School Board Elections

Scores of local candidates will feel the will of the voters Nov. 3 as most of the cities in Orange County hold races to fill council seats. As usual, growth is among the hot topics, but the new councils will also have to deal with the effects of the state's recent round of budget cuts, which dramatically reduced funds funneled down to local municipalities. Even more state budget cuts are expected next year.

Voters in the Los Angeles Unified School District can choose between uniformly high-caliber new candidates for the school board in the March 3 election. What a shame, then, that the one unopposed candidate is also the weakest -- incumbent board President Monica Garcia. Single-candidate school races could become a more common scenario in Los Angeles now that mayoral politics have become a factor.

Your coverage of the Orange County school board campaigns, especially that of Saddleback College, has been biased from the start against the so-called union-run campaigns. Even in the wake of the election, your article (Nov. 6) gives the impression that the outcome was bad news, that the election of the "union candidates" was some kind of fluke--a surprising result due to the formidable power of the teachers union. Your article hints that the low voter turnout may be responsible for the union wins; but even before the election only an 11% or 12% turnout was predicted, and so the low 11% turnout was not the cause of the "surprising" result.

Ben Austin, a front-runner for a hotly contested Los Angeles school board seat, has failed to qualify for the city ballot because he turned in too few valid signatures on a qualifying petition. Austin, a former deputy mayor under Richard Riordan and a longtime political consultant, chose the March school board race to move from behind-the-scenes player to elected official.

Voters will go to the polls Nov. 8 to elect trustees in 25 school districts and community college districts. Listed below are the candidates who filed campaign papers by the Friday deadline. * Indicates incumbents. ** Indicates the filing deadline has been extended to Wednesday because an incumbent is not seeking reelection. North Orange County Community College District Trustee Area 2 (1 seat) A. John Gironda * Otto J. Lacayo * Trustee Area 3 (1 seat) * Barry J. Wishart Michael P.

The Board of Supervisors this week gave final approval to a change in school board elections at the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, allowing balloting for the Board of Education to be held at the same time as statewide elections. Now, school board elections will be held in even-numbered years, along with the general elections. The next round of school board elections will be in 1994, instead of 1993. The change is expected to save the cash-strapped district about $40,000 each election.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge refused Tuesday to invalidate the election of an Alhambra school board member who was accused of living outside the district where he won office in November. Judge David Yaffe, after a four-day trial, ruled there was not "clear and convincing evidence" that school board member Robert Miranda does not reside in the 5th District, which covers portions of South San Gabriel and Rosemead.

Incumbents were returned to office in all but two of 11 school board elections in the South Bay on Tuesday as voters generally showed satisfaction with the way the trustees have been handling the declining enrollments, school closures and tight budgets that afflict most of the systems. Trustee John Barberis narrowly lost his bid for a second term on the Torrance Unified School District, coming in fourth in a field of nine candidates.

Michael D. Briney won Tuesday's special election to fill a seat on the school board, according to the county registrar-recorder's office. With all four precincts reporting, Briney had 1,009 votes, or 68% of the votes. Challenger David W. Reeves had 476 votes, or 32% of the total. The vacancy on the four-member board was created when Margaret Echevarria resigned Jan. 16.

Mayor Bob Patchin has made a public, televised plea urging residents to vote in the Orange Unified School District board election next week. Speaking Tuesday at a City Council meeting carried by a local cable-TV channel, Patchin called for a big voter turnout. "This election is important to Villa Park," the mayor said. "That school district runs our schools. The education of Villa Park children depends on the actions of that board. . . .

Some think that a single vote does not count. But in Tuesday's local elections, a single vote cast in San Bernardino County stood out in helping a candidate win big in neighboring Riverside County. Mark Orozco, a 32-year-old middle school teacher, was elected to the Beaumont Unified School District board. The vast majority of the district is in Riverside County, where the city of Beaumont is located. But a piece of the district juts north into San Bernardino County. Nearly 3,000 votes for Orozco came from Riverside County.

A judge in Central California has taken the unusual step of tossing out, in advance, the results of an upcoming school board election after finding that it violated the terms of the California Voting Rights Act. Madera County Superior Court Judge James E.

Monica Garcia was reelected Monday as president of the Los Angeles Board of Education, but not until after one board member alleged that politics and backroom manipulation sometimes put the interests of adults ahead of students. Garcia ascended to the presidency last year as the most senior member of a new board majority aligned with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. On the other side was Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, who survived a reelection campaign in which she was targeted by the mayor's allies.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa accomplished a key goal in this week's election -- winning a majority of allies on the Los Angeles Board of Education. It's not the outright control of local schools he once sought, but it's the kick that could open the door to his grand ambitions. Villaraigosa intends to raise student achievement sharply, even more than mayors elsewhere who've had full authority over their schools. The formula?

The cliffhanger wore on Wednesday in the runoff election for a seat on the Los Angeles Community College District board, with challenger Roy Burns 88 votes ahead of incumbent Georgia L. Mercer in unofficial results -- and a hand count underway of 10,600 ballots. The Los Angeles city clerk, whose office conducted the election that saw about 130,000 votes cast, has three weeks to certify the election results.

Deep into an important election that's attracted little civic notice, Jon M. Lauritzen provoked unwanted attention in the run up to Tuesday's Los Angeles school board runoff. He first ignored legal advice and voted against authorizing a group of charter schools in South Los Angeles. Then two weeks later, he switched sides, acting as the deciding vote both times.

Judith A. Franco, a longtime trustee of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, is again at the helm of the district following the swearing-in of new board members last week. Franco, a 14-year board veteran and the only incumbent to run for reelection, was unanimously elected board president after she and three new board members were sworn in Tuesday.

Voters cast ballots Tuesday in a special election to fill two school board seats in the Acton-Agua Dulce School District and to decide whether to recall a board member. Seven candidates ran for the two board positions, left open by resignations last year. Voters were also to determine if Laurelyn Browning should be recalled and, if so, which of three candidates should replace her. Ballots were being counted Tuesday night.

Having failed to gain a clear verdict from voters, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles teachers union braced Wednesday for a costly and divisive runoff election that will determine whether Villaraigosa gains a friendly majority on the Board of Education -- and a long-sought measure of control over the sprawling, troubled school system.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's school-intervention plans hung in the balance Tuesday evening as election officials tallied results in four Los Angeles Board of Education races that could give him an outright majority of political allies. In incomplete returns, the mayor's favored candidates were ahead in three races and trailing in the fourth. But two of those leads were not sizable enough to avoid a May runoff.