Voters will soon decide who should represent them on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, with three seats on the body up for grabs in Tuesday’s primary election.
LAUSD is the second-largest school district in the nation, with more than 520,000 students across a 710 square-mile area covering the majority of Los Angeles and portions of 25 other cities or unincorporated areas in Los Angeles County.
School boards in California are charged with overseeing the operations, finances, educational priorities and policy and more.
The Los Angeles Unified School District has faced plenty of challenges in recent years, ranging from financial issues — including a projected structural budget deficit of about $877 million for the 2026-27 school year, narrowly avoided a teacher’s strike in April and the recent temporary replacement of Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who has been on paid leave since February after his home was searched by federal agents.
LAUSD’s seven-member school board will be tasked with dealing with those challenges, and voters in Districts 2, 4, and 6 are weighing who should represent them.
District 2
The district is home to 76 elementary schools, 11 middle schools and 24 high schools that served 55,014 students during the 2025-26 school year, according to LAUSD data. The district covers a large portion of the downtown and East L.A. areas.
There are just two candidates running: incumbent and board vice president Rocío Rivas and Raquel Zamora, a teacher and counselor with 20 years of experience with LAUSD.
In terms of LAUSD’s budgetary challenges and declining enrollment numbers, Rivas said she plans to ensure the board continues investments in students outcomes and experiences while making strategic budgetary adjustments.
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Rocío Rivas is a candidate for LAUSD District 2 in 2026. (Photo courtesy of Rocío Rivas’ campaign)
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“I support an approach that makes strategic adjustments rather than reactive cuts that would disproportionately impact our highest-need schools,” Rivas said in her response to a questionnaire from this news organization. “This includes auditing contracts, reducing external consultants, maximizing public dollars through partnerships with nonprofits and leveraging bonds for long-term operational savings.”
Zamora said that if elected, she would also work to prioritize the students and classrooms when making budgetary decisions.
“From my perspective as an educator, budget decisions must always prioritize students and classrooms. That means protecting core instructional programs, maintaining reasonable class sizes and preserving vital supports such as counselors, librarians, nurses and special education services,” Zamora said. “When cuts are necessary, they should focus on reducing administrative inefficiencies and better utilizing existing resources — not taking supports away from students who need them most.”
District 4
There are two challengers vying for the seat.
This district is home to 57 elementary schools, 11 middle schools and six high schools, and had the second-lowest enrollment of all seven districts during the 2025-26 school year, with 43,629 students at its campuses. District 4 primarily represents the Westside.
The candidates are incumbent Nick Melvoin and Ankur Patel, an educator and the current outreach director for the Hindu University of America.
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Nick Melvoin is a candidate for LAUSD District 4 in 2026. (Photo courtesy of Nick Melvoin’s campaign)
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Melvoin said that he wants LAUSD to take a comprehensive approach to its budget and enrollment challenges in his response to the questionnaire.
“We should do a better job communicating the strong programs already available to attract families to their local schools, while continuing to invest in and expand high-quality, in-demand programs like dual language immersion and other innovative pathways,” Melvoin said. “That means the district must also be a responsible steward of its resources by using underutilized land more effectively, including building context-appropriate housing such as educator housing and ensuring our budget remains balanced and transparent.”
Patel said he would work to rebuild community trust and try to find more unique solutions to LAUSD’s budgetary and enrollment challenges if elected.
“We must focus on earning enrollment back from private schools, homeschooling and independent charter schools by expanding successful programs, creating new ones that draw parents back to public schools and improving the quality of instruction,” Patel said. “Genuine community input is needed to allow us to transition our public school system through these turbulent times.”
District 6
While there is an election for this district, which served 54,214 students at 64 elementary schools, 12 middle schools and 14 high schools during the 2025-26 academic year in the East San Fernando Valley, voters won’t have much of a decision to make since there is just one candidate: Incumbent Kelly Gonez, who was first elected to the board in 2017. She also served as the board president in 2020 and 2023.
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Board of Education Member Kelly Gonez speaks during a ribbon cutting ceremony at Ulysses S. Grant High School to celebrate the completion of a multi-year campus modernization project in Van Nuys on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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“I will continue fighting to protect our schools from attacks, to expand opportunities for every child no matter their ZIP code, language, or immigration status, and to ensure our classrooms are places of joy, belonging, and safety,” Gonez’s website said.
