In a tweet, LA County Democratic Party Chair Eric Bauman called it the “upset of the year,” and Martinez herself told the LA Times, “I feel like I just overcame an impossible mission.”

Few gave Martinez much of a chance after she came in a distant second place in the May 21 primary, finishing 19 points (about 3,000 votes) behind the first-place Montanez. The gap left Martinez struggling to raise money; most of her campaign staff left, including her political consultant, Rose Kapolczynski.

“There was some change [in personnel],” said Roy Behr, who took over the direct mail operation for Martinez in the runoff.   “But the field team was similar. And the closest supporters were there throughout. Those people stuck with [Martinez] and kept her energized.”

Along with Behr, many of the plaudits will go to Martinez’s husband, Jerry Guzman, a highly respected East Valley political consultant.

“Jerry was the engine that kept that campaign going,” said Mike Trujillo, a political consultant, who is also working for School Board President Richard Vladovic on a temporary basis. “He gave everyone homework, put it in a binder, and made everyone accountable for it.”

The result is something of a black eye for Mayor Eric Garcetti, who publicly endorsed Montanez, held a fundraiser for her and lent his photo to campaign flyers. Many of his supporters, including a large contingent of the “Latinos for Garcetti” clique, were pulling hard for Montanez — at least on social media.

“Eric Garcetti’s operatives were tweeting for Cindy, while [Garcetti’s opponent] Wendy Greuel’s operatives were walking precincts for Nury,” said Trujillo, who supported both Greuel and Montanez.

There was little media coverage of the race, in part because the result seemed pre-ordained. A notable exception was early last week, when Martinez revealed that she was “repeatedly sexually abused as a child.” That was in response to a Montanez campaign mailer that accused Martinez and the rest of the school board of hiding “the existence and arrest of a serial child molester from parents and teachers at Telfair Elementary School.”

The attack backfired, and Martinez’s effective parry spurred a multi-day news story that allowed voters to see another side of her.

“I think that it was all part of a narrative in which the voters in the district got to know who [Martinez] was and what motivated her and why she was running,” said Behr.

It should be noted, however, that since the story unfolded the week before the election, its impact on early voting by mail was minimal. Martinez won the early votes, albeit by a smaller margin than she won the at-poll votes.

Taken together with Monica Ratliff’s shock victory against Antonio Sanchez for the School Board, the election shows the unpredictability of the East Valley.

“This is twice in the last couple months that voters in the Valley say you, shouldn’t assume the outcome of the race before it’s run,” said Behr.

Previous post: Martinez v. Montanez Gets Ugly; East Valley Power Politics Shaped District 6 Runoff; Marathon Board Meeting Signals Changes to Come; Board Member Martinez Touts Union Support & Public Choice

The attack mailer that started it all

Remember former School Board member Nury Martinez? She’s locked in a tough runoff with Cindy Montanez for the last open City Council seat. Whoever wins will be the only woman on the 15-member body.

Montanez, who finished 19 points ahead of Martinez in the May primary, stepped up her attacks on Martinez this week, sending out a campaign mailer accusing Martinez and the rest of the school board of hiding “the existence and arrest of a serial child molester from parents and teachers at Telfair Elementary School.” That was the school where third-grade teacher Paul Chapel molested 13 former students. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Martinez then came forward with a startling revelation: she “was repeatedly sexually abused as a child,” according to the LA Times, which said she was going public about it now “to counter attack ads being circulated by her opponent” in the run-up to the July 23 special election to fill an open council seat.

“She is accusing me of covering these things up. That’s where I draw the line,” said Martinez, who denied any knowledge of the Chapel case before the Daily News broke the story more than 18 months ago.

Previous posts: East Valley Power Politics Shaped District 6 Runoff; Marathon Board Meeting Signals Changes to Come; Board Member Martinez Touts Union Support & Public Choice

Superintendent John Deasy, Board President Monica Garcia, and departing Board member Nury Martinez

As anyone following us on Twitter knows all too well, Tuesday’s School Board meeting was a marathon session that lasted well into the night — much of it accompanied by the sound of protesters drumming on the street outside.

Among several key decisions the Board arrived at during the lengthy session were votes to award a $30 million contract to Apple, close a charter school that had dodged a district audit, and add some local regulations to the controversial parent trigger process (but not call for the law’s repeal).

The last meeting of the 2012-2013 school year, it also marked the final appearance of Nury Martinez, who left the Board after four years to run for City Council.

School Board President Monica Garcia presented Martinez with a giant bell, and Board held a bizarre mid-meeting reception in her honor that included a soft jazz band and chicken salad sandwiches.

By 9 pm, when the meeting finally ended, the Board had also approved its 2013-14 budget and begun a furious (and likely to be long-running) debate on how to spend future revenue increases.

If last month’s Board meeting represented a series of hard-fought victories for Superintendent John Deasy and his allies on the Board, last night’s meeting included a couple of losses, with a hint of more to come when the Board changes composition and leadership next month.

iPads for All

Union president Warren Fletcher addresses the Board

A Deasy proposal to equip tens of thousands of students with iPads passed unanimously despite lengthy discussion and no small amount of controversy leading up to the vote.

