School Board Candidates Face The Voters

“My goodness, great question.”

– Dan Chang

On Saturday, September 14, 2024, the Northridge East Neighborhood Council’s Education Committee hosted a forum for the two candidates in the November 5th runoff election. The videos posted below are the answers provided by Scott M. Schmerelson and Dan Chang broken down by question. While some banter between questions and housekeeping is not included, the candidates’ answers are presented in full.

Question 1: Both of you have been classroom teachers. What led you to this profession?

FACT CHECK: Chang states that he “helped open 17 charter schools with Green Dot Public [SIC] School”. According to public records, Green Dot opened 14 schools between May 2003 and November 2009, when Chang says he was employed at the chain of charter schools. It should be noted that six of these franchises have since closed.

Question 2 (Submitted by constituent): Do you support the co-location of charter schools on public school campuses?

Question 3: According to the District, charter schools currently owe $3,003,768 in delinquent overallocation fees, some of this debt is several years old. How would you force the District to ensure that these debts are paid?

FACT CHECK: Dan Chang claims that “Just two years ago, there was attendance fraud that happened right in my own school, where literally about $50,000 of public funds was, you know, fraudulently accounted for.” This is double the amount Chang himself claimed in an April 9th interview with KCAL. An investigation found that the “fraudulent” attendance reporting alleged by Chang “did not impact the Average Daily Attendance funding.” The school did receive "slightly above $600" in excess funds from lottery funding because of the misreporting.

Question 4: After telling the LAUSD School Board for years that state law required the District to classify classrooms used to provide Special Education services as “empty” and are, therefore, available to be given away when providing space under PROP-39, the Director of the Charter School Division admitted this year that it was, instead, the policy of the district. As a result, some of our most vulnerable children were receiving these services in closets and stairwells. How should Jose Cole-Guitierez, Director of the Charter School Division, be held accountable for misleading the Board?

Dan Chang provided the following link to the meeting that he referenced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trdm4WJdgt8.

Question 5 (Submitted by constituent): LAUSD is required to have a Homeless Liaison for each school per the McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act. What are the candidate's positions on LAUSD partnering with the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment Homelessness Liaisons in Neighborhood Councils to notify our constituents about homeless services for students and their parents at their schools?

Question 6: According to LA City Ethics, over $ 1.7 million has been spent so far in this campaign to persuade voters. What statement(s) from the opposing campaign team about you that you would like to address?

FACT CHECK: Chang said, “I have way more $25 donations than Scott as evidence of the campaign that I'm running that's reaching out and getting a lot of momentum.” According to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, both candidates received two $25 donations during the primary election cycle. Schmerelson also received one donation of $2. In the general election cycle, neither candidate has received a $25 donation, though Schmerelson did receive a donation of $5. Most of the spending in the race has been for independent expenditures, with funding provided by Bill Bloomfield and the California Charter Schools Association Advocates.

FACT CHECK: Schmerelson stated that he is “supported by Planned Parenthood.” The Planned Parenthood Action Fund did list their endorsement of Schmerelson in their March 2024 Voter Guide.

Question 7: One of the basic jobs of a School Board Member is to hire and fire the Superintendent. How should a Superintendent be evaluated?

Question 8 (Submitted by constituent): Given the rhetoric around cutting wasteful spending, please provide one specific part of the budget where you believe waste exists and how would you make cuts that would not affect the classroom.

Closing statements:

Since the time allotted for the forum ended before all the questions could be asked, the remaining ones were sent to the candidates by email. Any responses received will be published in a future article.

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Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special education needs, who serves as the Education Chair for the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.