Elections

The Children Are Left Behind in LAUSD School Board Race

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- Marilyn Koziatek when asked if she will disavow her CCCSA endorsement

In 2015, the California Charter Charter School Association (CCSA) ran a campaign for now convicted felon Ref Rodriguez that first accused incumbent Bennett Kayser of being a racist and then referenced his diagnosis with Parkinson’s. Two years later they stumped for the ethically challenged Nick Melvoin by blaming his opponent for John Deasy’s iPad Debacle, even though Steve Zimmer was the only board member not to vote for the former Superintendent. In 2020, it is Scott Schmerelson’s turn to be savagely attacked by the charter school industry as they try to regain a majority on the school board and overturn all attempts to hold their schools accountable for the public funds that they receive.

Funded by billionaires such as Reed Hastings and Alice Walton, whose families will never set foot in the public schools they wish to destroy, the flyers opposing Schmerelson have been relentless. Day after day these attacks arrive in the mail spreading easily disproved lies like the accusation that he “tripled his own pay.” In fact, the salaries of school board members are set by an independent commission from the City of Los Angeles. This…