L.A. School Board in Limbo After Member's Felony Plea
The three-year scandal that has embroiled the Los Angeles Unified school board concluded anticlimactically this week when besieged District 5 board member Ref Rodriguez tendered his resignation. The bow-out followed a Monday court appearance in which Ref pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy and three misdemeanors connected to his laundering $24,000 of his own cash during his successful 2015 election campaign.
It ended an ethically challenged 10 months in which Refs legal bills were paid by his lone legal-defense fund donor billionaire charter school enthusiast and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. The patronage had kept alive LAUSDs slim, 4-3 pro-charter school board majority as it doggedly ticked off a dream list of California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) wins. Gut district required language for charter petitions? Check. Deny CCSA bête noire Ken Bramlett a contract renewal as inspector general? Check. Hire non-educator venture capitalist Austin Beutner as a disruption-prone superintendent? Check.
The suddenly even-split LAUSD board now has 60 days to either appoint a successor or to follow recent board precedent by letting District 5 voters decide in a special election.
One group paying close attention will be L.A. teachers, whose union on Tuesday submitted its last, best and final offer in contract talks that it says have again ground to a deadlock. Anti-union, pro-privatization ideologues are currently running the school district but are setting us up for failure, UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl charged in a statement. The district has 48 hours to respond to the LBFO.
Read more: https://capitalandmain.com/los-angeles-school-board-member-pleads-guilty-in-scandal-and-resigns-0726