LA School Board Race Could Change the Nation’s Second-Largest District

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter

This article is part of The 74’s EDlection 2024 coverage, which takes a look at candidates’ education policies and how they might impact the American education system after the 2024 election.

Next month, thousands of school board elections will be decided across the country. But perhaps none will be as consequential as a single, heated race for LA Unified’s school board, one that could help decide the fate of the nation’s largest charter school sector and second largest public school district. 

Once a fast-growing experiment in education reform, LA Unified’s decades-old charter school sector has never seen challenges like those it faces today, with falling enrollment, tough new policies, and a hostile school board that has throttled charters’ access to public school space.

But the school board part of that equation could shift, if LAUSD teacher and charter-supporting rabble rouser Dan Chang can take LA Unified’s seat for school board District 3 in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, from teachers’ union-backed incumbent Scott Schmerelson.

Chang and Schmerelson share many of the same priorities for board policies, but Chang said he sought to address fraud and waste in LA Unified, while Schmerelson said he’d seek to ensure traditional district-run public schools aren’t constrained by the presence of charters in public school buildings. 

With the teachers’ union struggling to defend its 4-3 majority on the board, Chang and Schmerelson’s race will decide whether the board tips in favor of charters and school reforms, versus more orthodox approaches to improving schools favored by the union.   

Chang, a math teacher at James Madison Middle School in North Hollywood, whose first education job was at a charter school management organization, said in an interview that if he is elected he’d juice the city’s charter sector by moving to repeal the controversial policy established this year that limits where charters may operate.  

“LA Unified needs a new voice,” said Chang, who also previously led the boards of two charter schools in the San Fernando Valley. “It’s critical to have someone with my experience on the board.”

The contest in District 3 is the most expensive school board race this year in LA, a city known for the costliest school board elections in the nation, with more than $4 million raised or spent on behalf of the campaigns of Chang and Schmerelson.

Schmerelson, a former teacher and principal who’s held the seat at District 3 since 2014, is viewed as a steady hand on the board amid tumultuous times, beat Chang in the March primaries, winning nearly 45% of the vote, compared to 29% for Chang.   

It wasn’t enough to prevent the race from going to a runoff at the general election next month, but Schmerelson, who is viewed as the favorite in the race, is sanguine. He has some reason to be confident, having broad support in his district and a track record of winning.

“I accept that I was elected by my constituents in board District 3, and I make sure that my schools get the attention that they need, everything that they need,” said Schmerelson. 

In 2020 Schmerelson defeated challenger Marilyn Koziatek in the general election, despite more than $6 million spent on Koziatek’s behalf by groups including those backing charter schools.

“The race is Scott’s to lose,” said David Tokofsky, former LAUSD board member and district gadfly.  

Tokofsky, who has worked on LAUSD board races for decades, estimated Chang’s campaign would have to outspend Schmerelson by four to one in order to capture the seat.

The latest filings show Chang’s campaign hasn’t quite reached the magic 4:1 ratio, yet. Chang’s campaign and its backers have raised or spent more than $3.6 million so far in the race, compared to nearly $1.4 million for Schmerelson’s campaign.

But with nearly a month left in the race, that could still change, Tokofsky said.

Los Angeles Unified is the largest district in the country controlled by a school board. LAUSD board members are relatively well-compensated compared to those of many other districts, with yearly salaries of $125,000. 

LAUSD school board members are also given a staff. Board members choose the district’s superintendent, help set district policy and control LA Unified’s $18.8 billion budget. 

LAUSD board elections in 2017 set a record for the most expensive school board races in U.S. history, with around $15 million spent that year on races that moved the board in the direction of pro-charter education reformers.

The outsize campaign spending in Los Angeles is unique, because the city has an organized opposition in the charter community to the teachers’ union, setting up arms races in campaign spending to control the board.

That’s compared to other cities, where unions often dominate board elections and their candidates often coast to victory. In places like New York and Chicago, the mayor appoints the school board, so unions concentrate their money on mayoral races.

With nearly 20% of the district’s enrollment, including LAUSD-affiliated charters, the charter sector in Los Angeles is the nation’s largest, with well-organized operations in advocacy and campaign finance.

The statewide California Charter School Association Advocates has endorsed Chang and helped fund efforts to get him elected, including television and radio advertisements targeted at LAUSD families who will vote in next month’s election.

CCASA Advocates Executive Director Gregory McGinity said his group is confident that Chang will fight to improve educational options and boost academic outcomes for all LAUSD students and not just those in charter schools.

“His commitment to expanding access to high-quality public schools—both traditional and charter public schools—aligns with our mission to empower families,” McGinity said. “We are confident in his ability to represent all voices and champion educational equity for all students.”

United Teachers Los Angeles, which endorsed Schmerelson and helped fund efforts to keep his seat in this year’s race, didn’t respond to requests for comment on the race this year.

But in a statement on the union web site, UTLA lists the qualifications of Schmerelson, a former Spanish teacher, saying that he has ensured funding for schools in his district and pushed for changes in LA Unified to make schools cleaner and safer, reduce class sizes and boost students’ test scores.

“Schmerelson will make sure students feel safe and can meet their full potential,” states the UTLA’s endorsement.

UTLA has a track record of backing successful candidates in LAUSD board races, and retook majority control of the LAUSD board in 2022 after charter advocates gained control of the board in 2017’s highly contested races.

Both Chang and Schmerelson said ensuring a post-pandemic academic recovery for all LAUSD students, increasing campus safety and addressing enrollment declines are among their top priorities for new policies in the coming years.

Where they differ is how to achieve those aims, with Schmerelson favoring magnet programs, high-impact tutoring and investments in traditional public schools as a means for academic improvement, compared to Chang’s emphasis on high-performing charters.

Both men favor the presence of police on LAUSD campuses as a means of improving school safety. The winner of the pivotal race will help shape the direction of the district as it contends with challenges including a shrinking budget and increasing school violence.

 “The weird thing is, if you listen to the candidates, it’s very hard to tell them apart. They all say more-or-less the same things on the issues,” said Pedro Noguera, dean of University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education.

“So you can’t really distinguish the candidates based on what they’re saying or what they’re putting out in campaign materials,” he added. “You really do have to follow the money.”

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter