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Jackie Goldberg, Former California Assemblywoman and Los Angeles City Council Member, to Rejoin LAUSD Board After Decisive Victory in Tuesday鈥檚 Special Election

Jackie Goldberg via Flickr

This article was produced in partnership with聽

Jackie Goldberg will rejoin L.A. Unified鈥檚 school board after a decisive win Tuesday in the Board District 5聽runoff election.

, who represented the board district three decades ago,聽clinched 72 percent of the vote while former mayoral aide and L.A. Unified parent聽聽took 28 percent, according to semi-official results announced by the county late Tuesday. The Los Angeles Times聽聽that Repenning had called Goldberg to concede.

鈥淚 do believe in the deepest part of my heart that it was the strike of the teachers 鈥 who woke up the public to what has happened to public education,鈥 Goldberg told the Times.聽She was United Teachers Los Angeles鈥檚 pick and has aligned with the union on calls for new funding for district schools and increased scrutiny of independent charters.

She quickly rallied her supporters to continue to fight for schools by getting out the vote to pass聽, the parcel tax on the June 4 ballot that would raise $500 million a year for L.A. Unified schools.

鈥淲e need a movement to make the changes we need,鈥 Goldberg told supporters Tuesday night in a聽聽posted by Kyle Stokes of KPCC and LAist. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 why, as soon as this campaign ends, we鈥檙e starting tomorrow on EE.鈥

Goldberg is expected to swing the board toward a more pro-union majority as members contend with the district鈥檚 deep聽聽on charters鈥 future role in public education, its growing need for聽聽sources and a lack of consensus on how to improve student learning.

Goldberg has said that a main driver of her running for school board was聽聽from charter school proponents.聽UTLA poured $1.28 million in outside expenditures into her campaign as of May 10, according to聽.

Superintendent Austin Beutner, whom Goldberg has聽聽for his 鈥渓ack of transparency,鈥澛犅爃is congratulations Wednesday morning. 鈥淐ongratulations to Jackie Goldberg on her successful campaign to represent the students, families and communities we serve in Board District 5,鈥 he wrote. 鈥淚 know Ms. Goldberg will be a strong advocate for students and I look forward to working with her.鈥

Beutner and Goldberg聽visited Micheltorena Elementary School together early Wednesday聽鈥 Goldberg鈥檚 first school visit as 鈥渂oard member-elect.鈥

Voter turnout as of Tuesday night stood at聽7.69 percent, marking a notable dip聽from March鈥檚聽聽showing in the primary election. School board elections聽聽have lower voter turnout. A total of聽24,159聽ballots were processed and counted, the county reported. Of those, Goldberg took 17,218 votes聽to Repenning鈥檚 6,824.

Elections results won鈥檛 be official until the county registrar certifies them, which is scheduled for May 24 鈥渂arring any unforeseen circumstances,鈥 a county spokesman told LA School Report on Tuesday. After that, Goldberg will join the seven-member school board, which decides on policies, budget and approval of聽聽in L.A. Unified.

Throughout her campaign, Goldberg touted her deep roots and connections in L.A. education and politics. Goldberg taught in the聽聽city of Compton for 16 years before an eight-year tenure on the school board from 1983 to 1991. She also served on the L.A. City Council from 1993 to 2000, then in the state Assembly from late 2000 to 2006. She earned bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees from UC Berkeley and the University of Chicago, respectively. Goldberg lives in Echo Park, in the northern, more affluent part of Board District 5, known as BD5. She is married to longtime partner Sharon Stricker, with one adopted son.

Goldberg nearly won outright in the March primary, which came just weeks after January鈥檚聽聽where she鈥檇 been a prominent face on the picket lines and had criticized charters. She聽secured about聽聽of the聽聽primary votes cast, despite a crowded 10-candidate race. That was just shy of the more than 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff. Repenning had received about 13 percent of the vote, narrowly beating Huntington Park councilwoman Graciela Ort铆z.

