The poll, conducted by Lake Research Partners on behalf of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the largest number of voters, 76 percent, cited equity in school funding in deciding whom to vote for, with 76 percent saying it was “important” and with 50 percent considering it “very important.” That latter group favored Torlakson by 57 percent to 43 percent for Tuck, according to the study.

Voters in both major parties favored making school funding more
equitable moving — 90 percent of registered Democrats, 69 percent
of registered Republicans and 78 percent of voters who declined to give a party preference.

Torlakson was the teachers union candidate while Tuck was backed by so-called education reformers. Both their campaigns received record-breaking financial support — an estimated $30 million — from their respective backers, making it the most expensive political contest in the state, almost three-times more expensive than that of the governor’s seat.

The report also showed that 70 percent of voters said that “Stopping Wall Street and corporations from taking over schools for profits” was important in their decision-making process, with 56 percent rating it as a top priority.

But the public seemed split on the issues around teacher tenure and due process. Two-thirds of voters reported that “removing teacher tenure protections” was important in casting a ballot. Yet, nearly the same number said that “preserving due process protections for teachers” was important.

Nearly 4 of 5 Tuck supporters, 79 percent, said they wanted to eliminate teacher tenure protections while 69 percent of Torlakson voters said preserving due process protection was a higher priority.

Other key issues for voters were reducing standardized testing, which 61 percent of voters agreed should change, and increasing the number of charter schools. More than half of voters said they would like to see a boost in charter school options.

It’s shaping up to be a furious campaign next year. With a few late additions at Saturday’s filing deadline, four incumbents plus 14 other people are now competing for the four LA Unified school board seats coming up in 2015.

The latest to enter the race are two more challengers in District 5 — James C. O’Gabhann III, a teacher, and Benjamin Luis Jimenez, a storekeeper — and one more in District 3 — Mario Burrell, a teacher — making those two districts the most populated for the March primary.

To sum up: George McKenna has one challenger in District 1 Tamar Galatzan has six in District 3; Bennett Kayser has four in District 5, and board President Richard Vladovic has two in District 7.

The complete list is available here.

Previous posts: School board races coming into view as filing deadline approaches

Marshall Tuck, who lost a close race to incumbent Tom Torlakson for state Superintendent of Public Instruction, had this to say after the votes were counted:

“Sixteen months ago we set out on this journey to do one thing: put children first and ensure that every child has equal access to a quality education. And despite yesterday’s loss, I couldn’t be prouder of the unique coalition of parents, community leaders, teachers, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents we built along the way. 

Together we proved that in California there is a growing call for change and that parents, kids and families can have a voice in education.

I am very thankful for the countless hours of hard work and dedication from the thousands of supporters who came together and supported our campaign. I am proud to stand with such an amazing group of people who – despite our differences – have stood together with one goal:  Bring a kids first agenda to Sacramento and major change for California’s schools.

And major change is definitely needed.

Today, one day after this election, there are still 2.5 million children in California public schools who can’t read and write at grade level.  Those children are counting on all of us to take every action necessary to give them a better education and a chance at a better future.

I look forward to continuing to do my part in the collective effort to ensure that each child gets the education they need to achieve their dreams.”

By clicking here, you can access the breakdown of the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction, in which Tom Torlakson won a second term. The statewide result is at the top, and below it are the county-by-county results. Click on any county to see the vote.

In Los Angeles County, Torlakson won by a slim margin over Marshall Tuck, with 50.8 percent of the vote to 49.2 percent for Tuck.

Overall, Torlakson won 30 counties, Tuck 28.

Monica Ratliff is sworn in by her mother

Would-be candidates for next year’s LA Unified school board elections have until noon on Saturday, Nov. 8 to file a Declaration of Intention to run with the Los Angeles City Clerk. 

Only those candidates who meet the deadline and submit a qualifying nominating petition will appear on the March 3, 2015 primary ballot. The deadline for filing nominating petitions ends at 5 pm on Wednesday, Dec. 3.

The deadlines affect any remaining candidates for school districts 1, 3, 5 and 7. Already, one challenger has filed to oppose George McKenna in 1, four are challenging Tamar Galatzan in 3, two are challenging Bennett Kayser in 5 and and two are taking on Board President Richard Vladovic in 7.

“Education has now surpassed the economy as the No. 1 issue on voters’ minds in this election, so it’s a race that’s being conducted outside the confines of partisanship that marks the other down ballot races,” Drew Lieberman of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research said on a call with reporters yesterday, discussing the poll. “It’s also a race that sort of features an issue on which people are particularly concerned and aware, but have not yet made up their minds.”

