Changes coming to education board
County school races pit charters against labor
SAN DIEGO — A flood of campaign spending has paid off for the California Charter Schools Association, which helped usher in at least one new candidate to the County Board of Education in Tuesday’s election.
The race for four seats on the board pitted organized labor against charter school advocates, which invested in the elections for the first time this year amid a rocky time for the industry. The county board has been seen as increasingly crucial in the effort to expand charters since members serve as the appellate for charter petitions rejected by their resident school districts.
With unsolicited support from charters, Mark Powell took 52 percent of the vote to unseat Gregg Robinson in the race to represent District 1 for the San Diego County Office of Education. The district covers coastal and central communities in of the city of San Diego.
Powell was the target of attack mailers from the local chapter of the American Federation of Teachers representing the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College Districts. He called the negative campaign disappointing.
“That campaign makes this win all the more substantial,” said Powell, a adjunct education professor at National University. “I will not rubber stamp charters. I don’t expect a big influx of charters coming in and taking over. What charters and parents can expect from me is fair, objective and reasoned decisions that put students, parents and teachers first.”
Guadalupe Gonzalez was re-elected with 55 percent of the vote with support from AFT, staving off former trustee Jerry Rindone’s bid to take her seat representing the southwestern swath of the county in District 2.
The contest to represent northern and eastern stretches of the county in District 4 was too close to call late Wednesday. Some 285,000 mail and provisional ballets were uncounted countywide. Incumbent Mark Anderson had the narrowest lead (by 451 votes) over Paulette Donnellon, a sitting member of the Escondido Union School District board who was backed by charter advocates. Donnellon also was the subject of AFT upset on county ed board | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com:
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