As Goldberg read the semi-official results Tuesday night 鈥 showing a similarly聽gaping聽lead 鈥 her supporters cheered, chanting, 鈥淵es we did.鈥

As the new board member, Goldberg will聽聽nearly 100,000 traditional and charter school students, who have not been represented on the board since former member and education reformer Ref Rodriguez聽聽last July following money laundering charges. BD5 enrollment is nearly聽, with about 67,000 students attending school in the more immigrant-heavy, lower-income southeast region. Seven schools in BD5 were recently identified in the聽聽of schools in the state, and all seven are in the district鈥檚 southeast section. Nearly 4 in 10 of the board district鈥檚 elementary and middle schools are in the聽聽in both math and reading on the state鈥檚 dashboard.

Goldberg is white and doesn鈥檛 speak Spanish 鈥 something that聽聽of BD5 parents in a recent poll said was an important characteristic for their next representative.

Serving minority students and boosting student achievement weren鈥檛 the central tenants of Goldberg鈥檚 platform. She directed her energy on demanding enhanced charter school scrutiny and accountability, along with calls to tax the wealthy to mitigate statewide underfunding of schools. Goldberg鈥檚 positions align with UTLA in many cases: She believes L.A. Unified鈥檚 鈥渇iscal cliff鈥 is an聽, supports the $500 million聽聽parcel tax, opposes categorical cuts to聽, and聽聽the idea that more funding should be tied to higher accountability standards.

On Monday, Board President M贸nica Garc铆a told LA School Report one of her top priorities for the new board member was expanding equity. 鈥淪ome places have been served very well, some places have not,鈥 Garc铆a said, noting that she鈥檇 ask the newcomer: 鈥淎re you going to support increased equity in supporting the highest-needs schools, or are you going to perpetuate a system that allows only for some people to get the highest services that the district offers?鈥

Former BD5 board member Yolie Flores in a聽聽added that the new representative has to make 鈥渁n explicit commitment to addressing the unique socioeconomic challenges鈥 within L.A. Unified, such as addressing the 鈥渦nacceptable third-grade reading proficiency problem鈥 and supporting 鈥渢he expansion of dual-language instruction.鈥

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Much of that is聽. When asked, she said she backs bilingual education expansion and more equitable supports for English learners. She believes undocumented immigrants should be allowed to vote in school board elections 鈥 something聽聽in San Francisco. In a聽, she also聽suggested ideas for improving reading, such as getting 鈥渞id of hours of testing-based curriculum and have [teachers] actually teach kids to love reading, by giving them fun books to read, to enjoy and to talk about in class鈥 and doubling up the number of teachers and teaching assistants based on a school鈥檚 budget.

One of her Day 1 priorities is visiting school sites in the southeast too. 鈥淚鈥檓 the least familiar with them,鈥 she聽聽LA School Report in March. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 really the best way to know what鈥檚 going on in the district 鈥 to get up out of your chair and go visit schools.鈥

Goldberg was endorsed by the聽, which supports immigrant rights, as well as prominent Latino political figures Hilda Sol铆s, an L.A. County supervisor and former U.S. secretary of labor, and activist Dolores Huerta.聽聽include the California Federation of Teachers, Congresswoman Maxine Waters and state Superintendent Tony Thurmond.

Her most powerful ally, however, has been UTLA, which poured $1.28 million into her campaign before Election Day. Repenning, conversely, was heavily backed by SEIU Local 99 鈥 a union representing non-teacher staff such as cafeteria workers 鈥 which spent about $1.1 million supporting Repenning and about $140,000 opposing Goldberg.

Both SEIU Local 99 and the聽, which didn鈥檛 endorse any candidate this election cycle,聽congratulated Goldberg on her win in press releases sent out Wednesday morning.

Goldberg鈥檚 ties to UTLA largely cost her the Los Angeles Times鈥檚 , which went to principal聽聽in the primary and Repenning in the runoff.

To view the election results,聽. To see when the county will be updating results,聽.

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