Your guide to the 2022 Los Angeles Unified school board elections
Overview
- The incumbents, Kelly Gonez and Nick Melvoin, face no well-funded challenge, even though the teachers union spent millions to oppose their first bids for office in 2017. This time, the union is endorsing Gonez and silently conceding to Melvoin.
- The most competitive race is for the open seat in District 2, which covers downtown and stretches north and east to include Los Feliz, Highland Park, Boyle Heights, El Sereno and East L.A. Four candidates are vying for the seat of termed-out school board member Monica Garcia.
Meet the candidates
Here are profiles of the candidates.
Video: District 2 candidate forum (Alliance for Better Communities)
Charter advocates and teachers union normally fight for L.A. school board candidates with record spending. Not so much this time. Will children benefit?
State of the LAUSD
- The district is struggling to recover from the pandemic. Enrollment dropped, and many students fell behind when campuses were closed and they had to take classes from home.
- Officials estimate that enrollment will plunge by nearly 30% over the next decade, leading to tough choices about academic programs, campus closures, jobs and employee benefits.
- Alberto Carvalho, who formerly headed Miami-Dade County Public Schools and is among the nation’s most experienced and admired school district leaders, recently became superintendent of L.A. Unified.
Four are vying to replace Garcia, who faces term limits after more than 15 years. Challengers face an uphill battle in two other races.
The enrollment drops will reshape the nation’s second-largest school system and officials said tough choices are ahead.
Low-income families remain poorly connected online for schoolwork. L.A. Unified tries once more to help, at least for a year.
Tutoring, considered a vital learning recovery strategy, reaches fewer than 1 in 10 L.A. district students.
Voters also expressed concern about the digital divide and want the next mayor to tackle these problems, even though the office lacks direct authority.
There’s money for Supt. Alberto Carvalho’s ambitious agenda, but much of it is one-time support and declining enrollment will affect ongoing funding
L.A. Unified Supt. Alberto Carvalho announced a 100-day plan, including addressing education recovery and the future of district COVID-19 measures.
Alberto Carvalho has a reputation for stability and steady academic improvement in Miami. He’ll now take on the mammoth challenges of Los Angeles Unified as schools superintendent.
In the pandemic’s latest hit on education, the number of L.A. Unified students who have been chronically absent this school year has doubled.
New LAUSD Supt. Alberto Carvalho must face students’ academic and emotional setbacks from the pandemic and long-term financial and enrollment worries.
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