Addressing the Board, UTLA President Warren Fletcher called the plan “not fully baked,” saying that hiring more teachers and counselors should take priority over the technology plan, which aims to prepare students for the new state standardized tests, which must be taken on computers.

Board member Steve Zimmer worried that the tablet devices don’t come with keyboards, while Dr. Vladovic said that on a recent trip to Best Buy he found a better price.

Chief facilities executive Mark Hovatter explained that of the 13 bids received by the district for Phase I of its technology plan, which aims to put a tablet computer in the hands of every student and teacher by the end of 2014, only three were found to be acceptable.

The three finalists — Apple, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard — all went through what Hovatter called a “rigorous selection process” that included testing by students and teachers.

Not only did the iPad receive the highest rating, it was also the cheapest of any device, at $678 per unit – which includes the software, cases and a 3-year warranty. That price represents a discount for the district, since they are buying the tablets in bulk.

Zimmer called the vote “one of the most high-profile contracts this board will ever approve.”

Board member Bennett Kayser recused himself from the discussion and the vote because he owns Apple stock; Superintendent John Deasy and General Counsel David Holmquist left the room during the discussion because they too own Apple stock.

Students will be allowed to take the iPads home with them. Independent charter school students will be given iPads as well as district students.

There will be no new bidding process for the next phase of the technology plan. Apple will automatically be awarded the next contract unless the Board intervenes.

(For more see the LA Times)

Local Spending Plan Postponed

Board members Martinez (left) and Galatzan pose together during the Board’s going-away reception for Martinez (via LADN)

A resolution by Board member Tamar Galatzan, intended as a sort of mirror to Governor Brown’s new state education finance formula, was postponed.

The Galatzan  proposal would do two seemingly contradictory things: set a minimum level of funding for each school site and also make sure schools with a higher concentration of low-income students, English language learners and foster kids receive a funding boost.

Deasy spoke in favor of the motion.

“We want a plan that is mindful of the tenets of the Local Control Funding Formula,” he said, referring to Brown’s new funding scheme. “I think of all the motions, this is likely to be the most important thing you decide.”

UTLA President Warren Fletcher was opposed to the targeting provisions in the proposal, however.

“Every school deserves a librarian, every school deserves a nurse,” he said. “The dollar-following-a-child model is something that causes us grave concern.”

“I’m just a little shocked,” responded Galatzan. “UTLA is opposed because they don’t trust schools to hire teachers.”

Board Member Marguerite LaMotte angrily denounced the idea of letting school sites decide how revenue is spent.

“The District knows what the schools need!” she said. “And I’m tired of monetizing children!”

It was hard to know what Lamotte meant by that last comment, since per-pupil spending is an engrained part of public education finance.

“If you want to pretend people in this building know everything, we’re doomed for failure,” said Galatzan.

Board member Zimmer said he was “hesitant to lock in strategies” for spending before final regulations from the State legislature are approved.

In the end, the Board voted 4-3 to postpone their decision on Galatzan’s resolution.

Money, Money, Money

The district’s $6.2 billion budget for 2013-14, drawn up by Superintendent John Deasy, was approved unanimously, after a number of public speakers pleaded with the Board to restore budget cuts.

A number of public commenters pleaded with the board to restore various programs, but there was little discussion from the Board members themselves, who are bound by law to pass a budget by July 1.

Despite more than $200 million in additional in funds, most restorations will have to wait at least another year.

The Board also approved two proposals directing Superintendent Deasy to draw up plans spend future revenue from Proposition 30 and Governor Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula.

The first, a motion by Board President Garcia to explore the feasibility of lengthening the school year beyond 180 days, passed unanimously if not without some concerns being expressed.

The other motion, written by Board member Bennet Kayser, called on LAUSD to hire more teachers, counselors, librarians and other LAUSD employees, in line with the ratios that existed before the recession in 2007. It was approved 5-2, with Galatzan and Garcia voting no.

It is unlikely the District would be able to afford both resolutions. But Deasy will report back to the Board within 90 days with a few different options.

“We do need to have a balanced approach with extending the school year,” noted Board member Zimmer.

“If we did everything we say we’re going to do, it will take about 15 minutes for the County to step in and take us over, cause we don’t have the money for all these things,” said Board member Richard Vlaldovic.

“This resolution wasn’t meant to be a be-all-end-all,” agreed Board member Kayser. “We’re asking the Superintendent to make some proposals that are within the budget of Prop. 30 and Local Control Funding Formula.”

Board member Zimmer lashed out at the resolution’s critics, who include the LA Times editorial page, saying there was a “whisper campaign” to call the hiring of more employees as an “adult agenda.”

“The counselor-to-student ratio is 900 to 1,” said Zimmer. “That’s a civil rights issue.” He also pointed out that the popularity of charter schools is due in part to their smaller class sizes.

“If they weren’t sending us a message on class size, it wouldn’t be on the front of every charter school website,” he said.

Garcia said she wanted to support the resolution but was “not convinced that 2007-08” was the right year to set as a goal.