One topic at the heart of the race is the state’s reform movement, which is backed by deep-pocketed supporters and aims to expand charter schools, versus the power and influence of the teacher unions.

Torlakson, the incumbent, has the backing of the political establishment and the state’s two large teachers unions, while Tuck was a charter school administrator and has the backing of reform groups as well as editorial boards throughout the state.

“The argument can be made that this is the most important election on the California ballot this year. That’s not because the superintendent’s office is particularly powerful. But no matter what the outcome, this represents a very important step in the growing debate over education policy in California,” Dan Schnur, director of the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll, told reporters.

Schnur added that the superintendent’s race “is one of those rare campaigns that is much more important than the office itself.”

Dave Kanevsky of American Viewpoint theorized that the reason there are so many undecided voters despite education being the top issue is because people can’t fall back onto any partisan lines, and that both sides have spent about the same large amount of money getting their message out.

“There’s a lot of information on both sides, but [voters] don’t know how to vote and they in essence don’t want to make the wrong vote,” Kanevsky said.

So, if you are one of those undecided voters out there and you still haven’t voted, below is a roundup of LA School Report‘s important stories about the state superintendent race:

• Top Five issues in Tuck vs. Torlakson race
• Poll: Minorities, Republicans key in close state superintendent race
• Vergara appeal (or not) divisive issue for Torkalson and Tuck
• Marshall Tuck: ‘We need fundamental and urgent change’
• The debate — Torlakson vs.Tuck — that only a few people noticed
• Race for California school chief a referendum on change
• Garcetti endorses Torlakson in state superintendent race

Polls in California close at 8 pm.

By Chris Ciampa

Not every California student has access to the same opportunities. I know because I teach, and have taught, in some of our state’s most underserved schools. I support Proposition 47 because in addition to reclassifying a set of non-violent felonies as misdemeanors, the ballot measure would also reallocate some of the $1.79 billion California spends each year on non-violent offenders. If passed, those funds could be instrumental in creating an environment where all California children have access to the support they need in the classroom.

What do classrooms have to do with a ballot measure that, on its surface, is about crime and prisons? The proposed sentencing changes still require people who have made poor decisions to bear reasonable consequences for their actions. They also allow the same people a real chance of stepping out of the cycle of crime, punishment, and recidivism. Funds reallocated by the proposition would give teachers like me resources to address the basic inequities that can land young people in jail to begin with.

In my career, I have encountered many young people whose parents are missing or constantly working. For those kids, a dedicated, well-qualified teacher is often the only available adult to focus on their education and can be foundational in breaking a cycle of incarceration and poverty.

As a child, I never knew I was living the American Dream. My single working grandmother, who never attended college, read me Shakespeare in the park. My single working mother, who wrote for television but only attended one year at U.C.L.A, had a fond and persistent wish that I should go to college. In 7th grade, I began attending The Buckley School, a tony K-12 prep school in Sherman Oaks whose founder, Dr. Isabelle Buckley, coined the school’s motto, “College Begins at Two.”

The Buckley School prepared me well for success in college. Before that, my mom and grandma’s attention, time, and expectations taught me a high value for education. But what about the kids without Shakespeare-loving grandmas and mothers who are professional writers?

For too many of my students, prison, not college, begins at two.

I have taught too many kids in Compton and Van Nuys who rely on an underfunded school system for any shot at social mobility. They and their families share the same American Dream my family and I have – advancement through education. My education has given me the freedom to choose and change careers. For my high school students, some of whom still read and write at a third or fourth grade level, that same freedom will be an uphill battle.

Since 1981, the year I started the 7th grade at Buckley, California’s prison spending has gone up 1,500 percent to $10 billion a year. In the past 20 years, California spending per prisoner has increased nearly three times faster, to $62,396, than spending for every K-12 student, now $9,194. Since 1984, California has built 22 prisons and just one University of California campus. We spend 80 percent more on Corrections than we do on California State Universities and University of California colleges combined.

Without better-funded schools that support invested teachers, too many kids will slip through cracks. It’s a trend we have to stop. We can, if we reevaluate our priorities and decide that education is a better offer than punishment for our at risk youth. I firmly believe that it is the best, most promising offer we can make our kids. Join me in voting ‘Yes’ on Proposition 47.

