School Board Runoff : Korenstein Agrees to Debate Horowitz

Los Angeles school board member Julie Korenstein agreed Tuesday to participate in at least one face-to-face debate with challenger Gerald E. Horowitz before the June 6 runoff election.

Horowitz, a junior high school principal, challenged Korenstein in a letter Monday to a series of five 90-minute debates next month on a series of topics, such as district finances, the ongoing contract dispute with teachers and campus violence. Horowitz proposed that a panel of reporters ask the candidates questions.

“Both of us share the responsibility to provide the voters with the opportunity to critically compare our qualifications and stands on the issues,” Horowitz said in the letter to Korenstein.

But Korenstein’s campaign consultant, Parke Skelton, said that the incumbent probably will not agree to more than one or two debates and does not want to limit debate topics. Skelton said he also wants the audience to be able to ask questions of the candidates.

Public Participation

“What’s the point of having a public debate without public participation?” Skelton asked.

Korenstein said she welcomes the chance to debate Horowitz. “I don’t think the debate will be advantageous at all to him,” she said.

The debate would be the first for the two candidates, who attended several candidate forums in the weeks before the April 11 election. Korenstein faced five challengers in that race and fell 57 votes short of the 50% plus one vote majority needed to win the election. Horowitz finished second with about 22% of the vote.

Korenstein, who has received strong support from the Los Angeles teachers union, was elected in 1987 to fill the two years remaining in former board member David Armor’s term.

Horowitz, the principal of Byrd Junior High School in Sun Valley, has called Korenstein “an inexperienced and ineffective” board member, a claim the incumbent has denied.