Monica Ratliff
Monica Ratliff is a former District 6 representative on the Los Angeles Unified School District school board in California. She was first elected to the seat in the general election on May 21, 2013.
Ratcliff did not seek re-election to the school board in 2017. Instead, she ran to become the District 7 representative on the Los Angeles City Council. She was defeated in the primary election on March 7, 2017.
Biography
Ratliff is a lawyer and an elementary school teacher.[1]
Elections
2017
The city of Los Angeles, California, held primary elections for mayor, eight city council seats, city attorney, and city controller on March 7, 2017. Three community college board of trustees seats were also up for general election on that date.
Most races where no candidate earned a majority (50% plus one) of the primary votes cast advanced to a general election on May 16, 2017. This rule did not apply to the community college board races, which were determined by a plurality winner in the March election.[2]
This election was the second impacted by Charter Amendment 1. Passed in March 2015, the amendment shifted city elections to even-numbered years beginning in 2020. As a result, officials elected in 2017 won special five-and-a-half year terms ending in 2022. The following candidates ran in the primary election for the District 7 seat on the Los Angeles City Council.[3]
| Los Angeles City Council, District 7 Primary Election, 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Monica Rodriguez |
27.82% | 6,091 |
| Karo Torossian |
16.46% | 3,603 |
| Monica Ratliff | 14.18% | 3,104 |
| Art Miner | 8.11% | 1,775 |
| Dale Gibson | 6.17% | 1,351 |
| Venessa Martinez | 5.30% | 1,160 |
| Olga Ayala | 4.25% | 931 |
| Fred Flores | 3.90% | 854 |
| Nicole Chase | 2.72% | 596 |
| Carlos Lara | 1.43% | 314 |
| Krystee Clark | 1.32% | 290 |
| Mark Reed | 1.26% | 275 |
| Mike Schaefer | 1.21% | 266 |
| Connie Saunders | 1.18% | 258 |
| Franki Marie Becerra | 1.03% | 226 |
| David Jesse Barron | 1.00% | 218 |
| John Higginson | 0.77% | 169 |
| Terrence Gomes | 0.68% | 149 |
| Jose Castillo | 0.63% | 139 |
| Bonnie Corwin | 0.58% | 127 |
| Total Votes | 21,896 | |
| Source: Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "March 7, 2017, Election Results: Statement of Votes Cast," accessed May 22, 2017 | ||
2013
Ratliff won the general election on May 21, 2013, for the Los Angeles Unified School District Board District 6 seat. Ratliff had placed second in the primary election on March 5, 2013, behind Antonio Sanchez. Maria Cano and Iris Zuñiga (who had already withdrawn from the race) ranked third and fourth. Heading into the general election both Sanchez and Ratliff were supported by the United Teachers Los Angeles union.[4]
| Los Angeles Unified School District 6, 2013 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Antonio Sanchez | 48.2% | 22,896 | |
| Nonpartisan | Monica Ratliff |
51.8% | 24,567 | |
| Total Votes | 47,463 | |||
| Source: Office of the City Clerk of Los Angeles. These are the final results. | ||||
| Los Angeles Unified School District 6, 2013 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Antonio Sanchez |
43.6% | 17,093 | |
| Nonpartisan | Monica Ratliff |
33.8% | 13,244 | |
| Nonpartisan | Maria Cano | 13.5% | 5,276 | |
| Nonpartisan | Iris Zuniga | 9.1% | 3,579 | |
| Total Votes | 39,192 | |||
| Source: Office of the City Clerk of Los Angeles These results are final. | ||||
Endorsements
- Associated Administrators of Los Angeles[5]
- Los Angeles Daily News[6]
- Los Angeles Times[7][8]
- United Teachers Los Angeles[9]
Campaign finance
2017
Ratliff had received $56,035.12 in contributions and had made $30,210.94 in expenditures, leaving the campaign with $35,095.04 on hand as of reports available from the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission on February 27, 2017.[10]
2013
Ratliff reported $88,591.07 in contributions and $83,063.99 in expenditures to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, which left her campaign with $5,527.08 in debt in the election.[11]
Campaign themes
2013
Campaign website
On her campaign website, Ratliff outlined the following themes:
| “ | “College or Vocational readiness will help our children graduate from high school confident that they can enter college or a vocation. We must prepare them to make their way in the world. Education is the way that society lifts its people up.”
“Health and Safety is vital inside the classroom, outside the classroom and in the surrounding neighborhood near the schools. Learning happens best in a safe, healthy environment.” “Fiscal Responsibility will lead to trust. The public has a right to know where their money is going and why those expenditures will be effective before the money is being spent.” “Collaboration leads to problem solving. Parents, teachers, administrators, school staff, charter school operators and the community all want the best for our children. Knowing the budget and the needs of the students, people will collaborate to share and develop solutions to the problems that plague LAUSD.” “All our schools must work and we must finally fix the schools that don't. There are many models of schools that work: public schools, charter schools, or pilot schools. We must take what works and apply it to all the schools. All students deserve equal access to schools that work.”[12] |
” |
| —Monica Ratliff campaign website (2013)[13] | ||
League of Women Voters Q&A
The League of Women Voters of Los Angeles posed five questions to the LAUSD school board candidates. Ratliff answered one of them. The group asked, "What is the single most important issue facing LAUSD today? As a Board Member, what would you do to deal with it?" Ratliff replied, "Parents take their children to school expecting their children to return to them in the same condition and better at day's end. As a Board Member, my number one priority will be the student's health, safety, and ability to succeed in life."[14]
The other four questions the group asked but that Ratliff did not answer were:
- "How would you prioritize your local constituency in overseeing LAUSD management, setting District policy, and day-to-day decision-making?"
