Lynwood Unified School District elections (2015)
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Three seats on the Lynwood Unified School District Board of Education were up for general election on November 3, 2015.[1][2] Incumbents Briseida Gonzalez and Maria Guadalupe López won re-election, and newcomer Gary Hardie Jr. joined the board. They defeated Gloria Garcia and Linda George.[3][4] Macralita "Merci" Reynales originally filed to run in this election, but she withdrew from the race.[5]
See how this race compared to past school board elections in both the district and the state in the "Election trends" section. George participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. To read her responses, check out the "Ballotpedia survey responses" section.
About the district
Lynwood Unified School District is located in Los Angeles County in southwestern California. The county seat is Los Angeles.[6] Los Angeles County was home to 10,116,705 residents in 2014, according to the United States Census Bureau.[7] During the 2012-2013 school year, Lynwood Unified School District was the 106th-largest school district by enrollment in California and served 15,029 students.[8]
Demographics
Los Angeles County underperformed compared to the rest of California 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 California as a whole. The median household income for Los Angeles County was $55,909, compared to $61,094 for the entire state. The percentage of people below poverty level was 17.8 percent, compared to 15.9 percent statewide.[7]
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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.
Voter and candidate information
The Lynwood Unified Board of Education consists of five members elected at-large to four-year terms. Board members are elected on a staggered basis every November of odd-numbered years. There are no primary elections. Two seats were up for election on November 5, 2013, and three seats were on the ballot on November 3, 2015.[1][10]
School board candidates had to be at least 18 years old, residents of the school district and qualified voters. They could not be employees of the school district while in office.[11] To get on the ballot, candidates had to file their declaration of candidacy with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk by August 7, 2015.[12]
To vote in this election, residents of the district had to register by October 19, 2015. Voters could cast vote-by-mail ballots from October 24, 2015, through Election Day.[12] Photo identification was not required to vote in California.
Elections
2015
Candidates
At-large
Briseida Gonzalez 
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Maria Guadalupe López
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Gloria Garcia | |||
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| Linda George | Gary Hardie Jr.
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Election results
| Lynwood Unified School District, At-large, General Election, 2015 | ||
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Gary Hardie Jr. |
25.1% | 1,465 |
| Briseida Gonzalez Incumbent |
23.5% | 1,375 |
| Maria Guadalupe López Incumbent |
23.1% | 1,352 |
| Linda George | 18.6% | 1,089 |
| Gloria Garcia | 9.6% | 563 |
| Total Votes | 5,844 | |
| Source: Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "NOVEMBER 03, 2015 - LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATED ELECTIONS: Final Official Election Returns," accessed November 24, 2015 | ||
Endorsements
Incumbents Briseida Gonzalez and Maria Guadalupe López and challenger Gary Hardie Jr. received endorsements from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO and SEIU Local 99.[13][14] Gonzalez and Hardie were also endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.[15] Hardie and challenger Linda George were endorsed by the community organization Evolve.[16]
Campaign finance
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.[17][18][19]
Campaign finance reporting requirements in California vary depending on how much money candidates spend or raise. For candidates planning to raise or spend less than $1,000, an Officeholder and Candidate Campaign Statement Short Form (Form 470) must be filed with their county or city elections office. If candidates plan to spend up to $1,000, including their own funds, they must also file a Candidate Intention Statement (Form 501). "If a candidate does not raise any money and personal funds are used only to pay filing or ballot statement fees, the candidate is not required to file the Form 501," according to the Fair Political Practices Commission. If candidates raise money outside of their own funds, a separate campaign bank account must be established.[20]
Candidates raising or spending more than $1,000, including their personal funds, must file a Candidate Intention Statement (Form 501), file a Statement of Organization (Form 410) and establish a separate bank account for campaign funds. They must then file Recipient Committee Campaign Statements (Form 460) to disclose their contributions and expenditures throughout their campaigns. If they receive more than $1,000 from a single source within 90 days of the election, they must file a 24-hour Contribution Report (Form 497).[20]
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
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What was at stake?