(For more see the Daily News)

Parents, students and school staff demonstrate in favor of Academia Semillas. The schools head, Marcos Aguilar, dances in the center.

Charter School Not Renewed

In one of the day’s more dramatic turns, the Board voted 6-1 to deny the renewal of  Anahuacalmecac International University Preparatory High School’s charter.

A large number of parents, students and school staff, many dressed in full Aztec regalia, showed up to demonstrate outside the meeting.

For hours leading up to the vote, furious drum beating could be heard inside the Board room. (When this reporter went outside to photograph them, he was recognized instantly by a woman with a megaphone; she screamed at the reporter, “Do your homework!”)

Superintendent Deasy’s office recommended the non-renewal after the school, which is run by the Charter operator Academia Semillas del Pueblo, failed to comply with an audit by the district’s Office of the Inspector General. According to the district, the school was also suffering from a structural deficit, as well as fluctuating test scores and attendance.

School board President Monica Garcia was the sole vote to give Semillas another 5 years, citing in part the fact that the school was trying something different — educating students about the indigenous culture of the Aztecs.

“I respectfully disagree with your team,” she said, addressing Superintendent Deasy. “There is an indigenous culture being celebrated.”

When Semillas’ elementary school’s charter came up last year for renewal, Deasy’s office also recommended its non-renewal. But the district voted 4-3 to override Deasy.

This time around, Board members Zimmer, Martinez and Vladovic all reversed their votes.

Regulations Coming for Parent Trigger Process

Based on a new resolution proposed by Board member Zimmer and passed by the Board, the District will seek to bring greater order and transparency to the process when parents gather signatures to reform or even take over a failing school under California’s “parent trigger” law.

A number of parents and teachers at the Board meeting spoke out against the law.

UTLA President Warren Fletcher called the current law “very, very bad” and said it was “built on the premise that the only way to reform a school is for one group of stakeholders to blame another group of stakeholders.”

Board member Zimmer’s resolution was aimed at added a few regulations to the process at the local level. It would provide public information about the process and independently verify signatures. It also would direct the district to lobby the State legislature to make changes to the law.

“There is very little that the School Board is actually able to control as the state law stands now,” Zimmer admitted. As the law is written, only parents that sign the trigger petition can, in the end, vote on the transformation model. Zimmer wants that changed. “It’s a basic democratic principle. If we believe in change, it’s gotta be for everyone.”

Even Board member Galatzan, who opposed the measure, admitted that  “the parent trigger law is flawed… We need to ask [the state legislature] for guidance when we have evidence of fraud in the signature gathering, or misconduct.”

At one point during the debate, Deasy suggested that the Board might have an easier time if it called on the state to repeal the law rather than seeking fixes.

The Board initially voted to adopt Deasy’s recommendation, 4-3, with Kayser, Martinez, Galatzan, and Garcia in favor.  However, it later reversed itself and passed the original Zimmer language 4-3 thanks to a change of vote by Board member Kayser.

(See also: The Daily News)

For even more quotes and tidbits from the proceedings, check our Twitter feed, complete with pictures and video.

Previous posts: Live Coverage: School Board Meeting; LA Times: Kayser Resolutions “Silly,” Make “No Sense”; Update: Controversy Awaits $30 Million iPad Vote; Board Preview: Budget, Parent Trigger, iPads

A diagram of the East Valley clan relationships that shape City Council and LAUSD politics

As you may have read in last week’s LA Weekly about School Board member Nury Martinez’s bid for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council, there are surprisingly few women left on the Council thanks in large part to a rivalry between two male-dominated East San Fernando Valley political clans.

The rivalry between these two Latino clans doesn’t just affect the City Council, however.  It also greatly influenced Tuesday’s District 6 runoff between Antonio Sanchez and Monica Ratliff.

A look at the East Valley political factions may provide some insight about how we ended up with the Sanchez-Ratliff runoff rather than any of the other configurations that initially appeared likely — and why teachers union UTLA refrained from picking a single candidate to support in the District 6 race.  They simply didn’t want to get involved in a turf war between the Padillas and the Alarcons.

Of the candidates who initially declared their intention to run, the three heavyweights appeared to be Ernie Cardenas, Iris Zuniga and Antonio Sanchez.

But Cardenas dropped out; and then so did Zuniga, leaving Sanchez and Ratliff, a virtual unkown.

Why Cardenas and Zuniga dropped out has never been fully explained, at least not in a totally satisfying way.

Solid lines denote connections; broken lines denote former connections that have since been broken

The area, as any political consultant will tell you, is dominated by two clans, the Alarcons and the Padillas:

Alarcon Clan

The first is headed by outgoing City Councilman Richard Alarcon, and includes ex-Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (now a lobbyist and consultant for StudentsFirst), Antonio Sanchez, State Senator Kevin Deleon, community college trustees Steve Veres and Miguel Santiago, and Cindy Montanez, an ex-Assembly member who’s running against Nury Martinez for that city council seat.

(You might remember Cindy’s cousin, Annamarie, who was recruited by UTLA to run against Monica Garcia in District 2. Needless to say, LA politics is an incestuous world.)

