A new national initiative to provide a trained adult to act as an education advocate for every foster child in the nation was recently launched in Santa Cruz County, which is piloting the program in California. EdSource

@ReformLAUSD: “A new class of organizers started last week. Don’t be surprised if they are at your door next! “

Last week, the Coalition for School Reform announced a new spokesperson would be taking over for the May 21 runoff between District 6 candidates Monica Ratliff and Antonio Sanchez. The reform-oriented independent expenditure committee has also fired up its Twitter feed (@ReformLAUSD), begun training a new set of campaign organizers (pictured), and announced its first voter education meeting. The event is scheduled to take place Wednesday, April 10 @ 7PM at 8332 Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 14, North Hills.

Previous posts: Reform Coalition Hires New Spokesperson; A Good – But Not Great – Campaign, Say Reform Insiders; “Social Media? We Don’t Need No Social Media.”

The Mar Vista parent laughed easily and often, and said she was getting to see her children a lot more in the month since the March 5 primary.

But she wasn’t without ideas and regrets in terms of the campaign she’d just been through against District 4 School Board Member Steve Zimmer.

Many of her observations about the race — low turnout on primary day and the unwanted distractions of the outside contributions to the Coalition for School Reform — are familiar.

However, Anderson also put a finger on inaccurate voter turnout projections that shaped her campaign budget decisions and ultimately sealed her fate.

If she’d known how low turnout was really going to be, her campaign would have spent less on a big initial early mailing.

“I would have mailed to a much smaller universe at the start, and then focused much more on the field.”

By and large, Anderson seemed content with the race she’d run — and the outcome.

“I’m disappointed about having lost, but I am still so energized by this campaign and by the momentum and the energy that I saw out on the campaign trail,” she said.

She said she didn’t wish that she’d attacked Zimmer for his indecisiveness or his tenure on the Board during a teacher sex abuse scandal, which some observers had expected and encouraged her to do.

“I had a very positive message of change, which was really resonating with the people that we were talking to. I think that was the right message for me to delivering.”

In fact, she said that she had emerged from the process respecting Zimmer, and that they were planning to meet and share ideas in the near future.

“I have deep respect for Steve, and believe he’s truly in this for the right reasons,” she said.  “I genuinely like him as a person.”

Her explanation for why she lost largely mirrored those that have been given by others in the past month (see: A Good – But Not Great – Campaign, Say Reform Insiders).

The campaign was out-organized in terms of field operations by the teachers union, UTLA, and she was defeated largely by absentee ballots cast before primary day.

“That’s the place where knocking door to door makes a difference,” said Anderson.

It wasn’t so much that Anderson’s campaign started late or did anything obviously mistaken, she said. It was mostly a matter of not having enough money.

“If I’d had twice as much money, I would have been able to have staffed a much more robust field campaign.”

“It makes me so sad,” said Anderson about primary-day turnout that was projected to be in the high 20s but ended up at just 22.5 percent for District 4.

“If turnout had been just dismal — instead of abysmal — I would have won.”

“As a candidate it’s a bit surreal to have a substantial IE [independent expenditure committee] operating alongside your own campaign,” she said.  “However, I’m grateful to for their effort.”

However, she did remark on the distractions that the outside funding created.

“What was disappointing to me was how much attention and focus that ended up getting,” she said.  “It took away from the real attention and parent support that we were building.”

Demissie replaces Janelle Erickson, who recently took a job as campaign manager for Mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel.

The Coalition was 1-1-1 in the primary.  It helped get School Board President Monica Garcia reelected, lost its bid to help unseat Westside Board Member Steve Zimmer, and in the East Valley’s District 6 its candidate of choice, Antonio Sanchez, earned a spot in the runoff against teacher Monica Ratliff.

The Coalition’s general election field campaign is already laying the ground work, registering new voters. In the runoff, the Coalition’s vote-by-mail campaign will be “more deliberate and longer,” according to a source. That might be a response to the loss in District 4, which Zimmer won thanks largely to early vote-by-mail.

The Coalition spent over $3.5 million on its slate of three candidates in the primary — $615,000 of which went to Demissie’s consulting firm.

Demissie declined to comment on the record at this time.

Previous posts: Reformers Try to Match Union “Ground Game”; Campaign Consultants Win — Either Way; A Good – But Not Great – Campaign, Say Reform Insiders

“Because Kate [Anderson] lost, every single thing [the Coalition] did looks wrong,” said one insider who — like most of those contacted for this story — declined to talk on the record.