- "What experience in general management, fiscal management, and budgetary oversight would you bring to the job of Board Member?"
- "How should LAUSD deal with its rapidly increasing costs for retiree and employee health care?"
- "What part should standardized testing play in LAUSD's educational programs?"
United Way candidate forum and survey
| United Way of Greater Los Angeles, "LAUSD School Board Candidate Forum, District 6," February 1, 2013 |
On January 31, 2013, Ratliff participated with Antonio Sanchez and Maria Cano in a candidate forum hosted by the group at the Boys and Girls Club in Pacoima. A text summary of the forum may be found on the LA School Report website.[15][16][17]
At the forum, the candidates were asked, "Do you support current LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy?" Ratliff declined to answer, saying she would "need to know more" in order to evaluate Deasy's job performance.[1]
Ratliff later told the Los Angeles Daily News that while she viewed Deasy's accomplishments positively, she would need to hear from him regarding matters of personnel, such as his handling of the 2012 sexual abuse scandal at Miramonte Elementary School.[2]
Ratliff also participated in a 15-question survey prepared by the United Way Los Angeles. Her full answers can be read here.
Arts for LA survey
Ratliff did not fill out the candidate survey from Arts for LA, a group advocating greater investment in the arts.[18]
Families First candidate forum
| California Charter Schools Association, "LA School Board Candidate Forum for Charter School Families (Board District 6)," February 28, 2013 |
On February 27, 2013, Ratliff participated with Maria Cano and Antonio Sanchez in a candidate forum at Vaughn Next Century Learning Center sponsored by Families First. According to the LA School Report, "There wasn’t any particular issue where the candidates disagreed in any obvious or sharp manner."[19][20]
Campaign literature
During the 2013 primary election campaign, Ratliff registered eight pieces of campaign literature with the City of Los Angeles City Ethics Commission. The campaign literature included three flyers, two mailers, an email, a business card, and a questionaire.[21]
No independent expenditure groups formally registered any literature supporting or opposing Ratliff during the primary election campaign. However, the Coalition for School Reform registered a mailer in support of Antonio Sanchez on February 20, which gave both Ratliff and candidate Maria Cano F grades.[22]
Ratliff publicly took issue with the mailer, alleging that it misrepresented her stand on firing teachers. The mailer asserted that Ratliff "opposes allowing local school officials to immediately remove—-and, if convicted, fire—-teachers or school staff accused of sexually abusing students," which the CSR explained was based on her opposition to Senate Bill 10. SB 10 would "would expedite the process for firing teachers accused of sexual misconduct," according to the Los Angeles Daily News. Ratliff emphasized that children's health and safety were her top priorities, arguing that the existing laws are already adequate.[23]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 LA School Report, "Commentary: Do You or Don’t You Support Deasy?" February 7, 2013. Retrieved February 14, 2013
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Los Angeles Daily News, "A dozen hopefuls step up to the starting line for Los Angeles mayoral race," November 11, 2016 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "ladn" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ City of Los Angeles City Clerk, "2017 Primary Nominating Election Candidates," December 16, 2016
- ↑ Los Angeles Daily News, "LAUSD board candidate Iris Zuniga drops out of race for Nury Martinez seat," January 23, 2013
- ↑ Daily News, "Administrators union issues endorsements in LAUSD election primary," January 18, 2013
- ↑ Los Angeles Daily News, "Editorial endorsements: Three for LAUSD board - and for education reform," February 23, 2013
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "For L.A. school board," February 15, 2013
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Endorsements recap: The Times recommends," May 19, 2013
- ↑ United Teachers Los Angeles, "Political Endorsements – School Board Primary Election on March 5," accessed February 13, 2013
- ↑ Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, "2017 City and LAUSD Elections," accessed February 27, 2017
- ↑ Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, "2013 City and LAUSD Elections," accessed January 6, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Monica Ratliff for Board of Education 2013 - District 6, "What I Will Do - Details," June 1, 2013
- ↑ League of Women Voters of California Education Fund, "Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues: Board Member; Los Angeles Unified School District; District 6," March 5, 2013
- ↑ Los Angeles Daily News, "LAUSD board candidates to appear at forums," January 19, 2013
- ↑ California Participation Project, "Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Candidate Forums," accessed February 14, 2013
- ↑ LA School Report, "East Valley Forum: Differences Over Deasy, Evaluation, & Dismissal," February 1, 2013
- ↑ Arts for LA, "Spring 2013 Candidate Surveys: LA Unified School District," February 14, 2013
- ↑ LA School Report, "District 6 Candidates Struggle to Differentiate Themselves," accessed February 27, 2013
- ↑ LA School Report, "Watch: D6 Candidates Talk Charters,Evaluations, Trigger," February 28, 2013
- ↑ Los Angeles Ethics Commission, "LAUSD District 6 campaign literature, LA City Ethics Commission," accessed January 4, 2017
- ↑ Los Angeles Ethics Commission, "Coalition for School Reform mailer in support of Antonio Sanchez," February 20, 2013
- ↑ Los Angeles Daily News, "Hit pieces fly back, forth on campaign trail toward March 5 election," February 22, 2013
 |
State of California Sacramento (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