The Padilla Clan

The other faction includes State Senator (and former LA City Council President) Alex Padilla — who championed a teacher dismissal bill in 2012 but then dropped the issue this year — incoming City Councilman Felipe Fuentes, U.S. Congressman Tony Cardenas (who recently vacated the City Council seat that Martinez and Montanez are running for), and State Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra.

It doesn’t stop there.  Nury Martinez’ husband Jerry Guzman runs the field campaign for many pols within the clan, and who currently works for Bocanegra.

Ernie Cardenas had a connection to this clique, through his brother Tony. Zuniga also had a connection, through Nury Martinez, who wanted Zuniga to succeed her.

Both Martinez and Bocanegra endorsed Zuniga, but Padilla, Cardenas and Fuentes never did (neither have they endorsed Antonio Sanchez).

Why did the power brokers turn a cold shoulder to the two political newcomers? That’s not entirely clear, but it may have something to do with the Mayor.

Sanchez is a former aide to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is nominally aligned with the Alarcon clan, which backs Cindy Montanez.

One explanation is that Villaraigosa simply leaned on Padilla and Fuentes to support his former aide.

But some speculate that a trade was made — Padilla and Fuentes would sit the School Board race out, and in exchange, the Mayor would endorse Nury Martinez for City Council (as he eventually did).

Another possibility is that Padilla and Fuentes simply didn’t think Zuniga or Cardenas were ready for primetime. Or, they didn’t feel up for a fight with the SEIU.

And then Monica Garcia — Villaraigosa’s most trusted School Board member — may have asked the Mayor to endorse Martinez.

Previous posts: Just How Connected Is Antonio Sanchez?; The Decline and Fall of Iris Zuniga; Sanchez Supports Classroom Breakfast & Teacher Dismissal Initiatives

The site notes that newly-elected Congressman Tony Cardenas and State Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra have also endorsed Zuniga. Aides to Martinez and Bocanegra have confirmed the endorsements. Congressman Cardenas’ staff has not yet returned our request for comment.

The endorsements are boost for Zuniga, but she remains a long-shot candidate after her opponent, Antonio Sanchez, garnered the endorsements of the unions, the Democratic Party, and the Coalition for School Reform. Those endorsements came after Martinez, Cardenas and Bocanegra endorsed Zuniga.

All three Latino politicians represent or have represented areas inside or overlapping District 6, which covers the eastern part of the San Fernando Valley. They’re also part of a powerful political clique in the East Valley that includes State Senator Alex Padilla and former Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes that almost always endorse the same candidates (Padilla and Fuentes have not yet endorsed anyone in that race).

A source told LA School Report that it was Martinez who asked the group to support Zuniga. The source also said it was Martinez who asked Ernie Cardenas, Tony’s brother who was at one point running for the District 6 seat, to drop out.

Another motivation for Martinez may have been Zuniga’s gender.  When speaking with LA School Report in October, Martinez had this to say about Zuniga, who is a mother: “I absolutely believe there needs to be more women in these positions. I [also] believe there needs to be more parents on these boards.”

Previous posts: Fundraising: Early Leads for Garcia, Anderson, Reform Coalition Picks Garcia, Anderson & Sanchez, Two District 6 Candidates Drop Out*, Possible Board Candidates: District 6

Board Member Richard Vladovic

A controversial item on the LAUSD School Board agenda this week proposes drastically limiting Superintendent John Deasy’s ability to seek funding for the district by applying for public or private grants.

The resolution, initiated by School Board Members Richard Vladovic, Bennett Kayser, and Marguerite LaMotte, aims to give the school board veto power over grant applications made by the school superintendent in amounts over $750,000.

According to a source with knowledge about LAUSD grant applications, Supt. Deasy has been awarded about $120 million dollars for the district through grants so far.

Because of the split on the school board between union-backed board members and supporters of reform-minded Deasy, the effect would be to severely limit the district’s ability to attract foundation and federal money.

LAUSD Board Member Nury Martinez doesn’t see the point of the resolution.  “As a board member, I fight for more resources for my district,” Martinez said. “Why would we create a roadblock to securing more resources?” She said she doesn’t know why the board would want to “create another step in the process to relieve cash-strapped schools with additional funding.”

Board Member Richard Vladovic was not available for comment.

To read the full resolution, see page 13 of the board agenda.

District 2: Insiders say that UTLA could spend as much as $4 million to try and replace District 2’s Monica Garcia with Annamarie Montañez, the cousin* of former State Assemblywoman Cindy Montañez.

District 4: Steve Zimmer has at least one powerful challenger in Kate Anderson, who raised nearly $400,000 in her bid for State Assembly in 2010. Zimmer may or may not win any support from the teachers union.

District 6: The only open seat, District 6 features three equally strong challengers: Iris Zuñiga, Chief Operating Officer for the Youth Policy Institute charter school operator, Ernie Cardenas, brother of City Councilman Tony Cardenas, who was just elected to U.S. Congress, and Antonio Sanchez, who has ties to both Mayor Villaraigosa and Maria Elena Durazo, head of the LA County Federation of Labor.

