With a new majority coming to the LA Unified school board, one of the first tasks will be to select the next board president, and all signs point to relative newcomer Ref Rodriguez taking over the top spot. The position is largely ceremonial, but it puts a face on the second-largest school district in the...

(Note: This article first appeared on La Comadre and Education Post) By Chris Bertelli When the ballots were finally tallied in the early morning hours on Wednesday, those of us who work for educational equity in California’s public schools had reason to celebrate. After an expensive, hard-fought campaign, two political newcomers – Nick Melvoin and Kelly Gonez – were...

Steve Zimmer’s vote in April to direct LA Unified to support a state bill dubbed a “charter killer” factored into the board president’s defeat at the polls this week, his board colleagues say. The contentious 4-3 vote supported State Bill 808 authored by Sen. Tony Mendoza, which allowed school districts to reject public independent charter schools if they...

Tuesday’s election of two pro-reform school board members could mean a whole new set of challenges for LA Unified Superintendent Michelle King. The board will shift in July from a pro-union majority to one backed by charter school supporters, and some observers think that could present difficulties for King, as the superintendent is hired and fired...

Even before any results were announced from ballots cast Tuesday at the polls, Steve Zimmer stood outside a deli in Mar Vista and conceded defeat before heading inside to hug his friends and supporters. At that point, only absentee ballots had been counted, but more than 60 percent were against him, and he didn’t see...

*UPDATED In his first interview after declaring victory in the LA Unified school board election, Nick Melvoin vowed to protect parents’ choices in education and to move the district beyond the charter school versus traditional school narrative. “I would like the first thing we try to tackle to be moving beyond this what we call...

*UPDATED Reform-backed candidates swept the LA Unified school board election Tuesday night, unseating the board president and swinging the balance of the board toward a reform majority for the first time since 2010, according to unofficial election results. Steve Zimmer, the board president who was running for his third and final term, conceded before any results...

*UPDATED Charter teacher Kelly Gonez has won the LA Unified school board race for the open District 6 seat, according to unofficial results. “Based on the results we’re seeing, I feel confident that the voters of BD6 have voted to make me your next member of the Board of Education,” Gonez tweeted just after 12:30 a.m. With...

*UPDATED LA Unified school board President Steve Zimmer conceded Tuesday night in a speech before supporters in Mar Vista. “There’s no sugar-coating this,” he said. In an interview outside his campaign party right before the speech, Zimmer told LA School Report that he knew he had lost the election but will not be calling Nick...

The first election results in the LA Unified school board race are in, for mail-in ballots. Nick Melvoin leads Steve Zimmer, 60 percent to 40 percent. Kelly Gonez leads Imelda Padilla, 52 percent to 48 percent. Going into Tuesday, 116,817 of the 866,567 ballots issued had been mailed in and processed, or 13.5 percent. That...