L.A. school board challenger Ref Rodriguez surged to an early lead in election returns Tuesday

Great news from LA, where reformer Ref Rodriguez (I sent out an appeal for him in December: http://edreform.blogspot.com/2014/12/ref-rodriguez-for-la-school-board.html) defeated an incumbent with 54% of the vote to win a spot on the LA school board, despite the local union, UTLA, spending over $1 million to defeat him:

2 Challengers, 1 Incumbent Finish First in Election for Nation's Second-Largest School System

Posted 4:39 AM, May 20, 2015, by Los Angeles Times, Updated at 05:40am, May 20, 2015

L.A. school board challenger Ref Rodriguez surged to an early lead in election returns Tuesday. (Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

In final, unofficial election returns Tuesday night, two challengers defeated incumbents to win seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education.

In District 5, well-funded challenger Ref Rodriguez bested one-term incumbent Bennett Kayser, winning with nearly 54% of the vote. That area includes neighborhoods north and east of downtown, as well as the cities of southeast L.A. County.

"It looks good," Rodriguez told a crowd of supporters before the final results were tallied. "I decided to run because I knew the system wasn't working for all kids."

 

Alas, Tony Williams wasn't so fortunate in the Philadelphia mayoral primary.

 

The rest of this email is focused on higher education.