2015
Election trends
- See also: 2013 school board elections
With three seats on the ballot on November 3, 2015, over half of the Lynwood Unified Board of Education had the potential to change hands. Two of the three incumbents ran to retain their seats, guaranteeing at least one newcomer would join the board. The incumbents faced four challengers for an average of two candidates per seat. Both incumbents won re-election to their seats, and a newcomer was elected to the open seat.
In Lynwood Unified's 2013 school board election, one incumbent ran for re-election. He won another term, and a newcomer won the open seat. There were an average of three candidates per seat in that election.
Both the 2013 and 2015 school board elections in the Lynwood Unified School District had a higher number of candidates run per seat than the 2014 state average of 1.91 candidates per seat up for election in California's largest school districts. That year, just over 25 percent of board seats in those districts were unopposed, and 37.65 percent of seats went to newcomers.
Ballotpedia survey responses
One of the six candidates in this race participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display the responses to the survey questions from challenger Linda George.
Top priorities
When asked what her top priority would be if elected, George stated:
| “ | Expanding Career Technical education.[21] | ” |
| —Linda George (2015)[22] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays the candidate's rankings:
| Issue importance ranking | ||
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| Issue | Linda George | |
| Expanding arts education | ||
| Expanding career-technical education | ||
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | ||
| Improving college readiness | ||
| Closing the achievement gap | ||
| Improving education for special needs students | ||
| Expanding school choice options | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer 10 multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. A link to the candidate's responses can be found below.
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Lynwood Unified School District election in 2015:[12][23]
| Deadline | Event |
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| June 8, 2015 - August 7, 2015 | Candidate filing period |
| July 31, 2015 | Semi-annual campaign finance report due |
| August 5, 2015 - November 2, 2015 | 24-hour campaign contribution reporting period |
| September 7, 2015 - October 20, 2015 | Write-in candidate filing period |
| September 24, 2015 | Pre-election campaign finance report due |
| October 19, 2015 | Voter registration deadline |
| October 22, 2015 | Pre-election campaign finance report due |
| October 24, 2015 | First day voters can cast vote-by-mail ballots |
| November 3, 2015 | Election Day |
| February 1, 2016 | Semi-annual campaign finance report due |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: California elections, 2015
No elections shared the ballot with the Lynwood Unified School District. A number of other school districts in Los Angeles County, however, also held school board elections on November 3, 2015.[24]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Lynwood Unified School District California. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Lynwood Unified School District | California | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 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
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Candidate List: Local And Municipal Consolidated Elections - 11/3/2015," accessed August 11, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "NOVEMBER 03, 2015 - LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATED ELECTIONS: Semi-Final Official Election Returns," accessed November 4, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Local And Municipal Consolidated Elections: Final List Of Qualified Candidates To Appear On The Ballot," accessed October 28, 2015
- ↑ Geology.com, "California County Map with County Seat Cities," accessed July 1, 2014
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 United States Census Bureau, "Los Angeles County, California," accessed September 23, 2015
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed April 29, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Past Election Results," accessed July 1, 2014
- ↑ Lynwood Unified School District, "Board of Education," accessed August 7, 2015
- ↑ Lynwood Unified School District, "BB 9220 Board Bylaws: Board of Education Elections," accessed August 7, 2015
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Calendar of Events," accessed July 29, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, "Endorsements," accessed October 27, 2015
- ↑ SEIU Local 99, "Making Politics Work for Us: School Board Endorsements for Nov 3 Election," accessed October 27, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Democratic Party, "Endorsements," accessed October 27, 2015
- ↑ Evolve, "2015 Endorsements: November 03, 2015 Election," accessed October 27, 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
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Fair Political Practices Commission, "Local Candidates, Superior Court Judges, Their Controlled Committees, and Primarily Formed Committees for Local Candidates: Campaign Disclosure Manual 2," accessed August 5, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Linda George responses," October 20, 2015
- ↑ Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 3, 2015," accessed August 5, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Local And Municipal Consolidated Elections - 11/3/2015," accessed July 29, 2015
| 2015 Lynwood Unified School District Elections | |
| Los Angeles County, California | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Briseida Gonzalez • Incumbent, Maria Guadalupe López • Gloria Garcia • Linda George • Gary Hardie Jr. |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
