Long Beach election: Felton Williams, Jon Meyer ahead in LBUSD race

Two incumbents, facing challenges in the Long Beach Unified Board of Education election, are ahead in early voting.

With mail-in ballots counted, board member and President Felton Williams leads challenger Jessica Vargas-Alvarez, a community and school organizer, with 68.9 percent of the vote in District 2. The vote tally so far Tuesday is 1,777 for Williams and 801 for Vargas-Alvarez.

District 2 stretches from the westside, east to Signal Hill, south to 10th Street and the north to Wardlow Road.

In the District 4 race, board member and Vice President Jon Meyer leads challenger Rosi Pedersen, with 63.7 percent of the vote. The tally so far is 3,815 votes for Meyer and 2,174 for Pedersen.

District 4 includes the southeast and easte sides of the city.

Whoever wins the seats will face immediate and long-term challenges for the state’s fifth largest school district, which serves 79,000 students and oversees 85 schools.

A key decision will be whether the district asks voters for a $1.5 billion property tax measure for the November ballot that would pay for school upgrades and construction.

The district is also receiving more money, thanks to the state’s Local Control Funding Formula, which went into effect in 2013 and reformed the way school districts receive state funding by giving them more control of the funding allocated to them. LBUSD received $631 million for the 2015-16 school year and will receive $651 million for 2016-2017.

Under the formula, districts receive base funding for all students and extra funding for the amount of students they serve who are leaing English, in foster care or in a low-income household.

The district has also grappled with a proposal to change some school names. The issue came to a head last year when the community asked the board to rename Lee Elementary because it was named for Confederate Army Gen. Robert E. Lee. The district has received a list of 10 potential names, but has not yet taken action.