2022 LAUSD Elections

Corruption In The Redistricting Process?

Was it unethical for Luis Sanchez to serve on the LAUSD Redistricting Commission while his wife, Maria Brenes, was planning to run for a board seat?

“We maintain an impartial, unbiased approach to our work.”

- LAUSD Redistricting Commission

Every ten years, the board districts of the LAUSD are redrawn based on census data. Even though the school district’s boundaries include cities other than Los Angeles and unincorporated portions of LA County, this process is controlled by Los Angeles City officials with the Mayor and the City Council President each appointing four members. Each of the LAUSD Board Members appoints the remaining seven members.

For Board District 2’s representative on the 2021 LAUSD Redistricting Commission, Monica Garcia appointed Luis Sanchez, who formerly served as her chief of staff. In 2011, Sanchez unsuccessfully ran against Bennett Kayser for the Board District 5 board seat that is currently held by Jackie Goldberg. Sanchez’s wife, Maria Brenes, runs InnerCity Struggle, an astroturf organization that has received funding from Eli Broad and others in the Nonprofit Industrial Complex pushing a school privatization agenda.

In 2018, with the teachers’ strike rapidly approaching, Garcia made an ill-fated…