Long Beach Unified School District elections (2016)

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Long Beach Unified School District Elections
General election date:
April 12, 2016
Enrollment (13–14):
81,155 students

Two of the five seats on the Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education were up for by-district general election on April 12, 2016. This election had the potential to change the makeup of nearly half of the board, but two challengers would have had to unseat two incumbents to do so. In his bid for re-election in District 2, incumbent Felton Williams defeated challenger Jessica Vargas-Alvarez. In District 4, incumbent Jon Meyer defeated challenger Rosi Pedersen.[1][2]

In the district's 2014 election, one new member joined the board, but she won an open seat and did not have to defeat an incumbent. See how this race compared to past school board elections in both the district and the state in the "Election trends" section below.

In a candidate forum in March 2016, the four candidates in this race were asked to choose a principle and explain why it was important to them. Williams chose teamwork, Vargas-Alvarez chose accountability, Meyer chose integrity, and Pedersen chose vision.[3] To read their reasons for choosing those principles as well as answers to other questions pertaining to education issues, check out the story on the candidate forum below.

Elections

Voter and candidate information

Long Beach Unified School District seal.jpg

The Long Beach Unified Board of Education consists of five members elected to four-year terms. Elections are held by district every even-numbered year. Three seats—Districts 1, 3, and 5—were up for election on April 8, 2014, and two seats—Districts 2 and 4—were up for election on April 12, 2016. The district does not hold primary elections, but a runoff election could have been held on June 7, 2016, if no candidate had received a majority of the votes in the general election.[4][5]

To get on the ballot, candidates had to file their nominating documents between December 21, 2015, and January 15, 2016. Their nominating papers had to include at least 20 and no more than 30 signatures. In order to be eligible to file, candidates had to be registered voters 30 days before the start of the filing period. Anyone wishing to run as a write-in candidate in this election had to file nominating documents by March 29, 2016. Those elected to the board in this election were sworn in on July 18, 2016.[5]

To vote in this election, residents of the district had to register by March 29, 2016. Voters could cast vote-by-mail ballots from March 14, 2016, through Election Day.[5] Photo identification was not required to vote in California.

Candidates and results

District 2

Results

Long Beach Unified School District,
District 2 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Felton Williams Incumbent 68.30% 3,158
Jessica Vargas-Alvarez 31.70% 1,466
Total Votes 4,624
Source: City of Long Beach, "Cumulative Report - Official: Primary Nominating Election 4/12/2016," accessed April 28, 2016

Candidates

Felton Williams Green check mark transparent.png Jessica Vargas-Alvarez

Felton Williams.jpg

  • Incumbent
  • Member from 2004-2016
  • Graduate, L.A. Harbor College, California State University at Long Beach and Claremont Graduate University
  • Retired dean, Long Beach City College School of Business and Social Science
  • Veteran, U.S. Army

link=[Jessica Vargas-Alvarez

  • School community organizer

District 4

Results

Long Beach Unified School District,
District 4 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Jon Meyer Incumbent 61.18% 5,537
Rosi Pedersen 38.82% 3,514
Total Votes 9,051
Source: City of Long Beach, "Cumulative Report - Official: Primary Nominating Election 4/12/2016," accessed April 28, 2016

Candidates

Jon Meyer Green check mark transparent.png Rosi Pedersen

Jon Meyer.jpg

Rosi Pedersen.jpg

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: California elections, 2016

The Long Beach Unified School District election shared the ballot with elections for Trustee Areas 2 and 4 on the Long Beach Community College District board of trustees.[5]

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for the Long Beach Unified School District election in 2016:[5][6]

Deadline Event
December 21, 2015 - January 15, 2016 Candidate nomination period
January 13, 2016 - April 12, 2016 24-hour campaign contribution reporting period
February 1, 2016 Semi-annual campaign finance report filing deadline
February 15, 2016 - March 29, 2016 Write-in candidate declaration period
March 3, 2016 First pre-election campaign finance report filing deadline
March 14, 2016 - April 5, 2016 Vote-by-mail application period
March 28, 2016 Voter registration deadline
March 31, 2016 Second pre-election campaign finance report filing deadline
April 12, 2016 Election Day
June 7, 2016 Runoff election date (if needed)
July 18, 2016 Swear-in date
August 1, 2016 Semi-annual campaign finance report filing deadline

Endorsements

The following is a list of endorsements made in the 2016 Long Beach Unified School District elections:

Candidate endorsements
Endorsement Felton Williams
(District 2) 		Jessica Vargas-Alvarez
(District 2) 		Jon Meyer
(District 4) 		Rosi Pedersen
(District 4)
Community organizations
Teachers Association of Long Beach[7]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Long Beach Police Officers Association[8]
{{{1}}}
Long Beach Firefighters Association[8]
{{{1}}}
Pacific Gateway Workforce Board[9]
{{{1}}}
Local media
Press-Telegram[10]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Long Beach Business Journal[11]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Federal officials
U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D)[12]
{{{1}}}
U.S. Rep. Janice Hahn (D)[12]
{{{1}}}
State officials
State Assemblymember Patrick O'Donnell (D-70)[8][12]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Local officials
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia[12]
{{{1}}}
Long Beach City Auditor Laura Doud[8]
{{{1}}}
City Prosecutor Doug Haubert[12]
{{{1}}}
Long Beach City Councilmember Al Austin[12]
{{{1}}}
Long Beach City Councilmember Dee Andrews[12]
{{{1}}}
Long Beach City Councilmember Lena Gonzalez[12]
{{{1}}}
Long Beach City Councilmember Suja Lowenthal[12]
{{{1}}}
Long Beach City Councilmember Suzie Price[8][12]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Long Beach City Councilmember Rex Richardson[12]
{{{1}}}
Long Beach City Councilmember Stacy Mungo[12]
{{{1}}}
Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe[9]
{{{1}}}
Signal Hill Mayor Larry Forrester[9]
{{{1}}}
Long Beach Unified School District officials
Long Beach Unified Board of Education member Diana Craighead[8][12]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Long Beach Unified Board of Education member Jon Meyer[12]
{{{1}}}
Long Beach Unified Board of Education member John McGinnis[8][12]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Long Beach Unified Board of Education member Megan Kerr[8][12]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Long Beach Unified Superintendent Chris Steinhauser[8]
{{{1}}}

Additional endorsements can be found on the individual candidates' pages, which are linked below:

Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Campaign finance

Campaign Finance Ballotpedia.png
See also: List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2016

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 was targeting summer 2016 to make school board candidate campaign finance reports available online for free through their new system. From that point forward, Ballotpedia planned to begin including campaign finance data for Los Angeles County school board candidates.

Candidates who raised or spent more than $2,000 for their campaign had to file four reports: two semi-annual reports and two pre-election reports. The semi-annual reports had to be filed on February 1, 2016, and August 1, 2016. The pre-election reports had to be filed on March 3, 2016, and March 31, 2016.[6]

Candidates who did not raise or spend more than $2,000 had to file Form 470 by March 3, 2016. Between January 13, 2016, and April 12, 2016, candidates were required to file contribution reports within 24 hours of receiving more than $1,000 from a single source.[6]

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If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Past elections

What was at stake?

2016

Election trends

School Board Election Trends Banner.jpg
See also: School board elections, 2014

With two of the Long Beach Unified Board of Education's five seats on the ballot on April 12, 2016, this election had the potential to add two new members to the board. Both incumbents whose terms were on the ballot ran for re-election, and they both faced one challenger. Neither challenger unseated an incumbent, however, so no new members were added to the board in 2016. In 2014, one newcomer joined the board after the District 1 incumbent did not file to run for the seat. Overall in 2014, California's largest school districts saw 37.65 percent of seats go to newcomers.

The average of two candidates running per seat in the 2016 election was higher than the average of 1.67 candidates who ran per seat on the ballot in the district's 2014 elections. It was also higher than the average of 1.91 candidates who ran per seat in California's largest school districts in 2014.

No seats were unopposed in Long Beach Unified's 2016 elections. In 2014, one of the district's seats was unopposed, and just over 25 percent of school board seats in California's largest school districts were unopposed.

Issues in the election

Candidate forum

The nonprofit organization Leadership Long Beach sponsored a candidate forum on March 2, 2016, for the four Long Beach Unified Board of Education candidates who ran in the 2016 election. The event opened with the moderator asking the candidates to choose one of Leadership Long Beach's 14 principles and explain why it was important to them: integrity, teamwork, respect, values, compassion, accountability, vision, personal responsibility, ethics, commitment, courage, congruence, service, or trusteeship.

Felton Williams

Each candidate chose a different principle. District 2 incumbent Felton Williams chose teamwork. “We’ve got a group of committed folks that serve on the board that work very well together,” he said. “Because of that, we have really moved the district forward as one of the top-performing urban school districts in the nation...It’s because of the ability of all our folks to put their partisan things aside and focus on the classroom and the kids.”

Jessica Vargas-Alvarez, Williams' challenger in District 2, chose the principle of accountability. “In order for us to do meaningful changes, we need to make sure we hold everyone accountable as parents...Our children are being held accoutable; so [are] our stakeholders all over the city. I think it’s very important that accountability is one of my priorities and what I would bring to the table as leadership,” she said.

