Los Angeles Unified school board member Kelly Gonez, who made history last month by becoming the youngest woman to serve as its board president, is already looking ahead to a second term in office.
Although the 32-year-old’s current term won’t be up until December 2022 and the primary election for board District 6 is still about a year-and-a-half away, she launched her reelection campaign this week, saying she wants to give herself plenty of time to talk to students, parents, educators and other stakeholders to ensure her campaign is “shaped by the voices of the community.”
It’s a stark contrast to four years ago when Gonez, then a political newcomer, threw her hat into the ring about five months before the primary election. This time, not only is Gonez starting her campaign much earlier; she’s entering the race with greater name recognition. Despite the advantage of being an incumbent, Gonez said she won’t take anything for granted.
“There is so much more work to do, just looking at the impact COVID-19 has had on our schools,” she said in an interview. “If anything, I’m going to be working harder than last time. Voters always have options before them. I want to be certain that they’ll choose me.”
Gonez is seeking reelection in District 6, which represents East San Fernando Valley. She is endorsed by L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, her campaign said in a news release announcing her reelection bid.
Because the board shifted its election cycle so that it now coincides with state elections, Gonez said she also wanted to start campaigning earlier so that the school board election doesn’t get lost in a sea of other races.
“There is a lot more for voters to look at on the ballot” in 2022, she said. “I want to make sure people have enough time to know that this is going to be on the ballot.”
Although she did not cite fundraising as a reason for launching her reelection campaign this week, starting early will give Gonez that much more time to replenish her war chest. The District 6 race in 2017 became one of the most expensive school board contests in LAUSD’s history. An estimated $6.4 million was pumped into the District 6 race, though the bulk of that was funded by outside independent groups, according to campaign finance reports. It was largely viewed as a proxy fight between charter school advocates and those who back teachers unions and traditional public schools.
As of Friday, one other person had indicated his intention to run against Gonez.
Marvin Rodriguez, a Spanish teacher at LAUSD’s Grover Cleveland Charter High School in Reseda, has filed paperwork with the city’s ethics commission to allow him to fundraise. He confirmed Friday that he intends to run but said he has not started raising money.
A product of LAUSD, Rodriguez immigrated to the United States from El Salvador when he was 6 and started school as an English learner. His first teaching job was at a nondistrict-affiliated charter school before being hired to work at Cleveland High in 2014, he said.
He decided to run, he said, because he feels the current school board hasn’t taken a hard enough stance against charter schools.
“When they come into our public schools and they take away the limited resources we already have, they make the problem even bigger,” Rodriguez said about charter school operators. “They take away some of the faith our communities have in public schools. We have to fight that.”
Charter schools are public schools that are independently run. School choice advocates say charter schools give families more options but critics complain that these schools strip funding and other resources away from traditional public schools.
Like Rodriguez, Gonez grew up in an immigrant family and has been a classroom teacher. She’s taught geometry at a district high school and science to middle school students at two district-authorized charter schools. She also served as an education policy advisor in the Obama administration from 2014-16.
Her critics have aligned her with the charter school movement, though Gonez — whose campaign was heavily funded by the California Charter Schools Association’s political arm in 2017 — maintains that she is an independent voice on the board. She said she’s supported charter schools that have served students well but that her voting record shows she’s not afraid to reject underperforming charter schools.
She’s also been a vocal critic of former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who’s often associated with the charter school movement.
Asked if she would have any interest in serving as an education policy advisor again if tapped by the Biden administration, Gonez said her focus is on serving the students of LAUSD and that she’s not entertaining the idea of working in Washington, D.C.
Voters “want to be able to trust that elected officials are committed to the community and not just to their political career, she said, noting that District 6 has had three different school board members represent them since 2009.
Residents aren’t happy with the constant turnover, she said, adding that she intends to stick around.
“This is where I’m raising my family. This is where my roots are,” she said.