Chris Ciampa is a high school English teacher who has taught in Compton and Los Angeles for the past six years. 

Steve Zimmer takes the oath of office for the LA Unified school board

The Los Angeles City Council is considering a measure that would extend the terms of the next school board election winners to 5 1/2 years, from the usual 4.

The longer terms would only apply to the next two school board voting cycles, bringing the board elections into even-numbered years that correspond with other city and state elections.

The change is part of the city’s effort to enhance voter turnout by consolidating elections. Because of periodic orphan scheduling, school board seats are sometimes filled with only a small percentage of registered voters determining the outcome.

In the case of George McKenna’s runoff victory over Alex Johnson for the District 1 seat in August, just 9 percent of the district’s voters cast ballots. In 2013, only 23 percent of voters citywide participated in the mayoral election.

Several steps remain before the new schedule goes into effect. The City Council is expected to vote on Wednesday to ask the City Attorney to write an ordinance that would appear on the March 3, 2015 ballot, effectively changing the City Charter.

Then the council would have to approve the wording, probably by the end of the month, for the measure to seek final approval from voters.

The first group of school board members to be affected would be McKenna, Tamar Galatzan, Bennett Kayser and Richard Vladovic, as well as their challengers, in a primary scheduled for the same day.

Members up for election in 2017 — Monica Garcia, Steve Zimmer and Monica Ratliff — would also win the longer terms.

The proposed measure might give any candidate pause, considering the additional time commitment for very small renumeration: For a board member who has no other full-time job, like McKenna, the annual salary is $45,637. For a member who also works elsewhere, like Galatzan, an assistant city attorney, the reward is $26,347 annually.

Lydia Gutierrez, former candidate for California Superintendent of Instruction

The LA Unified school board president, Richard Vladovic, is no longer running uncontested for his seat next year.

Lydia Gutierrez, who nearly advanced to the general election in the California Superintendent of Public Instruction race this year, has filed to oppose Vladovic in 2015, when elections are being held for four school board seats — Districts 1, 3 5 and Vladovic’s 7.

Also, Ankur Patel, a former candidate for LA City Controller, has become a third challenger to Tamar Galatzan in District 3, joining a field with Carl Petersen, Director of Logistics for a Glendale manufacturing company, and Elizabeth Badger, owner of an auto repair company in Canoga Park.

On her Facebook page, Gutierrez describes herself as “a long-time California educator and elected official on the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council.” In the June primary, she just missed moving onto the November general election, winning nearly 1 million votes — 24.5 percent of the total — to finish third behind Marshall Tuck (28.9 percent) and the incumbent, Tom Torlakson (46.5). Tuck and Torlakson are facing each other in the November general election.

Her decision to oppose Vladovic came through an analysis of where her votes came from.

Jose Gonzalez, one of her campaign managers, told LA School Report that she came within 1,000 votes from District 7 residents of the total Vladovic received in 2011.

Gonzalez said Gutierrez holds views different from Vladovic, asserting that the district “is facing serious problems and he’s not doing anything about it.” Specifically, he said, she believes Vladovic has “not taken an aggressive role” in issues involving the molestation of children and that he “blindly” favored adopting the Common Core State Standards for the district, without taking “cultural and linguistic differences of children into consideration.”

He also said Gutierrez would “vote to fire” Superintendent John Deasy over the problems with the iPad program and the student-tracking system known as MiSiS.

Vladovic’s campaign treasurer, David Gould, did not immediately respond to an email seeking a response to Gonzalez’s criticisms on behalf of Vladovic.

Ankur Patel, former candidate for LA City Controller

Patel, who finished fifth among six candidates for City Controller last year, has worked as a union organizer for the National Union of Health Care Workers, as a solar panel salesman and as a radio host.

He said he, too, does not support Deasy, and he expressed disagreement with Galatzan on several issues, including “scrutiny of the iPad program and her vote to remove a stronger critic of the iPad program, Stuart Magruder, from the district’s Bond Oversight Committee.

The other two school board incumbents facing voters next year — George McKenna in District 1 and Bennett Kayser in District 5 — also have opponents.

David Garcia, one of nine men challenging the incumbent, Warren Fletcher, has been dismissed as an LA Unified teacher, putting his candidacy in limbo.

Garcia confirmed his firing in an email circulated on Friday and blamed it on his challenging the district on an issue involving other candidates’ being able to campaign during school hours. A district official in the human resources division confirmed the dismissal.

But whether that means Garcia must withdraw as a candidate remains uncertain.