Jon Meyer

District 4 incumbent Jon Meyer chose integrity, saying, “I think a person of high integrity embodies values, beliefs, an ethos that speaks well to serving kids, teachers and support staff, and the community." He continued, “Show me a person with high integrity, and I think he or she will embody every one of these characteristics that Leadership Long Beach has identified.”

Meyer's challenger in District 4, Rosi Pedersen, chose the principle of vision, saying, “I think all of our board members need to have a vision for what they see will be best for our students in the district." She also said, “As board members, we represent the parents and the children. So, ‘What is the best for our children? What’s the vision?’”

Jessica Vargas-Alvarez

The District 2 candidates were next asked, "How would you balance the need to invest in arts education with other financial challenges facing the district?”

Vargas-Alvarez said, "I think we would have to bring to the table the discussion of our local school administration and our school site councils to see what those needs are in order for us to balance and to be able to move forward and to be able to meet those needs.”

Williams said the board has always emphasized arts education despite severe budget cuts in past years. He said decisions about balancing arts education and other financial issues were usually relegated to the school site level. "If those recommendations were part of increasing the academic success of the kids, then they would get approved by the board," he said.

Rosi Pedersen

The District 4 candidates were then asked, "How can the district ensure equal opportunities for high- and low-achieving students?”

Pedersen said she thought the school district had done a good job of "equalizing" resources for all students. She also mentioned the importance of "local-control funding," which, according to the Signal Tribune, distributes to all schools in a district an equal portion of funding to spend as they see fit, but also allows the district to retain a portion to distribute to schools that need more.

Meyer agreed with Pedersen that local-control funding was an important step to help ensure equal opportunities. He also said that benchmarks were important in order to discern when intervention was needed.[3]

Issues in the district

District named as model in state's 'California College Promise' package

The Long Beach Unified School District and its partners, Long Beach City College and California State University at Long Beach (Long Beach State), were cited as models in AB 1721, a proposed bill in the California State Assembly aimed to send more students to college. For two decades, the three Long Beach educational institutions set up initiatives like college tours for elementary students and targeted professional development for teachers to help their students go to college and graduate with a degree. AB 1721 was ultimately placed on suspension in the California State Senate, but if the legislation had passed, California would have implemented similar initiatives at the state level.[15][16]

When the district first began collaborating with the city college and university in the mid-1990s, it had a high dropout rate and was "known as a home base for gangs," according to The Atlantic. Since then, test scores, advanced placement class enrollment, high school graduation rates, and college attendance rates have risen. During that same time period, close to 68 percent of students have qualified for free or reduced-price lunch each year, and the number of minority students attending school in the district has risen.[15]

District students performed nearly as well as the state as a whole on the Common Core-aligned state assessments that were first administered in 2015, despite having a higher percentage of economically disadvantaged students than the whole of California. A total of 36 percent of Long Beach Unified students met or exceeded third-grade reading standards, compared to 38 percent statewide.[15]

Jane Close Conoley, the president of Long Beach State, said changes involving human behavior cannot happen overnight, but that shifts can be made with focused attention. “We’ve been in it for a long time and we’re in it for the long run,” she said.[15]

Moody's gives district Aa2 credit rating
Moody's Investor Service
Global Long-Term Rating Scale
Rating Description from Moody's
Aaa "Obligations rated Aaa are judged to be of the highest quality, subject to the lowest level of credit risk."
Aa "Obligations rated Aa are judged to be of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk."
A "Obligations rated A are judged to be upper-medium grade and are subject to low credit risk."
Baa "Obligations rated Baa are judged to be medium-grade and subject to moderate credit risk and as such may possess certain speculative characteristics."
Ba "Obligations rated Ba are judged to be speculative and are subject to substantial credit risk."
B "Obligations rated B are considered speculative and are subject to high credit risk."
Caa "Obligations rated Caa are judged to be speculative of poor standing and are subject to very high credit risk."
Ca "Obligations rated Ca are highly speculative and are likely in, or very near, default, with some prospect of recovery of principal and interest."
C "Obligations rated C are the lowest rated and are typically in default, with little prospect for recovery of principal or interest."
Source: Moody's Investor Services, "Rating Symbols and Definitions," March 2015

Moody's Investor Service assigned an Aa2 rating to the Long Beach Unified School District for its 2016 general obligation refunding bonds and its outstanding parity debt.[17] The table to the right details all of Moody's ratings and what they signify. The only rating category higher than Aa in Moody's rating system is Aaa. The rankings Aa through Caa can have the numbers 1 through 3 added to them to indicate their ranking within the general letter category.[18]

Moody's explained the reason for the district's rating in a press release.

