Razor-Thin Split Forces Runoff in School Board Vote : Korenstein Falls Short by 57 Ballots

Los Angeles school board incumbent Julie Korenstein will face junior high school Principal Gerald E. Horowitz in a runoff election June 6, based on final results of last week’s election released Thursday.

Korenstein, 45, held a razor-thin, 27-vote advantage with 3,900 uncounted ballots in the semiofficial results released the day after the April 11 election.

The incumbent, who received strong financial and volunteer support from the Los Angeles teachers union, needed to win 50% plus one vote to avoid a runoff for her West San Fernando Valley seat. But she fell short by 57 votes, winning 49.92% of the total with 34,716 votes, according to final results released by the city clerk.

Horowitz, principal of Richard E. Byrd Junior High School in Sun Valley, finished ahead of four other challengers with 15,310 votes, about 22% of the nearly 70,000 votes cast.

United Teachers-Los Angeles President Wayne Johnson said he believes that union members will continue to donate time and money to Korenstein’s campaign. The 32,000-member union is already working to elect challenger Mark Slavkin, who forced Westside incumbent Alan Gershman into a June runoff.

Victories for both Korenstein and Slavkin are considered crucial to the union, whose contract demands have remained at least one vote short of board approval, Johnson said.

“There is no question that we wanted Julie to win it outright,” Johnson said. “But this won’t make any difference in our strategy. “

Johnson said that the union will continue to prepare for a May 30 strike. The results of a strike vote taken this week by teachers are to be released Monday.

UTLA has asked for a 21% raise over two years, while the district has offered a 20% hike over three years.

Horowitz, 56, has criticized Korenstein throughout the campaign as a liberal and ineffective board member who has supported controversial programs such as a counseling program for gay and lesbian students as well as the district’s three school-based health clinics, which also dispense birth control devices and information.

‘Voters Have Spoken’

“The final tally . . . is good news for every student, every parent, every taxpayer and every responsible educator in the school district,” Horowitz said Thursday. “It means that the voters have spoken and the voters of the West Valley will get a chance to choose between two candidates who have clear differences on the issues.”

“Everybody has been waiting anxiously,” Korenstein said. “We will get the team back together, roll up our sleeves and hit the pavement. We absolutely expect to win.”

Horowitz challenged Korenstein to a series of debates. But the incumbent said she has no plans to change her primary strategy.

The Korenstein and Horowitz race will also include elements of revenge. Horowitz last summer accused Korenstein of arranging to have him transferred after 10 years from Frost Junior High School in Granada Hills, allegedly because he supported her opponent in the 1987 board race.

Korenstein has denied the allegations. She was elected to the board 20 months after defeating Barbara Romey in a runoff to fill the two years remaining in former board member David Armor’s term.

Final election results were delayed because most of the 3,914 uncounted ballots were cast on absentee voter forms that had to be verified, a city clerk’s spokesman said.