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

Two incumbents facing challenges in the Long Beach Unified Board of Education race won election on Tuesday.

With all precincts reporting, board member and President Felton Williams led challenger Jessica Vargas-Alvarez, a community and school organizer, with 68.7 percent of the vote in District 2. The vote tally was 2,680 for Williams and 1,223 for Vargas-Alvarez, according to unofficial results posted by the City Clerk.

Williams said the results indicate voters support the work that district leaders are doing.

“It says our district is in fairly good shape, according to the voters,” Williams said. “They appreciate the work that we’re doing. We’re doing something right, and the voters acknowledged that.”

District 2 stretches from the weste border of the city to Signal Hill in the east, south to 10th Street and north to Wardlow Road.

In the District 4 race, board member and Vice President Jon Meyer led challenger Rosi Pedersen with 61.8 percent of the vote. The tally was 4,910 votes for Meyer and 3,031 for Pedersen.

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

Whomever 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.

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