Charter groups and unions have put $6.4 million into the race for the Westside’s board seat, far more than the candidates have raised
By Gary Walker
The May 16 LAUSD Board of Education runoff election pitting incumbent Steve Zimmer against challenger Nick Melvoin is shaping up as quite possibly the most expensive and hotly contested school board race in the nation, and neither candidate is in control of how most of the money is being spent.
Outside organizations not controlled or directly affiliated with either campaign — namely charter school groups backing Melvoin and public employee unions for Zimmer — had spent more than $6.38 million on campaign mailers, television commercials and other advertisements as of April 29, according to Los Angeles Ethics Commission records.
By comparison, the candidates themselves had raised just over $1 million.
More than 37% of all outside spending (about $2.42 million) paid for ads attacking Zimmer, part of a current LAUSD board majority that’s sympathetic to the teacher’s union and that charter school backers nationwide hope to topple.
Zimmer, a two-term incumbent and currently president of the board, won 47.5% of the vote in a four-way March 7 primary contest. Melvoin came in second with 31% support.
Both candidates have lamented the onslaught of disparaging campaign material in both the primary and general election cycles.
“While I think we’re getting our positive vision out to voters through the mail, our TV ads and knocking on doors, we’re having to fight against an onslaught of negative campaigning and deliberate lies that distract from the real issues,” Melvoin said in a recent interview.
Zimmer said his opponents, especially committees sponsored by the California Charter Schools Association, have played fast and loose with the truth, not to mention common decency. In one mailer, a group calling itself L.A. Students for Change (which got $1 million from former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan) used Photoshop to recreate the poster for Netflix’s “Making a Murderer” with Zimmer’s face.
“They have no moral code and will attempt to take this board seat by any means necessary,” Zimmer said. “I knew what this [election] would be like. On balance, whatever I have to go through is nothing compared to what the children in Board District 4 have to go through in order to fulfill their American dream through public education.”
In addition to the $2.42 million in independent expenditures attacking Zimmer, billionaire philanthropist and charter schools advocate Eli Broad, Parent Teacher Alliance and others have put $1.83 million into supporting Melvoin.
Groups affiliated with public employee unions have spent more than $1.6 million in support of Zimmer and $440,000 opposing Melvoin — almost all of it coming from groups sponsored by United Teachers of Los Angeles and other teachers unions.
In terms of political endorsements, Melvoin has Broad, Riordan, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer in his camp; Zimmer’s backers include U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and the vast majority of municipal, county, state and federal officeholders who represent Westside districts.
Katie Braude, a Melvoin supporter, sees the record-level spending to influence the race as a reflection of its importance.
“It’s testimony about how people are seeing this race. People are looking at this race nationally,” said Braude, executive director of Speak Up, a Westside parent organization. “I think this campaign is about whether we continue to support a bureaucracy that’s not responding to our kids. … We need a fresh, outside perspective.”
Union-funded ads opposing Melvoin, meanwhile, have attempted to connect him to the school choice agendas of President Donald Trump and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Participants in a May 5 anti-Melvoin rally outside Grand View Boulevard Elementary School in Mar Vista struck a similar tone, many holding signs that read “Our Schools Are Not For Sale!”
Comedian Clifford Tasner, aka Felonious X, added to the political theater by wearing a top hat and coattails to portray a corporate fat cat donor bent on draining the coffers of traditional public schools for the benefit of charters. Tasner mocked contributions in support of Melvoin by displaying a poster-size novelty check for
$1 million made out to Melvoin.
“This race is the battleground for public schools,” said Mar Vista parent Karrie Roy, who supports Zimmer.
And as next Tuesday approaches, no one is predicting a runaway victory for either candidate.
“We see it as a very close race,” Braude said.
Lausd needs to be taken over by Charters. They are failing our childrens needs basic needs. Lausd is also treating our kids like commodities. One example is Beethoven Elementary in Mar Vista where our children are doing well with test scores but failing miserably emotionally. Lausd is going beyond the bell to prove once again that it can compete with any type of school whether it be a Charter, Private, or even another district. Our children pay the price for this war. I support Charter takeover at Beethoven Elementary School and all Lausd schools. At least our kids will for once again thrive in balance instead of being tossed around like stock picks. Our children are not commodities.
Commodification of children is exactly what we will get with the proliferation of charters favored by Melvoin, who apparently has never seen a charter he won’t support. They are NOT accountable, and not transparent, and Melvoin has said on the record that he’s fine with that, because he opposes legislation that would put charters and traditional public schools on an equal regulatory and accountability footing. Under Steve Zimmer, LAUSD has made progress, and he believes we are saturated with charters, whereas Melvoin is happy to see them multiply without limit and again, without sufficient oversight. The billionaires are spending the tons of money to see Melvoin elected, and they are not interested in improving public education — to the contrary, they want to decimate it, and they see Melvoin as their tool to get that done.
The billionaires control the money flow around here now. Those good old days are gone Ira. Charter takeover is being promoted by big money and you have to face this fact. I would rather Lausd be taken over by Charters than have my kids tossed around like bean bags. Treating my kids like experiments isn’t paying off. I would be happy to see all Lausd schools like how you put it, “decimated”. Beethoven Elementary School is saturated with political ideologies that are also harming our children. Beethoven Elementary School is a “bad” school.
To clarify, this is not a battle about Charter vs. District schools. Zimmer has approved more Charters than any district in the NATION. He has said this publicly several times, including the debate at Palisades High School. This election is about repairing a broken system which is not putting kids first. Zimmer has had 8 years to repair, and it has not happened. LAUSD has a 1.5 billion dollar deficit, 1 in 3 students do not meet math or literacy standards, Principals do not have the autonomy to make choices which can benefit kids. Nick Melvoin will put kids first. This is not about money, it’s about KIDS!
Ira, Nick supports all school models and believes in parents right to choose. He has stated repeatedly he believes in accountability and transparency for ALL SCHOOLS
One example is Beethoven Elementary in Mar Vista where our children are doing well with test scores but failing miserably emotionally. Lausd is going beyond the bell to prove once again that it can compete with any type of school whether it be a Charter, Private, or even another district.
I am a happy LAUSD parent with thriving kids from a local community school and am voting for Steve Zimmer. Zimmer has a proven track record supporting community schools with wrap-around health care and job training services. He is dialed into the need to address the well being of all students. He has approved more charters in his tenure than anyone else. He supports charters but wants them to be held to the same standards and accountability as traditional public schools. Zimmer has my vote!
KR, Zimmer has grudgingly gone along with charters because they are legal public schools. He and a majority of the present board voted last month to use district resources to support legislation at the State level that is anti-charter. That vote was an all out act of war on charters and it is a stupid use of district resources. Your kids might be thriving in that sea of mediocrity known as LAUSD, but many families want more for kids in our district.
LAUSD cannot be allowed to become private! Melvoin seems like a nice guy, but he will create a majority of members on the Board who were elected with Charter business interest money. It’s so obvious he is being groomed for higher office and will use his time to placate those who funded him while looking for his next step up. He won’t stick around long even if he does get elected. I don’t understand how the Argonaut cannot see through the ruse.
I have worked closely with Steve Zimmer and seen how hard he works to find solutions to co-location battles. He cares so much. I’m from Venice and have seen my share of nasty battles, but watching Venom spewing parents wanting what they want, was a revelation.
I don’t believe there is such a thing as separate but equal and neither does the Supreme Court.
TOP REASONS WHY I DON’T TRUST ZIMMER
A huge cohort of the moms in our community are campaigning for Nick Melvoin to replace Zimmer. Sadly, Zimmer has played some really questionable politics with the schools on the Westside. It has really hurt the educational opportunities for lots of kids, AND he also favors certain neighborhoods over others. For me, there are a zillion reasons why I think Zimmer needs to leave LAUSD, but the four things that have especially made me angry are:
(1) Zimmer promised the families of the wildly successful LAUSD Broadway Elementary Mandarin Immersion Program a new school in Mar Vista so that the program could expand, and so that graduating 5th graders could have a Chinese immersion middle school to continue at. Plans were in place to construct a $30 million building, and families counted on sending their kids to the new school. And then at the last minute, he and the LAUSD school board not only decided to SCRAP the promise for a new school, but out of nowhere they cut the existing Mandarin program in HALF!!!! Parents had to scramble to find alternate schools to put their kids in, and you know how stressful that is in LA. It was crazy because the BMI Program had some of the highest test scores in the district! So instead of expanding and replicating a successful school model, Zimmer decided to cut it because it wasn’t fair that more kids in LAUSD didn’t have access to a Mandarin program. ARGH!!!!
(2) Zimmer has been truly awful to Westchester Secondary Charter School — the school where I was a founding parent when it was originally established back in 2012. The staff and principal of WSCS are awesome and really dedicated, and the kids love the school. Yet Zimmer has repeatedly tried to deny their charter and shut them down. (LA Co Dept of Ed approved the WSCS charter instead.) And Zimmer insisted on locating them in a far-flung neighborhood, saying that no space was available in Westchester…but then he turned around and offered that same classroom space to several other schools and programs. Now, WSCS has been forced to close for next school year because its far-away location caused it to lose enrollment. A significant portion of the student body is low-income and LGBTQ, and now those students are being left out in the cold.
(3) In the past year, Zimmer did something astoundingly contentious, and it is creating a huge divide between our neighborhood of Westchester and Playa Vista down the hill. There have been a lot of hard feelings a scathing arguments between parents. BACKGROUND INFO: The existing middle and high schools in Westchester are terrible! Only FOUR percent of the high school students passed the state math exam in 2015. (Yup! 4%. Not even double digits.) Our neighborhood has been begging LAUSD to put more resources into Westchester High School and middle school, with hardly any response. And then last year Zimmer suddenly, out of nowhere, called a meeting to present a proposal to open up a BRAND NEW middle school here in the Westchester neighborhood, but only for the Playa Vista students. So the well-off Playa Vista students would get to a new, high-performing school down the street from us here in Westchester — ON THE CAMPUS of the Westchester middle school (a.k.a Orville Wright School) — but Westchester students would NOT be able to attend, or they would only be allowed to attend if there were leftover spaces at the school. Oh, and the new Playa Vista Middle School would kick out WISH Charter School (where Aaron & Jasper go), and WISH would be homeless.
(4) Zimmer has tried several times to unfairly shut down WISH Charter School. Most recently, he tried to permanently SHUT DOWN and deny the charter for WISH Middle School in 2016 — not for any academic reason — but because the school was supposedly using “substandard lunch tables” and had “improper installation of refrigerator.” (Details on page 71 of this document. https://boe.lausd.net/sites/default/files/10-18-16SpclBdCharter5pm.pdf) There was a huge scramble and lots of protest because, as it turns out, LAUSD had actually previously approved both the lunch tables and the refrigerator. Zimmer back-tracked, and WISH was able to remain open. But I can’t believe that he was trying to kick the WISH Middle students to the curb in the middle of the school year!!! Where would they have gone??? Was it really so important to deny 250 kids an education over lunch tables and a fridge???
(5) Unfortunately, I also think that Zimmer is very beholden to the UTLA teacher’s union, and UTLA has often taken stances that are not in the best interest of the students. (Most egregious in my mind: making it difficult to get rid of teachers who are accused of harassing/endangering kids. http://www.laweekly.com/news/troubled-mar-vista-teacher-is-now-disadvantaged-schools-burden-4610074) I am person who supports unions in general, so it makes me sad to say that UTLA may not be a fair player, and that Zimmer backs them up even when their positions are not good for the kids. I think a lot of educators stump for Zimmer because they don’t want to jeopardize their union. (Teachers are not paid enough, so I understand where they are coming from…strong union presence is needed to ensure good pay.)
Mandarin Immersion at Broadway Elementary School in Venice was put to rest the Ramon Cortines said in a letter to Bmi Parents that they were segregating the school. They kept whites and asians seperate from latino, and black students especially in the school yard during recess and lunch. This has been confirmed by parents who protested against the Mandarin Program at Broadway a while back. I should also add that as of today America does not trust China. We have no choice but to buy everything made in China. There are more koreans living in Los Angeles and Iranians than Chinese people.
Charters in LAUSD (and most of CA) are NOT private. They are subject to the same Education Code that the local district schools are plus a lot more scrutiny from a hostile district. Also, Nick will not make a progressive majority unless Kelly Gonez also wins her race. And Zimmer has not worked hard at making co-location successful in the least. He pits families against each other and sits by while union reps set up pickets spewing anti-charter venom that school-aged charter kids have to cross. If you think this is ok, you’re not even thinking about the kids. You got one fact right, though. Nick Melvoin is a nice guy, along with a whole host of other attributes that make him way more qualified to be part of the leadership team leading the nation’s second largest district.
I stand 100% with Steve Zimmer, he’s the last man standing that isn’t already in the pocket of many who no longer believe in true public education. I stand fully for true Public Education, for all children, with equal access to things they need.
Big Money, tech moguls and the predatory Charter Industry want him out. CMS know how to find the right flavor of shill for the area – once who talks the kid talk but walks the corporate line. Open floodgates of money, and don’t blush at the hit pieces. It’s a cynical and dystopic vision that unfortunately works too often – like maybe November 8th.
It’s that simple: Corporations or People? IMHO, Zimmer is for the People, trying to hold the line for us.
If you stand for the future of public education, then why are you voting for the failed incumbent who is going to continue to doom the district? Zimmer has failed over and over…and children lose out.
Unfortunately, I also think that Zimmer is very beholden to the UTLA teacher’s union — and the kids are the ones who are hurt by this. Zimmer walks hand-in-hand with UTLA, and the union has often taken stances that are not in the best interest of the students. (Most egregious in my mind: making it difficult to get rid of teachers who are accused of harassing/endangering kids. http://www.laweekly.com/news/troubled-mar-vista-teacher-is-now-disadvantaged-schools-burden-4610074) I am person who supports unions in general, so it makes me sad to say that UTLA may not be a fair player, and that Zimmer backs them up even when their positions are not good for the kids. I think a lot of educators stump for Zimmer because they don’t want to jeopardize their union. Teachers are not paid enough, so I understand where they are coming from…strong union presence is needed to ensure good pay, but Melvoin will be able to provide better long-term security for teachers and the district overall by bringing more fiscal responsibility and by making sure that the district gets all the money it is owed.
Big money, tech moguls and the predatory charter industry?? You have something against innovation? Right now, LAUSD is careening off a financial cliff and struggling to provide a mediocre education to our kids. LA is a world class city and a rising tech force. Our kids deserve a better education.
We don’t have the kind “true public education” you purport in the highly segregated neighborhoods of LA. Prior to charters, LAUSD was failing so badly that the middle class looked to private schools, segregation our children even further. Charters are not the enemy – they’re an equitable choice and open to all, unlike “public” schools in elite zipcodes.
This race is about whether we want community schools or a corporate take over engineered by out-of-town billionaires – who are supporting Melvoin. .
Melvoin opposes legislation that requires charter schools to conduct open board meetings. Why would anyone oppose such legislation? Charter schools do not perform better than LAUSD – but the administrators make a much bigger salary. The reason they hate unions is so more dollars can go to the private owners of these publicly-funded charters. Why are they so hostile to the idea of teachers, who put so much time, energy and dedication to teaching our children, making a livable wage?
Zimmer is for responsible oversight of charter schools; Melvoin favors de-regulation and wants to audit district schools to find more places to co-locate charter schools.
Zimmer supports community schools with wrap-around health care and job training services, and has led the way in establishing 19 community schools.
Zimmer saved the arts, adult ed, and early childhood ed from devastating budget cuts.
Charter schools in CA already hold open board meetings. There is nothing to change. It’s in the CA Education Code, the same laws that both district and charter schools in LAUSD and CA follow. And this living wage stuff is crap. I’ve been seething ever since I found out that district plumbers make $80/hour. There needs to be a middle ground and the unions will have nothing to do with it. I guess we’ll have to let the bankruptcy court sort it out. And by the way, I’ve been involved intimately with three charters and all three LOVE teachers. Many charters are prevented from paying teachers more because the district withholds facilities (forcing schools to pay for private facilities) or forces charters to move every year or two as they get bounced around hostile co-location arrangements. That is money that could be given to teachers and kids.
I’m a Venice HS English teacher supporting Steve Zimmer on Tues., May 16th, because the choice is clear. We either re-elect Zimmer, a public school champion who saved the arts from the budget axe and raised graduation rates from 54% to over 80% or we elect a political newbie corporate lawyer backed by billionaires threatening to collapse our public school system. Enough already. We’ve got Trump in Washington. We don’t need a DeVoser on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board. Vote for the candidate who believes in responsible oversight of all publicly funded schools. Vote for Steve Zimmer.
Venice is a rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood. Do you think for a second that the tech millionaires moving in are going to send their children to Venice High (as it currently exists?)
Where will the funding for your salary come from when parents abandon Venice HS?
If Zimmer is re-elected, the schools will continue their decline. Wealthier new residents will pull their kids from the system. The school will shut down. You’re voting against your own interests! I advise you to strengthen your transferable skills for when the next round of Zimmer-induced layoffs hits.
Also, the fact that you are citing the intellectually dishonest “improved” graduation rate (via lowering of standards)(so…not an actual improvement, eh?) — a farce that anyone can easily see through — is troubling. If all LAUSD teachers similarly lack even basic critical thinking skills, it certainly helps explain students’ low levels of proficiency. The blind leading the blind.
In a nation that proves time and again greed motivated privatization is detrimental, it’s inconceivable there are people in this district and even on this thread who believe education should be commodified. Are we raising children or products? I can’t think of a single instance where privatizing anything and lessening oversight and regulation have been successful. Medical insurance? Big agra that infects our food? Media conglomerates using the people’s airwaves to control our news and generate ignorance? Private prisons that profit off out of control bail costs and economic inequality? Now you want to privatize education with minimal to no oversight?!?! This is madness. I support Steve Zimmer. So should you.
The madness is the false narrative that has dominated this election. Literally no one is trying to privatize our district. There are no for profit / voucher charters in LAUSD. Schools like that exist in Michigan. In Los Angeles we have non-profit charters that are funded in the same fashion as public schools and therefore are public schools… typically started by public educators and parents. Conflating Melvoin voters with the commodification of education is wrong. I am not trying to ask people to change their vote, I merely hope that while casting it they are informed about the landscape of education in LAUSD and not just believing a bunch of lies that have been propagated.
Please check your facts. All of the conspiracy theories from the Zimmer supporters give me flashbacks to Trump supporters calling Hillary Clinton a criminal. As the article states, millions of dollars are being poured into this campaign, including by unions whose contracts are up this year and would like to continue their status quo with Zimmer. I’m glad so many of your neighborhood schools are doing well. Mine is too. But bigger picture: half of high school graduates in our district can’t go to a Cal State or UC school because they have a D average. More kids are graduating because they lowered the standard. This boosts the current board’s record, while failing its kids. It’s time for a change. It’s time to think about all of the kids in this city, not just the ones that benefit from their affluent local public school. And when it comes to charters, if they fail, they’re gone. They are up for review every few years and if the kids are failing, or it’s mismanaged, they are shut down. And they CANNOT be privatized as we have no for-profit charters in LAUSD. Successful, well-run charters are supported by both candidates, not just Melvoin, so that argument against them needs to be taken up with Zimmer as well. I am voting for NICK MELVOIN because he cares about the kids, more than the cares about the bureaucracy.
Nick Melvoin has no intention of privatizing education. He would like to see our district schools learn from high performing Charter schools, give autonomy to district schools, so Principals and teachers can make choices for their students, rather than having the decisions come from the top down. Our kids deserve better than 1 in 3 students not meeting math or literacy standards. How can anyone defend a system which is failing so many children? The maximum donation allowed directly to a campaign is $1,100. Nick has run a grassroots campaign, with the majority of donations coming from individual donors, many being parents. Yes, there are IE (Independent Expendetures) endorsing candidates, and spending to back them, but this is happening on BOTH sides. I am a parent of two elementary aged children, and Nick has my support. I have been following this race for over a year, have attended every debate and researched both candidates. He is endorsed by The LA Times, Barbara Boxer and Arne Duncan (Obama’s Secretary of Education). I come to this vote completely informed and confident that Nick Melvoin will put kids first. #picknick
I am voting for Nick Melvoin because he is a big advocate for kids’ civil rights, he supports ALL kinds of public schools, and he understands that education options are very important in Los Angeles right now.
For the people on this thread who are concerned about public charter schools in LA, it is true that charter schools are not the long-term solution to fixing our nation’s education problems. I think of charters as more of an essential triage response to a failing school district. It’s just like food stamps — we all know that food stamps are not the REAL way to solve hunger and poverty in America, but it is the band-aid solution to get us through until we figure out how to fix the system so that everyone can afford to eat regular, nutritious meals. I don’t think any of us would want to suddenly shut down the food stamps program just because it isn’t the “real” solution to hunger, and I don’t think we should vilify public charter schools for providing options to families who don’t have access to quality education at their ordinary district schools.
Moreover, Nick Melvoin does NOT SUPPORT corporate/for-profit charter schools — their focus on profits is a conflict of interest that works against the students, and they should be banned. Very few people realize that Los Angeles has only non-profit public charter schools! There are no for-profit charters in LA County.
WHY I AM VOTING FOR NICK MELVOIN:
(1) Solid teaching experience — was an LAUSD teacher in Watts.
(2) Great credentials — Bachelor’s from Harvard, Masters in Ed from LMU, and law degree from NYU.
(3) Puts the well-being of the STUDENTS FIRST, even if it means making difficult decisions.
(4) Has a history of working on civil rights issues for the ACLU and the Obama Administration, and wants to make sure that EVERY kid in LAUSD has great schools to attend.
(5) Understands that education is not one-size-fits-all. Each kid has their own unique educational needs, and our public education system needs to provide a variety of learning options so families can pick what is best for them.
LAUSD is FAILING at the hands of Zimmer! Failing our kids. They deserve better! #picknick.
#PickNick I have personally met Nick several times and I appreciate this thoughtful nature and understanding that everything isn’t black and white, but that there’s so much greatness in the world that lives in the gray. With Nick as a leader I especially look forward to having an accessible Board Member who individually reviews all the schools in his district, not just hears the word Charter or UTLA Waivers and runs for the hills.
I support Melvoin. Zimmer has has his chance and has left a wake of problems. Change is needed. I’m particularly upset with campaigning teachers on school sites. Not cool. As a former union member and 9 year public school teacher I can tell you how unions impede teacher excellence. Likewise current LAUSD policies. Our teachers are great In spite of these entities. Time for change.
I’m a mom, sending my kids to my local LAUSD traditional public school (not a charter), and I wholeheartedly support Nick Melvoin! #moms4melvoin #picknick
Charters are not the enemy! They are a legal workaround that families dedicated to innovation and excellence in education have had to resort to. Believe me when I say that most charter families would way rather have their kids in local schools than spending hours and hours commuting them to another neighborhood. How much better would traffic look if moms weren’t on the road taking kids to another neighborhood to go to school? I know my own daughter wishes that her school friends weren’t across town.
There is a middle ground where charters and the district/union could come together, but the union is all or nothing. If they can’t run everything their way, they come up with a self-serving narrative that the dreaded billionaires are trying to buy our children. Not true? No problem, we’ll just pump out a ton of disgusting flyers putting lifelong Democrat Nick Melvoin on with two hated Republicans and call them bedfellows. Disgusting.
My family supports innovation in education. LA is a world class city with an emerging tech presence. Our kids deserve a 21st century education. We #picknick and choose to put kids first, not the adult-focused all or nothing union interests.