Voters Tuesday will choose reform plans for 30 Los Angeles-area schools in an election like no other.<\/p>\n
For one thing, the voting age could dip to 14. Undocumented residents are welcome. Some people will get multiple votes. Ballot stuffing is expected.<\/p>\n
And did we mention that each contestant will actually be competing in seven simultaneous elections? And that the results could be meaningless?<\/p>\n
Whoever said democracy is messy could have been thinking of the Los Angeles Unified School District.<\/p>\n
The subject of the election is singular: Groups inside and outside the school system are competing to run 12 persistently low-performing schools and 18 new campuses. The purpose of the balloting is for different voting blocs to select their favored bidder. Each bloc will be tallied separately, including parents, high school students and school employees.<\/p>\n
Despite all the hoopla \u2014 and the complaints from all sides about the
\nprocess and the actions of rivals \u2014 the election results could prove
\nmeaningless. It will be up to L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines to
\nmake recommendations for each school, and the school board will make
\nthe final choice late this month.<\/p>\n
Voters will include the parents of students in the schools that feed into a campus that is up for grabs. For example, elementary and middle school parents will get to vote on reform plans for Jefferson High<\/a> if those students might ultimately attend Jefferson High. The parents of eighth-graders \u2014 those nearest to attending Jefferson \u2014 will be tallied separately from other feeder-school parents. And the parents of current Jefferson students will also be counted separately.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n