Breaking Education

A Bull In LAUSD’s China Shop

As Monica Garcia’s penultimate school year on the board comes to a close her latest proposal puts her legacy clearly in focus.

First elected in 2006, Monica Garcia is the most senior member of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) School Board. Before that, she served as the Chief of Staff for accused felon Jose Huizar when he sat on the board. Garcia’s self-evaluation of her efforts during this time can be summed up in this 2016 quote:

“Most of our kids, all of our kids can’t read.”

Thanks to term limits, the 2021–2022 school year will be Garcia’s last on the board. She has already considered a run for congress and failed at an attempt to succeed her former boss on the Los Angeles City Council, so her name will likely appear on the ballot for a different position in the future. However, running on a resume that says “I helped lead a school district where after ten years I thought most of the kids could still not read” is not going to get her very far. In the year and a half that she has left in her board seat, she has to build a legacy.