In particular, insiders denounced the notion that the campaign consultants hired by the Coalition were incompetent or conflicted by their work for other clients including labor groups.

“The way consultants get clients is by winning,” said another insider.  “Pulling punches for the possibility of future client work makes no sense.”

However, the insiders – a half-dozen campaign and school reform veterans familiar with the Coalition and its consultants — generally agreed that there were specific strategic decisions and actions that SCN Strategies, the consulting firm hired to do most of the Coalition-funded work, might have wished it had decided differently – and might have affected the outcome of the District 4 race, which Zimmer won with 52 percent of the votes.

One insider described SCN as “good people who didn’t run a great campaign.“

Over the past week or so, criticisms of the Coalition-funded campaign to elect Kate Anderson, Antonio Sanchez, and Monica Garcia have begun to emerge.

Insiders told LA School Report that the Coalition-funded campaign won on primary day but lost – badly – when it came to mail-in ballots.

Former state lawmaker Gloria Romero wrote a scathing oped claiming that Mayor Villaraigosa shouldn’t have tried to oust Steve Zimmer in the first place.

Rival consultant Brian Adams wrote a letter to former Mayor Richard Riordan outlining several key failings and an attack ad against Zimmer that was never aired.

Looking back at the primary campaign, most of the insiders praised the teachers union for running a particularly effective campaign against the Coalition, stressed the difficulties and uncertainties of running a hotly contested local School Board campaign, and noted that pretty much any decision can be dissected in hindsight.

However, there was general agreement among those we spoke to that the “Talking Bench” TV ad was off-topic and ineffective.  “It wasn’t about kids, it was about RFK School.  That didn’t make a lot of sense.”

And there were several other issues that came up as possible mistakes.

For example, the Coalition-funded campaign might have spent too much on District 6.

“You don’t need to spend $1 million to get Antonio Sanchez into a runoff when the union is spending nothing,” said a reform insider.

At the same time, it might have pent too little on Kate Anderson in District 4, given its fundraising advantage and how close the race was.

“We shouldn’t have been near spending parity in District 4,” said an insider.  “We had a four to one funding advantage and we didn’t do a good job leveraging our financial advantage. There’s no strategic excuse for that. “

The funding advantage could have been put to use with an early start on the vote by mail front.

“If you have that much money, why not start 30 days before mail-in ballots get sent out rather than waiting until 30 days before the primary,” said one insider.  “The real campaign was in the mail.”

The Coalition may also have relied too heavily on mailed flyers and paid field workers to canvas neighborhoods, and under-emphasized online campaigning and other “new” forms of generating votes.

“Consultants say you’ve got to do direct mail and are afraid of not doing it,” said one insider. “But the world of political campaigning is changing, and some consultants are going to have to be dragged into this world kicking and screaming.”

Reform supporters behind the Coalition may have relied too much on outside efforts and consultants rather than supporting the candidate herself.

“Strategic help on the candidate side is a more important fundamental thing to get right than mail and paid field,” said one campaign observer.  “You need a solid volunteer-driven field program, which can really only be effective through the campaign itself.”

Some insiders thought that the Coalition didn’t attack Zimmer vigorously enough — or rather didn’t pick the right avenues of attack..

For example, the Coalition campaign on behalf of Anderson – and the Anderson campaign itself – should have focused on the hot-button issue of sexual abusers in schools — “the child molester stuff “ — according to one insider.

“Sure, Zimmer differed from UTLA on the [teacher removal] issue, but he’d still have to go around explaining his position.  You know what they say in politics: When you’re explaining you’re losing. ”

Instead, Anderson supporters focused on budget decisions made by incumbent Anderson, which the insider described as “pattycake” stuff.

Last but not least, the Coalition and its consultants failed to respond effectively to the “outside money” attacks made by the union against Anderson and her far-off funders.

“We’re going to continue to get this knock on anyone we support until we figure out a response,” said an insider — noting that it was the union’s most effective argument.  “They use it over and over again. “

The feedback from the insiders wasn’t unanimous – or conclusive.

“Should they have come up with another ad?  That’s a fair tactical question,” said a campaign insider.  “But the fact that Anderson won on election day shows that the message worked.”

There were also differences of opinion about whether it would have helped to attack Zimmer via the teachers union or not, as proposed in the Brian Adams online ad.

