Runoff in L.A. School Board Race

Monica Garcia finished far ahead of other candidates in Tuesday’s special election for an open seat on the Los Angeles school board but did not tally enough votes to take the spot outright.

Garcia, who earned 47% of the votes, was endorsed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. She has indicated an openness to a mayoral takeover of the school district, which Villaraigosa has pushed strongly.

Christopher Arellano, who was backed vigorously by the powerful teachers union, for which he works, placed a distant second with 19% of the votes.

Because no candidate received more than half of the votes, a runoff will be held in June between Garcia and Arellano.

Five candidates were on the ballot for the position on the seven-member school board that was left vacant when Jose Huizar won a Los Angeles City Council seat in November.

Garcia, 37, is Huizar’s former chief of staff and is widely considered to be an insider candidate, familiar with the workings of the school district.

With all precincts reporting, three other candidates had fallen far behind: Enrique Gasca, 31, who billed himself as the only parent in the race; Ana Teresa Fernandez, 23, a charter school advocate; and Maria Lou Calanche, who suspended her campaign because of a lack of funds.

About 13,500 ballots were cast as the election inspired few voters in the district, which stretches from Boyle Heights to Mid-Wilshire and includes Chinatown, Koreatown and the Pico-Union area.

The winner of the runoff will join the Los Angeles Unified School District board at an unsettled time.

Villaraigosa has aggressively criticized the board, and the district as a whole, as calls for a takeover of the school system.

Board members, meanwhile, have begun the search to replace Supt. Roy Romer. After six years in the job, he has said he wants to leave by September.

The district is also engaged in a massive school construction program and an effort to revamp high schools.

The relatively placid race was rocked last week by reports that Arellano, 33, had twice been convicted of shoplifting during the 1990s and his own admission that he had lied about completing coursework from USC.

The revelations dealt a blow to his campaign, funded almost entirely by $200,000 in contributions from United Teachers Los Angeles, the union. News about the falsified degrees angered many in the teachers union and led the county Democratic Party and Sheriff Lee Baca to withdraw their support.

Last week, teacher union leaders indicated that if Arellano made a runoff, they would call an emergency meeting to reconsider whether to continue supporting him.

Times staff writer Tanya Caldwell contributed to this report.