Previous posts: Anderson To Run Against Zimmer, Board Candidates Trickling In, LAUSD Board Filing Period Opens Monday

*Note: A previous version of this post said Annamarie Montañez was Cindy’s sister.

LAUSD Board Member Nury Martinez

LAUSD Board Member Nury Martinez is hosting a town hall meeting in the San Fernando Valley on Saturday, October 27 to educate parents and community members about how propositions on the upcoming election ballot will affect LA schools.

Martinez will speak along with LAUSD’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Megan Reillyhas, about the drastic budget cuts that will be triggered if prop 30, Governor Jerry Brown’s tax measure, doesn’t pass on November 6.

Representatives for props 30, 32, and 38 will also speak and take questions from parents about the impact of their props on LAUSD.

The workshop will be held at Valley Region Middle School #3 in Sun Valley from 10 a.m. to noon.

Find the full event details here.

Charles Munger Drops Another $13 Million Into Ballot Measure Fights
Wealthy heir Charles Munger Jr. has ponied up another $13 million to kill off Gov. Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30 tax increase and to pass the anti-union Proposition 32, according to new campaign finance reports. Sac Bee

College Students to Dress Like Zombies and March for Prop. 30 in ‘The Walking Debt’
California Community College students are planning to dress up like zombies Friday afternoon and take part in “The Walking Debt” — a march from L.A. City Hall to the governor’s Downtown office in support of Prop. 30 and education funding. KPCC

L.A. City Council Celebrates Charter School Leaders
The Los Angeles City Council is taking time out from its Friday meeting to praise local charter school advocates as California’s charter school law turns 20 years old. Los Angeles Councilwoman, and mayoral candidate, Jan Perry has prepared a proclamation for L.A.’s charter school leaders. KPCC

Election Fallout Will Claim Many Important, Less Visible Projects
The work of updating California’s teacher performance assessment, for example, could be set back as education programs statewide brace for another round of big cuts if voters turn down tax measures on Nov. 6. SI&A Cabinet Report 

Report: Weighted Student Formula Alone Not Enough
Less experienced, lower paid teachers tend to teach in schools with the poorest children, while veteran, higher paid teachers work predominantly in schools with fewer needy children, contributing to significant funding disparities among schools within most of the state’s largest school districts. Ed Source

Board member Nury Martinez, with Supt. Deasy
Photo: USC Annenberg

The announcement hasn’t made the four-year board member any less busy.  Like District 3 Board Member Tamar Galatzan (with whom she is often allied), Martinez is also a mother who has opted to be a part-time school board member and work another job. Last week, Martinez authored a resolution to beef up arts education in the district (see Nonprofit Funds Big Arts Education Push).

In a recent interview in her office on the 24th floor of LAUSD headquarters, Martinez described how she won UTLA’s endorsement (and presumes she still has its support), why the initiative known as Public School Choice is an important vehicle for teacher empowerment, and why she hopes a woman will run to replace her.

Nury Martinez: My Parents are from Zacatecas [in Mexico]. They were childhood boyfriend and girlfriend. They got married in 1971, lived in North Hollywood for four years and then bought their first home in Pacoima, and that’s where we were raised. My parents did not speak a word of English. They still don’t.

I was a third grader that could not read or write. I struggled tremendously with the language. So it was a very lonely, very sort of sad time in my life.  But my mom never gave up on the fact that we were going to go to college.

LASR:  What did you do before joining the school board, and what experiences did you have with the board before running for board member?

NM: I ran ten years ago for my first job, San Fernando City Council. I served as mayor for three years and I decided to run for the school board when I was six months pregnant.  It was sort of unplanned.

I had dealt with the school district on A through G [an effort to raise the graduation requirements for high school students] in 2005. I went through a battle with the district on appointing local superintendents. So my experience with the district wasn’t all that great.

LASR:  How did you decide to run?

NM: Six months into my pregnancy, I had heard that Julie Korenstein wasn’t going to seek another term.  I’ve campaigned countless times, but when you’re ready to have a child any day, things get more colorful.

LASR:  In that election, you had support of the teachers union. How did that come to pass?

NM: I just interviewed. My relationship with UTLA goes back to 1989, when my English teacher, Mrs. Roth, told me that the teachers were going to go on strike. I was a 10th grader at San Fernando High School. And I said, “Oh my god, what does that mean?” She said, “We’re fighting with the district on benefits and a fair contract.” So I got involved with the teachers union and led a lot of the student efforts on behalf of the teachers that year.

LASR:  And how has your relationship with UTLA changed since coming on the board?

NM: I think I had a pretty good relationship with [former UTLA head] AJ Duffy. He and I didn’t always agree, but he was always very wiling to call me and we would meet. There’s not too much of a relationship with the current president. I don’t know Mr. Warren Fletcher personally. I’ve just seen him at meetings.

LASR:  If you were running for school board again, you wouldn’t expect them to support you, would you?

NM: Sure I would.

LASR:  You would? 

