Your guide to the 2022 Los Angeles Unified school board elections

Overview

• The incumbents, Kelly Gonez and Nick Melvoin, face no well-funded challenge, even though the teachers union spent millions to oppose their first bids for office in 2017. This time, the union is endorsing Gonez and silently conceding to Melvoin.
  
  

• The most competitive race is for the open seat in District 2, which covers downtown and stretches north and east to include Los Feliz, Highland Park, Boyle Heights, El Sereno and East L.A. Four candidates are vying for the seat of termed-out school board member Monica Garcia.

Meet the candidates

Here are profiles of the candidates.

Video: District 2 candidate forum (Alliance for Better Communities)

State of the LAUSD

• The district is struggling to recover from the pandemic. Enrollment dropped, and many students fell behind when campuses were closed and they had to take classes from home.
  
  

• Officials estimate that enrollment will plunge by nearly 30% over the next decade, leading to tough choices about academic programs, campus closures, jobs and employee benefits.
  
  

• Alberto Carvalho, who formerly headed Miami-Dade County Public Schools and is among the nation’s most experienced and admired school district leaders, recently became superintendent of L.A. Unified.
  
  

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.