In L.A. school board races, outside spending surpasses $2 million [Updated]



Outside political action committees continue to dominate the contests over four seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education, spending more than $2 million combined, according to city records.

[Updated at 2:45 p.m.: The candidate attracting the most independent spending is Luis Sanchez, who is running for the one open seat, in District 5, which spans Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Eagle Rock and the southeastern portions of L.A. Unified, including the cities of Huntington Park, Bell and South Gate.

Outside groups have spent more than $727,000 for or against Sanchez. Nearly $500,000 has come in to support Sanchez. The source of this money is fund-raising led by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and, separately, spending by Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents many non-teaching school district workers. The local teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, has spent about $260,000 for a campaign opposing Sanchez. It has also spent more than $127,000 in support of Bennett Kayser, who is running against Sanchez.]

The teachers union also is spending in support of two-term incumbent Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte in District 1. Its independent expenditures on her behalf have reached about $436,000.

Sanchez’s own campaign has raised more than $141,000, a higher total than any other candidate.

Two other mayoral allies also have benefited from independent spending: About $443,000 has been spent on behalf of incumbent Richard Vladovic in District 7 and nearly $374,000 for incumbent Tamar Galatzan in District 3.

[An earlier version of this post incorrectly characterized the amount spent in the Sanchez contest as being all in support of his candidacy. In fact, that total, more than $727,000, also included spending in opposition to Sanchez.]

RELATED:

Voter Guide: March 8 Election

Listen to L.A. Unified school board candidates

L.A. mayor, UTLA spend most in school board races

-- Howard Blume

Photo: Luis Sanchez in 2005. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Sue]

Could it be that Local 99 supports Sanchez because he supports the extra hour and full benefits given to part time workers, an action championed by his boss, Board President Garcia?

I wonder how many teachers' jobs would have been saved with the over $100,000,000 this is costing LAUSD?? Where is the concern for kids? If this decision was to be rescinded, over 1000 teachers would be able to stay in the classroom.

[Gem]

These candidates offer NO solutions to class size increase of k-3 (29) and upper grades (32 plus). Teachers who have MASTERED their current grade level will be bumped out of their grades. I ask Angelenos - do you want to see a kinder or 1st grade teacher possibly teacher 4th or 5th? With the current projections as of today, every school site will lose 4 to 7 teaching positions. A bumping effect will displace teachers. Public education is being threatened due lack of funding, poor fiscal management and accountability.

It will be interesting to see - if the CST scores and other assessments will decline, stabilize, or improve. And, if they do improve - can we attribute it to teaching to the test, breaking the seal and teaching the test questions, or to teachers.

We have people protesting for their collective bargaining rights filling Wisconsin's city hall chambers. Yet, with these draconian budget cuts aimed directly at our students and teachers - we have NOTHING???

The decision we make today will impact California's ability to be competitive in the world market.

[Maria]

Galatzan's campaign has been flooding my mailbox with expensive, four-color glossy junk mail for weeks. And when I complained about it in my LiveJournal blog and on Twitter, someone from her campaign created a sock puppet account on LiveJournal to harass me. When I called their bluff, they deleted all of their comments. This is a pathetic campaign. I've never seen anything like it.