The political action arm of the California Charter Schools Association spent heavily to elect charter-friendly candidates, but none of them won a majority. There will be three run-offs.
Bennett Kayser, the incumbent who was endorsed by the Network for Public Education, came in a close second to challenger and charter school leader Ref Rodriguez, who was leading by 38% to 35%. There will be a run-off.
Incumbent Tamar Galatzan, a strong supporter of charters and ex-superintendent John Deasy, got 39% of the vote, and the remainder was divided among several candidates. Veteran educator Scott Schmerelson (whom I endorsed) came in second with 20% of the vote. Galatzan outspent Schmerelson by 8-1 and will face him in a runoff.
Board chairman Dr. Richard Vladovic, also supported by charter advocates, did not receive a majority of the votes and will face a runoff against teacher Lydia Gutierrez. He led by 43% to 38%.
In all three critical races, the pro-charter candidate won a plurality, but the majority of those who turned out to vote did not vote for the pro-charter candidate.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Right you are. I would have preferred a wholesale kick out of the incumbents but it shows that taxpayers are divided about who they think will represent them best. The charter candidates did well with well funded votes but the run offs will allow the taxpayers to distinguish between the better candidates for public education. If charter candidates win, it is an indictment on the failure of public school advocates to really get the story out about personal enrichment associated with the charter candidates. Some of them actually run full charter networks that enrich them at the expense of public school students. Keeping the incumbents is voting for the status quo and all the poor, failed policies of these board members. With the proliferation of charters, private, segregated education, raises it inequitable head,to remind us how far we actually haven’t come.
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The big money came rolling in from Broad and Villaraigosa and Riordan and their cohorts.
According to the LA Times today, over $800K was donated to Rodriguez, Galatzan, and Vladovic and some few others. The big wins were incumbents Galatzan and Vladovic, These two, who voted continually to use publics’ money to fund Deasy’s bad decisions as with iPads from Apple, as yet unwritten curriculum from Pearson (which Ratliff kept asking to see), MiSiS and other costly scams which to date have cost California/LAUSD taxpayers in the neighborhood of $675 Million.
Yet Broad and his boys still pushed for their reelection. How come?
Then there is Rodriguez whose coffers were filled by the Charter School Ass. Advocates. And of course Broad/Waltons deep pockets partners.
But another surprise is Guitierrez who did so well against Vlad.
She is the person who is the Tea Party darling, and she will draw votes in the general election from reactionary Republicans, plus from the Wall Streeters who want to assure even more charters at
LAUSD, for California/LA having the most in the nation is not enough.
Saying reporters in LA did not get the word out should apply mainly to the LA Times which continues to talk in riddles and very soft soap, and they support by omission their Wall Street buddies.
Keep in mind that only a dozen years ago a candidate for BoE in LA would spend about $30 K to run a campaign. And there were no hate mailers sent by PACs, and no PR firms directing traffic to elect the foot soldiers for the Bonfire of the Vanities guys who want to use LAUSD for the template to turn public ed into a vast vehicle for free market profit.
We will now see the political theater of the runoffs, with out of towners like Bloomberg and Waltons et al, pouring millions into this BoE election in LA. It will be get even uglier.
Can we still call our elections, democratic?
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You are right, more people voted against the incumbents in BD 3 and 7. Both Vladovic and Galatzan received funding from the Great Public Schools SuperPac and the California Charter School Association. In the 2011 election, then Mayor Villaraigosa created the Coalition for School Reform which provided hundreds of thousands of dollars each to Galatzan, Vladovic and to Kayser’s opponent.
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