“I think there’s a misconception with a lot of the more hardcore reform-y types that attacking the union is the way to have the debate,” wrote one insider in an email.  “That is wrongwrongwrong. Especially in a Democratic strong hold like LA, in a Democratic program, that is a way to lose. Even in really conservative states like Alabama and Tennessee, teacher unions in the abstract poll well.”

Both the Coalition and SCN Strategies have declined so far to respond to LA School Report for this story.

Previous posts: Coalition Campaign was “Half-Hearted and Incompetent,” says Rival Consultant; The Zimmer Attack Ad That Never Was; Mayor Overreached Against Zimmer, Says Reformer; How Steve Zimmer *Really* Won

But not everyone reflecting on the primary election results has been so sanguine.

Former Democratic state lawmaker Glorio Romero recently blasted Mayor Villaraigosa for over-reaching in his unsuccessful attempt to unseat Steve Zimmer.

And last week an email letter describing the Coalition-funded primary campaign as “half-hearted and incompetent” began circulating among Los Angeles education insiders.

“Their messaging and GOTV [get out the vote] strategy had no correlation to the actual likely voters for the Election,” claims the letter, addressed to former Mayor Richard Riordan and written by political consultant Brian Ross Adams. “They had no strategy for Hollywood and the more liberal Westside districts).”

Adams, who helped Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom unseat State Assemblywoman Betsy Butler last year, says he offered his services to the Coalition and to candidate Kate Anderson, and was eventually invited to help the political arm of the California Charter Schools Association run a small online ad campaign.

He also claims authorship of the YouTube video contrasting Steve Zimmer’s claims of independence with his 2009 pledge of support for UTLA.

Thus far, representatives from the Coalition for School Reform and SCN Strategies, the campaign consulting firm that ran the Coalition’s campaign, have not gotten back to us.

The full letter is below.

Previous posts:  The Zimmer Attack Ad That Never Was; Campaign Consultants Win — Either Way; How Steve Zimmer *Really* Won; Behind the Scenes: Campaign Consultants; Candidates & Coalition Pick Consultants

Dear Mayor Riordan-

2011 School Board runoff competitors Bennett Kayser and Luis Sanchez

At first glance, the upcoming District 6 (East San Fernando Valley) runoff election between Antonio Sanchez and Monica Ratliff looks like it might share many similarities to the District 5 election two years ago.

The 2011 runoff (for an area running from Los Feliz to Maywood) pitted reform candidate Luis Sanchez (no relation to Antonio) against union-backed candidate Bennett Kayser.

Like this year’s District 6 election, the race attracted substantial outside spending, went into a runoff, and its battle lines were drawn around issues like teacher evaluations, budget plans, and school choice.

This year’s race has “a similar dynamic” to 2011, according to Luis Sanchez, who now works with the California Endowment.

There are a number of big differences, however — including that the 2013 race hasn’t yet been dominated by candidates and outside advocates attacking each other.

The 2011 showdown between Luis Sanchez and Bennett Kayser was a particularly nasty contest — including negative mailers and mutual accusations of ethical lapses — even though control of the LAUSD School Board wasn’t considered to be at risk of switching from one side to the other.

The 2011 spending was also substantial on both sides. Sanchez was endorsed by Mayor Villaraigosa and SEIU Local 99 and was chief of staff for School Board President Monica Garcia. Kayser was endorsed by the teachers and administrators unions.

The teachers union spent almost $1.4 million to help Kayser win his Board seat — half of which was spent on attack ads against Sanchez. The Coalition for School Reform and the LA County Federation of Labor also spent big, pouring $1.6 million into the race on Sanchez’s behalf.

So far this year, the teachers union hasn’t spent any money on the District 6 race.

Last but not least, voter turnout for the 2011 runoff was less than 10 percent, according to the Los Angeles Times — in part because the race was not thought to determine control of the seven-member Board.

This year’s District 6 School Board runoff election is expected to have a relatively high turnout because City Hall is up for grabs.

“I don’t think it will be as contentious,” Sanchez said. “The only way it could be is if there was nothing else on the ballot and there was really low voter turnout.”

At this point in the process, nobody knows yet if UTLA-PACE will raise or spend funds on the District runoff. But even if UTLA-PACE does start spending — and even if it’s only on behalf of one candidate — Sanchez may be in a better position to win because he has a UTLA endorsement, and the Coalition for School Reform and the LA County Fed have already spent $1.2 million to support him.

Previous posts: District 6 Candidates Struggle to Differentiate Themselves; Union Endorsements Unchanged for District 6; Just How Connected Is Antonio Sanchez?; Memo to Voters: Attack Ads on the Horizon