LAUSD School Board: Who’s running Nov. 5 and why it matters

What does an LAUSD school board member do?

More than 538,000 students attend traditional public and charter schools in Los Angeles, the second-largest district in the nation. The district is also the county’s second largest employer with more than 74,000 educators, administrators, and support staff on its payroll.

Unlike in New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., where the mayor appoints education system leaders, Los Angeles schools are run by the school board, which voters elect directly. That makes L.A. home to the most consequential — and often, the most expensive — school board races in the country. It also makes L.A. the largest city in the country in which the mayor has no direct control over the school board.

LAUSD doesn’t fit neatly into “city” or “county” categories. Although it’s enshrined in the L.A. City Charter, LAUSD operates independently of City Hall. That’s why you elect school board members directly. LAUSD also runs the schools in several other cities in L.A. County, such as West Hollywood and South Gate.

For the last decade, teachers unions and advocates for charter schools have spent millions against each other in these races, hoping to seat their favorite candidates on the school board. That’s because school board members have a lot of power. Among other things, school board members:

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing challenges in the district, including declining enrollment, disparities in student learning, truancy, inadequate mental health support, and lackluster standardized test scores. In the wake of a three-day strike that shut down schools, the district agreed to double-digit raises for educators and support staff in 2023.