蜜桃影视

It鈥檚 official: Los Angeles Unified鈥檚 Ref Rodriguez is out.

Early Monday, the embattled school board member to a felony count of conspiracy and four misdemeanor counts for making campaign contributions in another person鈥檚 name. As part of a deal with prosecutors, he agreed to immediately resign from office. Rodriguez won鈥檛 serve any jail time but instead will serve three years鈥� probation and work 60 days of community service.

The departure leaves a hole on the seven-member school board that remaining board members will have to decide how to fill. Yet to be determined is who, if anyone, they will appoint to represent Rodriguez鈥檚 District 5 until voters can select the next permanent board member.

Rodriguez鈥檚 departure puts into question the power dynamics of the board that oversees the nation鈥檚 second-largest school district. In 2017, charter-school-backed board members won a majority聽on the board in the most expensive school board race in the nation鈥檚 history.

Here are three things to know about how we got here 鈥� and what happens next:

1 The Crime: What did Rodriguez do?

The case dates back to late 2014, at the beginning of Rodriguez鈥檚 run for the board. Rodriguez and Elizabeth Melendrez, a cousin and campaign volunteer, reimbursed 25 political contributions to Rodriguez鈥檚 campaign committee, according to a posted Friday by the city鈥檚 Ethics Commission. Both Rodriguez and Melendrez have now admitted that.

Donations to political candidates must be made in the name of the person who is the actual source of the contributions. Reimbursing political contributions constitutes money laundering and is illegal.

In January 2015, Rodriguez reported in his first campaign disclosure statement more than $51,000 from family, friends, and other people. However, nearly half of that money actually came from Rodriguez himself. Ironically, had Rodriguez reported the donations accurately, he wouldn鈥檛 necessarily have run afoul of the law. School board candidates to their own campaign.

The plea deal Rodriguez reached with prosecutors will keep him out of jail but meant he could not keep his board seat.

鈥淚 am sorry for the mistakes I have made,鈥� Rodriguez said in a statement Monday.

2 The Board: What does this mean for LA Unified?

The ousting of a pro-reform member could shift the power dynamics of the seven-person school board.

While Rodriguez鈥檚 departure could be seen as a loss for the charter school community, Katie Braude, executive director of parent advocacy organization Speak UP, said in an email Monday that the board members鈥� votes aren鈥檛 as predictable as many people believe, pointing to the fact that the remaining majority supports new LA Unified superintendent Austin Beutner.

鈥淭he first thing to note is that this framing, unions versus charter [schools], is adult-centered framing,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ur parents don鈥檛 think in those terms.鈥�

Ben Austin, an LA Unified parent and a longtime education reform advocate in California, said, 鈥淲hat happened today is obviously not a positive development, but it鈥檚 a very isolated and specific fact pattern 鈥� not a sign of a systemic problem.鈥�

He added, 鈥淭his is a tough day for Ref and a tough day for the whole movement. But it鈥檚 worth noting that Ref is a good human being who cares about kids. He鈥檚 made some bad mistakes and is paying a heavy price for it.鈥�

What is certain is that at least a portion of the board鈥檚 time will now be devoted to hashing out who will replace Rodriguez, whether the board will appoint a temporary board member, and when that election could happen. That could mean less time and attention spent on how to keep the district from falling off a fiscal cliff or how to best support the lowest-performing schools.

3 The Students: What does this mean for schools?

In a joint news release, school board president M贸nica Garc铆a and vice president Nick Melvoin offered assurances that the district Rodriguez represented will not be overlooked.

鈥淲hile we would like to ensure no break in representation for District 5 by appointing a temporary voting representative as soon as possible, we would also like to call a special election to fill the vacancy as soon as we can. A board majority will have to agree to a plan,鈥� the news release stated.

The board will have 60 days from the time it accepts Rodriguez鈥檚 resignation to decide whether it will hold a special election or appoint someone to serve the remaining term.

The next voting session of the board is . The next time the full board is scheduled to meet is Aug. 15 鈥� the day after the start of the new school year 鈥� for a board retreat to discuss the district鈥檚 deteriorating finances.

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