NM: Absolutely. I’ve done nothing but support teachers in my district. Public School Choice, which was the most controversial piece of policy that we have voted on since I’ve been on the board, has created a lot of contention between the school board and UTLA, but I have to say that it’s the one thing that has created so much activism among my teachers. It has created an ability for them to step up, write their own plans, come out of their own shells, and say, you know what, I am a leader, I’m an instructional leader, and I’m going to change the makeup of my school and I’m going to lead.

I would hope that I would get their endorsement. But you know… you never know.

LASR: When I go to school board meetings, I can’t help but notice the voting cliques, and there’s a lot of tension. Is that uncomfortable? 

NM: The problem with folks who don’t understand how politics works, is people- if you don’t understand politics, it’s gonna be very difficult for you to do this job. Because it does involve politics, it does involve to some degree compromising and negotiating with the powers that be. That’s all part of the job. Being uncomfortable and being frustrated is part of the job.

LASR:  Your colleague Mr. Zimmer has a proposal about charter schools.*  I was curious what you made of it.

NM: This is something I’ve shared with Mr. Zimmer: I don’t know what his intent is. I don’t know who’s behind it. I can’t really put my finger on why he’s doing this. I would suspect it’s because he’s trying to run for re-election and he wants to secure some key endorsements in this race.

LASR: UTLA.

NM: Which is fine. Just be honest about it. Putting a moratorium on charters isn’t going to solve our problems. To strip people from their choices without having a dialogue with them is insulting.

LASR:  But the school board can approve or not approve charters every five years, and they can do it for political reasons, can’t they?

NM: I don’t think we’ve always made the right call. I think we need to do a better job of determining what actually will shut down a school. I think the cheating scandal last year was evident that we were serious about making sure that these schools did not operate anymore. But then a couple of months later, the embezzlement happened. My goodness. We don’t always get it right. But we need to that certain that we get it right 90% if not 99.9% of the time.

LASR: [Associated Administrators of Los Angeles rep and former school board member] David Tokofsky thinks that the school board isn’t doing enough to campaign for Propositions 30 and 38. What can the school board do?

NM: The school board needs money. Mr. Tokofsky would probably know this because he’s run for office himself. And so my question to him is, what are our partners doing like AALA to sort of help the district and be a partner with the district to raise the necessary funds to be able to get the word out? The mailers, the commercials, the phone calls, the walkers, the messaging around the importance of passing these initiatives. So what are all of our partners that have a stake in making sure that LAUSD is here next year, what are we doing as a collective group to raise the necessary money to mount a serious campaign?

LASR:  You are running for city council, right?

NM: There’s not a vacancy yet, so I have to be very careful about how this comes across. As soon as there becomes a vacancy, when Mr. Tony Cardenas steps down – or whatever it’s called [Cardenas is running for Congress in November and is expected to win] – then there will be an opportunity to declare.

LASR:  Is there a candidate in mind that you would like to succeed you on the school board?

NM: If Iris [Zuniga, mentioned as a possible District 6 board candidate] is ready to put her name in the race, more power to her. I absolutely believe there needs to be more women in these positions. I [also] believe there needs to be more parents on these boards. We just add a different flavor to the conversation. Women add a different dynamic to any conversation. We just have different perspectives on the way we view things. We try to get to a solution.

Edited and condensed for clarity.

 *Subsequent to this interview, Zimmer announced a revised version of the charter oversight proposal. (See Zimmer Unveils Softer Charter Plan)

Previous Q+As: Superintendent John Deasy, board member Steve Zimmer and board member Tamar Galatzan.

As you may recall, there are three spots being contested — currently held by Board members Steve Zimmer, Nury Martinez, and Monica Garcia. The totals will appear on this page, and will be updated sporadically throughout the day.  Once independent expenditure money starts flowing (and being spent), the site will also include those funds as well.

Previous posts: Dark Money Dominates LAUSD Elections, Possible Board Candidates: District 2 (including Isabel Vazquez), Possible Board Candidates: District 6 (including Iris Zuniga), and Possible Board Candidates: District 4 (including Kate Anderson).

Megan Chernin of LA Fund and Nury Martinez of #LAUSD with students at the Barbara Kruger bus for the #ArtsMatter Launch Event via @LAFund

Arts education in Los Angeles has been drastically reduced for budgetary reasons and runs the risk of being altogether eliminated in 2013. The campaign, “Art Matters,” will promote the importance of art education by bringing the work of high-profile artists to the streets.

The initiative is underwritten by the non-profit LA Fund for Public Education with donated ad space provided by CBS and Zenith. (See more at Daily News, LA Times).

The argument that arts education promotes critical thinking and creativity is also what’s behind today’s school board proposal by Nury Martinez – who wants to make arts education part of the new common core curriculum.

In addition, Board member Bennett Kayser will introduce a motion that deals with space “over-allocated” to charter schools via Proposition 39 (I’ve written about how charters get space via Prop 39 here). The proposal would have the district “collect reimbursement amounts owed by each charter school that is over-allocated space during part or all of any school year.”