Mike Dreebin, co-chair of the UTLA Election Committee, said in an email that Garcia was an eligible candidate as of the deadline to submit nomination forms and the committee has no confirmation yet that Garcia was fired.

No immediate action would be taken, he explained, because Garcia still has several options, including the right to file a grievance with UTLA and seek legal action against the district.

Dreebin said if Garcia makes it into a runoff for president, “the matter will be dealt with then.”

“Ultimately,” he wrote, “it will be up to the UTLA Board of Directors to determine what to do if a candidate wins, but has been fired and is no longer an employee of the District. The Board of Directors formally ‘seats’ new Officers, and Board of Director representatives, after the results of the elections are presented to them by the UTLA Elections Committee.”

The district did not immediately respond to an effort to learn why Garcia, a substitute, was fired.

Previous post: Deasy says principal who ok’d campaign leave was disciplined

Foremost is the discussion and probable vote on how to fill the vacant District 1 seat. Marguerite LaMotte’s death on Dec. 4 has left the board with the options of filling the seat by board appointment or working with the city to hold a special election.

There are rational arguments for and against either choice, but with six people deciding, the prevailing side needs four votes. A 3-3 deadlock would require the board to keep voting until someone is persuaded to break.

Efforts by LA School Report last week to learn where members stand found that they appeared to be split, with President Richard Vladovic, Tamar Galatzan and Monica Garcia favoring a special election and Bennett Kayser and Monica Ratliff favoring an appointment. Steve Zimmer was said to favor an appointment, but he told the LA Times he’s undecided.

A chorus of voices that includes state and federal elected officials have expressed support for an election. Rep. Maxine Waters, whose Congressional district overlaps the LaMotte district, campaigned for an election at the First AME Church of Los Angeles last night. LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas is urging people to show up at district headquarters tomorrow to rally for an election.

The most persuasive argument for appointing someone, as Kayser wrote in a commentary last week, is that staging an election would leave the seat empty for months. Also, an election that might require a runoff would cost the district more than $1 million.

One plan under discussion last week among state, city and union leaders was a compromise of sorts, in which the board would appoint an interim replacement to serve until an election could be scheduled in mid-2014 or when the next regular election for District 1 is scheduled, mid-2015. One name that has surfaced in such an arrangement is George McKenna, a former administrator in LA Unified and Inglewood Unified.

He was quoted in Sunday’s LA Times saying, “If the community indicates their support for me to replace a board member with whom I had a long relationship, I would consider that strongly.”

Unions tend to favor an appoint over an election as a safeguard against outside groups spending large sums to elect a pro-reform candidate – especially for a seat held by someone as close to the union as LaMotte was. Through Friday, the local teachers union, UTLA, did not respond to several messages seeking comment.

A second big issue before the board is the start of a debate that could make iPad discussions sound like child’s play.

The board will consider how to spend $7,852,970,000 that will become available for school repairs and safety upgrades.

That’s billions, not millions.

The money will come available through voter-approved Measure Q, a bond sale passed in 2008 but wasn’t begun as a consequence of the nation’s economic downturn.

With the financial landscape improving, the district’s Bond Oversight Committee has recommended starting the sale to address what was estimated in 2008 to be “more than $60 billion of needs” among district schools.

Superintendent John Deasy and his staff have developed “guiding principles” for how the money should be spent – the bulk of it, $4.3 billion, for renovations and repairs and $1.4 billion for specific programs, such as $402 million for charter schools, $324 million for network upgrades and $212 million to renovate cafeterias.

Developing those priorities was the easy part. The real fight begins when board members start competing for the dollars.

For now, the district’s Facilities Services Division is asking the board to approve the guiding principles, after which board members would begin their lobbying.

Finally, what’s an LA Unified board meeting without an iPad debate?

This time it arises through a resolution from Galatzan and Garcia urging the board to fast-track the latest board-approved plan — to start Phase 2 with 38 more schools receiving iPads and seven high schools receiving laptops to determine whether they are a better option than iPads for high school students.

An affirmative vote would keep the program moving.

Previous Posts: Commentary: To honor LaMotte, empower her community; In Replacing LaMotte on LAUSD Board, Zimmer is Key; Marguerite LaMotte, Long-Serving Member of LA Unified School; $7 Billion for Repairs, But LA Unified to Start With Much Less.

According to the Los Angeles City Clerk’s Office, the final rosters for the LAUSD board races are still not final. Below is the latest: