Why the wild mega-spending era of L.A. school board races is quietly ending

Three Los Angeles school board seats are up for election in low-spending contests with incumbents as overwhelming favorites. Charter school supporters have largely stepped aside after previously pouring tens of millions of dollars into races to elect board members aligned with their goals. The charter association’s political arm has not mounted campaigns for any candidates. Incumbent Kelly Gonez faces a single challenger, while other incumbents face challengers with limited resources and no special-interest backing. Charter schools have been a central force in Los Angeles public education since the early 1990s, enrolling about one in five students within L.A. Unified boundaries. Earlier elections saw wealthy charter advocates oppose the teachers union, but shifting finances and strategy have reduced available funding.

"This election cycle marks the end to a generation of bitterly contested Los Angeles school board races that became the most expensive in the country, with the L.A. teachers union and charter school advocates slugging it out to advance their vision for public education. The difference? Charter school supporters - who had poured tens of million of dollars into races to elect board member sympathetic to their cause - have largely stepped aside, a reflection of shifting finances and strategy in California and nationally."

"Three of seven Board of Education seats are on the ballot Tuesday in comparatively low-spending contests with incumbents as overwhelming favorites. The charter association's political arm has not mounted campaigns in support of anyone. East San Fernando Valley incumbent Kelly Gonez faces one challenger, Jose Sagredo, who, as a write-in candidate, will not even have his name on the ballot. The two other incumbents, Nick Melvoin and Rocio Rivas, each face a challenger with extremely limited campaign resources and no special-interest financial backing."

"Since the early 2000s, the rise of charter schools has been a central narrative in Los Angeles public schools. Charters are privately operated, mostly nonunion public schools that compete for students with district-operated campuses. Starting in the early 1990s, charters gradually took hold in L.A., persuading parents they offered an attractive education alternative, and they now enroll about 1 in 5 public school students living within L.A. Unified boundaries."

"Starting with the L.A. Unified board election in 2013, wealthy charter advocates became the primary opposing campaign force to the teachers union. But now, the California Charter Schools Assn., which doesn't endorse candidates, and its political cousin CCSA Advocates, which does endorse, simply have less money to call on - with major donors no longer in place. Still, the decision not to mount a high-cos"

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