Kayser will also announce a resolution called “Buy and Use LAUSD First,” which would set up “an online directory of services and products available within the Los Angeles Unified School District, make their use and purchase easily obtainable, and strongly encourage every school and office to use and/or buy District products and services whenever possible.”

You can see the full agenda for the Tuesday meeting here.

School Board Member, Tamar Galatzan

School board member Tamar Galatzan (pictured) is quite possibly the busiest elected official in the city. One of two board members who has chosen to serve part-time (along with Nury Martinez), Galatzan also has a full-time job at the City Attorney’s office, and is the mother of two boys in elementary school. (She’s the only board member with a child currently in LAUSD.)

Galatzan, who represents much of the San Fernando valley, typically votes with the Monica Garcia voting bloc, and, as chair of the Budget Committee, she has also been something of a fiscal watchdog.

Recently interviewed in a San Fernando Valley field office located on the grounds of her Birmingham High School alma mater, Galatzan spoke about school board dynamics, her hopes for the most recent labor contract, and Superintendent John Deasy’s performance during a budget crisis.

LA School Report: You have another job with the city attorney’s office. What is the other job?

Tamar Galatzan: I’m a deputy city attorney. The unit I’m assigned to is the neighborhood prosecutor program. I work out of three LAPD divisions and I work on quality of life problems in the community. So things involving squatters and hoarders and transients and mobile billboards and party houses and nuisance properties.

LASR: Why do you do both jobs?

TG: Because it matters. I wouldn’t do either job unless I felt passionately about it. But it’s a lot of stuff to juggle. Plus two little boys.

LASR: So you chose to do the school board part-time because you already had the job at the city attorney’s office?

TG: Because I can’t live and pay a mortgage on $40,000 [note: the actual salary for a full-time board member is $45,000].

LASR: You recently told LA Magazine that the job is the “worst of both worlds.” (see: The Takeover Artist) Do you remember this quote? What did you mean by that?

TG: In some respects, being on the [LAUSD] school board is like being on the board of directors of a company like Chevron or Bank of America, where you don’t have a lot of control over the day-to-day operations and you’re really there to set policy, hire the CEO, and everything else that goes on at the company is the responsibility of someone else.

The reason why it’s frustrating is that our constituents hold us responsible for issues over which we have no control. I am not the person who makes the decision over changing the attendance boundary of a school. I don’t select principals. We don’t do much about curriculum. The school board doesn’t have any control over that. You can yell at me and vote me out of office or whatever you want to do, but I still don’t have any control over that.

LASR: What would your proposal be, if you were re-writing the charter [governing LAUSD]?

TG: I would probably go more towards some sort of [mayor-] appointed board.

LASR: You’ve worked with three superintendents. Compare superintendent Deasy to the last couple.

TG: I’m not going there. I personally just don’t believe in doing performance evaluations via the media. I think that one of the things that has faced, especially Cortines and Deasy, [is that] they’ve had to lurch from crisis to crisis, namely about the budget but about Miramonte and about everything else that keeps happening. But when you look at it, we’ve made devastating budget cuts, and test scores are up. Our graduation rate is up. Enrollment is up. These are all things you wouldn’t expect with the kinds of cuts we’ve had to make. And I think a lot of that has been because of the leadership of both Ray Cortines and John Deasy.

LASR: The school board is supposed to decide which charter schools get renewed. But school board members can also take political contributions. Is that a conflict of interest?

TG: School board members also ratify all the agreements with the employee unions, and they take contributions from them as well.

LASR: So are they both conflicts of interest?

TG: It’s an interesting question, because when you get down to it, who cares who’s on the school board? The only people who really care are the unions, because these people are going to be voting on their contracts. And maybe a charter might care because they’re going to be voting on their charter. But who else cares? Everyday parents, as you can see from the incredibly low voter turnout, don’t really care who’s on the school board.

If UTLA does an [independent expenditure campaign] on your behalf, does that mean you shouldn’t vote on anything that impacts teachers? I don’t know. I’m certainly not against exploring limiting who can make contributions. It’s a great topic for debate. I just don’t know who would be left to make a contribution.

LASR: I’ve been to a number of school board meetings. It’s obvious that there are these factions, these voting cliques, on the board. That’s how it seems to me. Is that uncomfortable?

TG: Depends on your tolerance for acrimonious debate. I’m a prosecutor, I’m used to people disagreeing with me. We have a vigorous debate, and we move on.

LASR: So it’s not personal?

TG: I didn’t say that. I think there are people… how should I put this? I don’t think the board right now is… I think it can be dysfunctional at times.

LASR: Dysfunctional in its public discourse, or in the decisions it makes?

TG: Keep going.

LASR: So both?

TG: Yeah. I think people, especially in public office, should be able to disagree without being disagreeable. And I think that dynamic, unfortunately, doesn’t carry over to the whole board. If you disagree with someone on a policy issue, then that’s some sort of personal affront to them. And I think that’s too bad.

LASR: You’ve been on the school board since 2007. Is there a decision that the board has made in that time that you’re most proud of?

