Voters in the Los Angeles Unified School District will decide next month on a little-watched amendment to the City Charter that aims to rein in the frenzied nature of school board races with campaign contribution restrictions and term limits.
Supporters of the proposed amendment say it is needed to bring the school board in line with other elected bodies. But the idea has riled most of the school board, which sees it as another attack in the long-running battle with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his allies for control of the nation's second-largest school district.
If Charter Amendment L passes on March 6 -- as is widely expected -- donors would be allowed a single $1,000 contribution to each candidate and the city's more restrictive rules governing what candidates must disclose about campaign finances would apply instead of state laws.
Also under Amendment L, board members would be limited to three four-year terms for a maximum of 12 years. (Current board members would be eligible to serve three more terms.) And a special committee would be convened to decide how much the board's seven members, considered part-time employees, should be paid.
Unlike other elected officials in Los Angeles, school board candidates have no cap on how much money donors can give them. The result has been races in which five-figure contributions from wealthy individuals or special-interest groups are common.
In a 2003 race, for example, board member Caprice Young received more than $610,000 from a group formed by then-Mayor Richard Riordan. She was defeated by Jon Lauritzen, who received a similar amount from United Teachers Los Angeles, the district's influential union.
In current races for board seats, the union has made $150,000 contributions to incumbents Lauritzen and Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte and has promised to give them more. Their challengers, meanwhile, are widely expected to raise more than $1 million for their campaigns.
There is no limit to how long members can serve on the board. Julie Korenstein, the board's longest-serving member, has been in office more than 19 years.
"There is a Wild West atmosphere in races for school board," said City Councilman Jose Huizar, the amendment's main backer and a former school board member.
"There needs to be more transparency and disclosure," he said. "And, particularly in education, I think you would want to ensure that new people with fresh ideas were coming in every few terms."
