Gary Mittin
Gary Mittin was a candidate for at-large representative on the Las Virgenes Unified Board of Education in California. The general election was held on November 3, 2015.[1] He lost the election.[2][3]
Elections
2015
Opposition
Two of the five seats on the Las Virgenes Unified School District Board of Education were up for general election on November 3, 2015. The election was held at large.[4][5] The seats held by incumbents Jill M. Gaines and Cindy Iser were on the ballot.[6]
Neither incumbent filed to run for re-election, ensuring two newcomers would join the board. The race featured three candidates: Linda Menges, Gary Mittin and Mathy Wasserman.[1][7] Menges and Wasserman won election to the two seats.[2][3]
Results
| Las Virgenes Unified School District, At-large, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Linda Menges |
48.8% | 2,842 |
| Mathy Wasserman |
37.4% | 2,182 |
| Gary Mittin | 13.8% | 804 |
| Total Votes | 5,828 | |
| Source: Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "NOVEMBER 03, 2015 - LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATED ELECTIONS: Final Official Election Returns," accessed November 24, 2015 and Ventura County Recorder/Registrar of Voters, "Official Final Results: UDEL General Election November 3, 2015," accessed November 24, 2015 | ||
Funding
At the time of this election, the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk did not publish school board candidate campaign finance reports online. Ballotpedia staffers requested this information, but the only free method of viewing the files was at their office.
The Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk targeted the end of 2018 to make school board candidate campaign finance reports available online for free. From that point forward, Ballotpedia began including campaign finance data for Los Angeles County school board candidates.[8][9][10]
The first campaign finance reporting deadline was September 24, 2015, and the second one was October 22, 2015. If candidates raised or spent more than $1,000 from a single source, including their own funds, between August 5, 2015, and November 2, 2015, they had to file a campaign finance report within 24 hours.[11]
If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Endorsements
Mittin was endorsed by Craig Huey from The Election Forum, the Concerned Parents of California and the Concerned Parents of Conejo Valley.[12][13]
Campaign themes
2015
Mittin highlighted the following issues on his campaign website:
| “ | LOCAL CONTROL
I support local control of our public schools. LAS VIRGENES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT LOCAL CONTROL AND ACCOUNTABILITY PLAN I support local control of public education, and I support Measure E on the ballot. My reasons for this support are based upon the numerous restrictions on how our public schools are presently funded. First, our local funding for public education is tied to the California Legislature education code section 52060(d)(2). The Local Control and Accountability Plan MUST contain standards that are Internationally Benchmarked. This translates to the fact that "Common Core" standards must be implemented by the Local Education Agency (which is the Las Virgenes Unified School District) and it requires the district to upgrade their technology infrastructure (along with laptops, broadband, etc...) without giving a continuous source of funding to pay for this mandated curriculum. This mandate is unfair, and it was never voted by the taxpayers. It needs to be repealed. Second, it's been nearly 10 years since California last authorized a statewide school bond to build new upgrade older classrooms and school facilities, and the state’s school bond fund has been depleted. The Local Control Funding Formula, which was part of the Proposition 30 school tax passed by California voters in 2012, ties school funding to the socioeconomic status of its students. Since Las Virgenes does not have a significant number of low-income students, school funding from the state is less than it is for many other districts. Although the district has received Common Core State Standard Implementation Funds, these monies can not sustain the Common Core mandate. Therefore, taxpayers have no other choice other than to support their local school districts with continued "renewals" of additional parcel taxes, such as Measure E, until politicians in Sacramento are elected to vote and repeal the Common Core mandate. CLASS SIZE MATTERS! I SUPPORT SMALLER CLASS SIZE Smaller class size improves education. I support maintaining our elementary schools and keeping class size small to help students learn in an supportive environment that caters to more one-on-one interaction. In the early grades, students are just beginning to learn about the rules of the classroom, and they are figuring out if they can cope with the expectations of education. If they have more opportunity to interact with their teacher, they are more apt to feel like they can cope. My election to the Board will support smaller class size, and give parents and taxpayers a voice. VOICE An independent voice for parents and taxpayers As the only candidate with children in our schools, I will serve as the voice for parents and taxpayers including parents with children in private, public and home schools. My election will bring balance to the Board. Presently, special interest groups control public education and that is not fair to the rest of us who pay the bill and send our children to the public schools. Get your voice heard! Together We're Better! STOP