TG: We negotiated a contract with UTLA that would give schools charter-like freedoms, to be able to innovate without leaving to become a charter school. And we’re gonna really see the first round of those this year. I think that could have a huge impact, and that’s something that I certainly pushed for. I don’t know how much you know about my district, but it’s different than the rest of LAUSD.

LASR: How so?

TG: I represent almost half of the San Fernando Valley, and a huge percentage of middle-class schools that don’t qualify for Title I anti-poverty dollars [money from the federal government]. These are your typical middle class schools. They’re some of the highest performing schools in the district. Budget cuts have had a disproportionate impact on them, and a lot of the schools are becoming affiliated charters in order to get access to additional funds.

LAUSD spends a lot of time, for good reason, focusing on schools that are struggling, and students who are underachieving. But those schools that are doing pretty well, no one pays attention to them, and they are desperately short of resources.

I mean, everyone holds up their test scores and says how wonderful they are, but when you realize they don’t have money for Xerox paper, that’s a problem. If we want to keep middle class families in the school district, we need to pay more attention to those schools.

LASR: Is there any decision that the school board has taken in the last 5 years that you wish you could reverse its vote?

TG: Oh my goodness, where do I start?

My first big vote on the school board was a very controversial one, and I was one of two votes, along with Marlene Canter, against extending health benefits to part-time cafeteria workers. I got a lot of flack and still do. But I felt that this issue should have been bargained at the bargaining table. Just like I said yesterday at a board meeting, about Mr. Zimmer’s resolution about Academic Growth Over Time, there are issues that are supposed to be bargained, and the board shouldn’t intervene and make a political decision to favor one side or the other in the middle of negotiations.

And I felt that we couldn’t afford those benefits. If they were bargained, then there would be a give and a take. And if that were something the health benefits committee valued, then they would have to help us figure out a way to pay for it.

LASR: And they’re incredible health plans, right?

TG: They’re very comprehensive health plans. And it’s cost us, in the middle of a budget crisis a lot of money.

LASR: All the money that LAUSD spends on health benefits, it’s something like $800 million?

TG: That’s probably low. But yeah, it’s close to $1 billion.

LASR: One last question. You’ve run for city council before. Any plans to run for something else?

TG: Uh…. I have no plans right now to run for everything. I have a very full life with LAUSD and the city attorney’s office and being a mom to two very active boys.

LASR: You know it’s a law that journalists have to ask that question at the end of an interview.

TG: Do you ever get someone saying, “Why yes”?

LASR: Not really.

Iris Zuniga, Possible Board Candidate

Both UTLA and the education reform community are likely to pick candidates and dump money into independent expenditure campaigns supporting them. But who will they pick?

One possible candidate for ed reformers in District 6 is Iris Zuniga (pictured), the Chief Operating Officer of Youth Policy Institute, a large charter school operator. Its Executive Director, Dixon Slingerland, is very active in LAUSD politics, and YPI employees contribute a lot of money to local elections, according to the City Ethics Commission’s website.

Whoever runs will have to navigate the tricky terrain of Northeast Valley politics. covering the northeast San Fernando Valley, a region dominated by two political cliques.

“History tells us school boards prefer to appoint their own superintendent when their membership changes,” writes the Deasy critic (pictured left). “Mayor Tony… is termed out – and his coattails don’t seem to extend into the future.”

Zimmer will face one or several challenges, but Martinez is out and Garcia already has four declared opponents.  Or, make that five.  Folsom has run before — most recently as a District 5 write-in candidate last year.

Non-candidate Brian Johnson

The latest news is that Brian Johnson, the former Teach For America (TFA) Los Angeles executive director who ran for and lost a close race for state assembly (right), isn’t going to run for the LAUSD school board.

This spring there are three spots coming open on the board — including another TFA alumnus, Steve Zimmer. The other two spots are Nury Martinez (see: Martinez Running for City Council) and Monica Garcia (see: Garcia’s First Half Charter School Money).

No one really expected Johnson to run, and I’m told that nobody pays much attention to board races until after the state referendum season is done, and that makes sense.   But soon comes showdown time, when folks have to decide whether to run or not, and what their positions are going to be, and everyone has to start throwing money at them.

Nury Martinez

School Board Member Nury Martinez has long been rumored to be planning a run for Tony Cardenas’ City Council District 6 seat, which will become vacant when Cardenas gets elected to U.S. Congress, which he is expected to do in a walk. This would set the stage for a fight for Martinez’s school board seat, and it could also upset the delicate balance of the current school board, which narrowly re-elected Monica Garcia as president and is just one UTLA-sponsored candidate away from tipping the board over to a Garcia opponent like Dr. Richard Vladovic.
The Daily News’ Rick Orlav made it semi-official yesterday morning, noting that Martinez is “looking to run for the 6th Council District Seat.” Yesterday afternoon, I got unofficial confirmation from sources close to Martinez.

If Martinez leaves and a Vladovic ally replaces her, Deasy will have to work with a board majority that’s much different from the one that brought him in.

No word yet on who might be interested in running to replace Martinez. In 2009, she defeated Louis Pugliese by about 600 votes, or two percentage points, although he received no significant special interest support and spent $30,000 of his own money.