“ The rating incorporates the district's exceptionally large-sized tax base with below average wealth levels, sound financial position supported by solid reserve levels, moderate debt and pension burdens as well as its strong management team. The rating further incorporates the above average strengths of California school districts' general obligation bonds. Not only are these GOs secured by a voter-approved, unlimited property tax pledge, the proceeds of which are constitutionally restricted for debt service payment, the county, rather than the district, will levy, collect, and disburse the GO tax proceeds.[19] ”
—Moody's Investor Service (March 24, 2016)[17]

The press release also listed two factors that could lead to an upgrade in the district's rating:[17]

  • "Substantial improvement in socioeconomic measures"
  • "Large and sustained increases in reserves and material improvement in liquidity"

The following three factors were listed as possibilities that could cause a downgrade to the district's rating:[17]

  • "Weakening in the district's financial and liquidity position"
  • "Significant deterioration in socioeconomic measures"
  • "Protracted large decline in assessed valuation"

Candidate survey

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Ballotpedia invites school board candidates to participate in its annual survey.
Click here to view or fill out the survey.

About the district

See also: Long Beach Unified School District, California
The Long Beach Unified School District is located in Los Angeles County, Calif.

The Long Beach Unified School District is located in Los Angeles County in southwestern California. The county seat is Los Angeles. Los Angeles County was home to 10,116,705 residents in 2014, according to the United States Census Bureau.[20] The district was the third-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 81,155 students.[21]

Demographics

Los Angeles County underperformed compared to California as a whole in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 29.7 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 30.7 percent for state residents. The median household income for Los Angeles County was $55,909, compared to $61,094 for the entire state. The percentage of people living below the poverty level was 17.8 percent, compared to 15.9 percent statewide.[20]

Racial Demographics, 2014[20]
Race Los Angeles County (%) California (%)
White 71.3 73.2
Black or African American 9.2 6.5
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.5 1.7
Asian 14.8 14.4
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 0.4 0.5
Two or more races 2.9 3.7
Hispanic or Latino 48.4 38.6

Presidential Voting Pattern,
Los Angeles County[22]
Year Democratic Vote Republican Vote
2012 2,216,903 885,333
2008 2,295,853 956,425
2004 1,907,736 1,076,225
2000 1,710,505 871,930

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Long Beach Unified School District' 'California'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Long Beach Unified School District elections (2016) - Google News

See also

Long Beach Unified School District California School Boards
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External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Candidate List: Long Beach City Prim. Nom., Lbusd & Lbccd Election - 4/12/2016," accessed January 19, 2016
  2. ↑ City of Long Beach, "Primary Nominating Election 4/12/2016 Unofficial Results," accessed April 13, 2016
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Signal Tribune, "LBUSD Governing Board candidates discuss funding, educational equity," March 11, 2016
  4. ↑ Long Beach Unified School District, "Board of Education," accessed January 19, 2016
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "2016 Candidate Handbook," accessed January 19, 2016
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 California Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on April 12, 2016," accessed February 16, 2016
  7. ↑ Gazettes, "Long Beach City, School Campaigns Shift Into High Gear," January 31, 2016
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 Re-elect Jon Meyer for Long Beach School Board, Area 4, "Endorsements," accessed April 11, 2016
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Rosi Pedersen Long Beach USD District 4 Seat, "Endorsements," accessed February 19, 2016
  10. ↑ Press-Telegram, "Vote for these two for Long Beach school board," March 21, 2016
  11. ↑ Long Beach Business Journal, "Business Journal Endorsements For 2016 Long Beach Elections: Supernaw, Otto, Williams And Meyer Endorsed," October 26, 2015
  12. ↑ 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 12.11 12.12 12.13 12.14 12.15 Re-elect Felton Williams, "Endorsements," accessed February 19, 2016
  13. ↑ Long Beach, California, "Long Beach Primary Nominating Election," accessed June 17, 2014
  14. ↑ League of Women Voters of California Education Fund, "School Contests for Los Angeles County, CA - April 13, 2010 Election," accessed March 31, 2014
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 The Atlantic, "The Long Beach Miracle," February 2, 2016
  16. ↑ Open States, "AB 1721," accessed November 18, 2016
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Moody's Investory Service, "Rating Action: Moody's assigns Aa2 to Long Beach USD, CA's GO Bonds; outlook remains stable," March 24, 2016
  18. ↑ Moody's Investor Services, "Rating Symbols and Definitions," March 2015
  19. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 United States Census Bureau, "Los Angeles County, California," accessed September 30, 2015
  21. ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
  22. ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Past Election Results," accessed July 1, 2014
2016 Long Beach Unified School District Elections
Los Angeles County, California
Election date:April 12, 2016
Candidates:District 2: • Incumbent, Felton Williams • Jessica Vargas-Alvarez
District 4: • Incumbent, Jon Meyer • Rosi Pedersen
Important information:What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines
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