While winners are being declared in myriad Los Angeles-area elections, incumbent Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education President Kelly Gonez was still snarled in a close skirmish against a political newcomer, educator Marvin A. Rodriguez, as of Friday’s latest update from county election officials.
As of Friday, the semi-official results in District 6 showed Gonez with 51.33%, and Rodriguez at 48.67%, just a wee tick closer than after Thursday’s update.
And a tight battle continued in LAUSD District 2, where Rocio Rivas, with 52.34%, increased her lead a bit over Maria Brenes, with 47.66%.
District 6 includes North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Pacoima, Sylmar and other Valley communities. Gonez, elected to the board in 2017, was an education policy advisor in President Obama’s administration. Gonez backed universal pre-school accessible for all, better funding for students and schools with higher needs, and improved efforts to ensure LAUSD graduates are equipped for college.
Rodríguez, who has 17 years teaching experience, is a U.S. Marine vet who attended public schools after immigrating to the U.S., and has two children in LAUSD. Rodríguez advocated against privatization of public schools, for better support for teachers, and for an accessible quality education, especially for special need students.
In District 2, Rivas and Brenes are vying to succeed outgoing member Monica García, representing an area that includes Downtown Los Angeles, East L.A., Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights and El Sereno.
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Brenes is executive director of the nonprofit organization InnerCity Struggles and has two children in LAUSD. She was endorsed by SEIU Local 99, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and District 2 representative Garcia. Her priorities included improving LAUSD’s special education programs by providing more resources and reducing class sizes.
Rivas, who was LAUSD board member Jackie Goldberg’s policy deputy, was endorsed by Goldberg, LAUSD District 1 representative George McKenna, L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman and United Teachers Los Angeles. LAUSD alumna Rivas looked to ensure that state tax policies don’t affect LAUSD funding, to reduce class sizes, and touted more oversight of charter schools.
Friday’s ballot update includes 157,126 ballots processed countywide since Thursday’s report from the registrar’s office. The total election result count is now 2,286,624 — 40.63% of registered voters. The estimated number of outstanding ballots to be processed is 175,050. Another update is scheduled for Saturday.