Runoff Election Tuesday: LAUSD President Steve Zimmer, Nick Melvoin Vie For Venice School Board Seat

VENICE, CA — Los Angeles Unified School District board President Steve Zimmer faces Nick Melvoin, who placed second in the March election, in the runoff election Tuesday for the LAUSD District 4 Seat.

Zimmer — who was the target of a well-financed opposition campaign funded largely by charter-school backers — led a field of four candidates in the March 7 election, but he fell short of the 50 percent margin needed to win re-election outright. He now squares off against Melvoin, a teacher/attorney and a charter school supporter.

District 4 covers Venice, Marina del Rey, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Hollywood, portions of Encino, Tarzana and parts of the San Fernando Valley.

Backers of charter schools, hoping to gain a majority of supporters on the seven-member LAUSD board, threw their financial might behind Melvoin in hopes of unseating Zimmer.

If charter-backed Melvoin and Kelly Fitzpatrick-Gonez, who is running for a seat on District 6, prevail, they would team board members Monica Garcia and Ref Rodriguez to create a majority on the seven-member board.

Charter supporters — including former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and philanthropist Eli Broad — contend that charters tend to have better results for students and provide more choices for parents, but opponents point to sometimes-questionable management practices, alleging that some of the schools hand-pick higher-performing students to the detriment of others.

Critics also contend a proliferation of charters — which are publicly funded but often operate free of unions and some regulations that govern traditional public schools — would be a financial hit to the LAUSD, which receives state funding based on enrollment.

City News Service contributed to this report, photos courtesy of the Zimmer, Melvoin campaigns