SPECIAL INTERESTS CONTROL OVER PUBLIC EDUCATION! Who is looking out for you? How much money have the unions contributed to other candidates running for the Board? My candidacy is a grass roots effort, and I have not accepted any donations from any union group. I am an independent voice for parents and taxpayers, not taking money from any special interest groups. I will work for you! Together We're Better! FERPA & PRIVACY I will make certain that the district complies with the 1974 Federal Education Rights and Protection Act. BACKGROUND: In January 2012, the Education Department and the federal Office of Science and Technology Policy created something called the Education Data Initiative. All these terms obscure what is going on: The Department of Education is colluding to release confidential student data to third-party vendors. The amount of student data stored digitally is ballooning. Schools around the nation are switching to computer based testing to align with the Common Core. The focus on data-driven education reform, together with the growing use of technology in the classroom and the rise of hacking, have made FERPA compliance more complicated — and more important — than ever. Parents want to know that sensitive data about their children is protected by the schools they go to, and educational institutions face losing federal funding if they fall out of compliance. What happens when student data is let loose? How can teachers and schools stay on top of the legal implications of changing technology, all while writing lesson plans, differentiating instruction and grading hundreds of assignments per week? it’s important to understand which types of student data are protected under the law. Signed into law in 1974, FERPA set some ground rules for educational institutions that receive federal funding, and gave parents the right to review, challenge, and consent to the disclosure of their children’s educational records. Records protected by FERPA include grades, standardized test scores, health information and behavioral reports. After students turn 18 or transfer to an institution of higher education, those rights transfer to the student. The world has changed a lot since 1974. Our students submit work electronically and email has become a common avenue of communication about student progress. Simply put, it's all too easy to inadvertently let student data slip. While the adoption of new technology opens up opportunities for negligence, it also creates new avenues for hackers and data thieves. In 2013, the education sector accounted for 9% of all data breaches. Recently, the news has been buzzing about federal government employees having their personal information "hacked". Are you and your family at risk due to the use of school issued laptops using your wifi at home? A particularly troubling aspect of the Common Core is the emphasis on massive data-collection on students, and the sharing of that data for various purposes essentially unrelated to genuine education. These are the "personal questions" that violate FERPA. I am opposed to Common Core surveys that violate FERPA. These type of personal questions on the surveys need to stop and the right to privacy of students needs to be insured. I will give parents and taxpayers a voice, more power and more control of the public schools which you are paying for.[14] |
” |
| —Gary Mittin, (2015)[15] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Gary Mittin' 'Las Virgenes Unified School District'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Las Virgenes Unified School District, California
- Las Virgenes Unified School District elections (2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Candidate List: Local And Municipal Consolidated Elections - 11/3/2015," accessed August 14, 2015 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "candidates" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "NOVEMBER 03, 2015 - LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATED ELECTIONS: Semi-Final Official Election Returns," accessed November 4, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ventura County Recorder/Registrar of Voters, "Semi Official Final Results: UDEL General Election November 3, 2015," accessed November 4, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, “2015 Scheduled Elections,” accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, “Running for Office,” accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Las Virgenes Unified School District, "Board of Education Homepage," accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Ventura County Elections, "Qualified Candidate List UDEL Election," accessed August 10, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed July 2, 2014
- ↑ Daniel Anderson, “Email communication with Brenda Duran, Los Angeles County Public Information Officer," October 7, 2016
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Brenda Duran, Los Angeles County Public Information Officer," January 2, 2018
- ↑ Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 3, 2015," accessed August 5, 2015
- ↑ Election Forum, "November 3, 2015 Election Recommendations for L.A. County," October 21, 2015
- ↑ Gary L. Mittin, "Endorsements," accessed October 28, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Gary L. Mittin, "Issues," accessed October 28, 2015
| 2015 Las Virgenes Unified School District Elections | |
| Los Angeles County, California | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Linda Menges • Gary Mittin • Mathy Wasserman |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
