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The new president of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of Education says he wants to fight the district’s cratering enrollment with new policies and approaches.

Scott Schmerelson, who has worked in the LA Unified School District for nearly four decades and has served on the board since 2015, was elected and installed as president by his board colleagues on Dec. 10.  

As board president, he succeeded Jackie Goldberg, who is retiring.

A former LAUSD teacher, principal and administrator, Schmerelson assumed leadership of the board just before he begins his third and final term representing District 3, which covers parts of LA’s San Fernando Valley region.

In a phone interview Thursday, Schmerelson said he’d focus the board’s attention on fighting falling student enrollment in the remainder of the academic year, as pre-pandemic declines accelerated into long-term losses that may eventually force school closures.

“I’m going to constantly, constantly talk about enrollment,” Schmerelson said. “For the school district to remain viable, we have to have students.”

Schmerelson said he hoped LAUSD’s improving test scores would help attract students who may have left the district for private schools or home instruction.

He said as board president he’ll also focus on issues including LAUSD’s academic recovery and rising school violence.  

It’s a tall order. But with nearly 40 years working in the district and close to a decade on the school board, Schmerelson believes he has the backing of his community.

As president, Schmerelson will help set the direction of the board’s policymaking and manage its operations. The LAUSD’s seven-member board sets the district’s policy, controls its budget and hires the superintendent.

This fall Schmerelson overcame an aggressive campaign from opponent Dan Chang, a math teacher at James Madison Middle School in North Hollywood, who focused much of his election messaging on the need to tame waste and corruption in the school district.

Chang and his backers, including the state charter school association’s political arm, spent more than $5.6 million promoting his campaign. Schmerelson’s backers, including the local teacher union, spent about $2.5 million, according to campaign filings.

In the end, Chang landed behind Schmerelson with 48% of the vote, while Schmerelson got 52%.

Schmerelson brought up the cost of the race in remarks he made after he was sworn in as president at LAUSD headquarters last month.  

“Really, it is our whole community that won,” he said. “Because we learned to work together against the power of money. And when I say money, I mean $5 million.”  

The contest between the two men had the potential to tilt the district’s school board away from a majority of union-backed members, and impact its handling of several controversial issues facing LAUSD, including restrictions on charter schools’ use of buildings, which Chang said he’d move to reverse if elected. 

Schmerelson’s victory is part of a successful election season for many teachers union-backed candidates in Los Angeles – and Schmerelson has aligned himself with local unions on policies limiting space and resources for charter schools.

But in an interview Schmerelson said he supports the continued operation of high-quality charter schools in the district.

“I am going to support those charter schools that are doing an excellent job of educating the kids,” said Schmerelson.

“I want to make sure that the charter schools that we have, are viable and working well,” he added.