Hermosa Beach School district to appoint Ackerman replacement
The Hermosa Beach City School District will replace former board member Patti Ackerman, who stepped down at last month, by appointment rather than by special election.
The school board voted 3-1 to replace Ackerman with an appointment at a meeting last week. Board members said that while they recognized the importance of the democratic process in filling the seat, the associated costs tilted their decision.
Superintendent Pat Escalante said that holding a special election would cost about $65,000. According to Angela Jones, business manager for the district, because the item was not allocated in the approved budget for this year, the cost would have to come out of reserves.
Board member Monique Ehsan said that the district’s low funding allotment under the California’s Local Control Funding Formula meant that the loss of funds represented a threat to programs provided through fundraising.
“In a tiny school district like ours that is so extraordinarily underfunded, I can’t justify spending $65,000 on an election. I think we will arrive at the same destination [with an appointment], just $65,000 richer,” Ehsan said.
The date by which a replacement for Ackerman could be found also weighed on board members’ considerations. An appointment would have to be made by Oct. 30, but the date on which a special election would have taken place was less clear. At last week’s meeting, Escalante said that she has asked for a date from the Los Angeles Office of Education but had not received a clear answer, other than that it could not be combined with the Nov. 7 City Council election.
Board president Maggie Bove-LaMonica, the lone no vote, said that she would have preferred to know the date of a special election before making the decision.
“ My first instinct is to go with a special election. Although I’m hesitant to spend the $65,000, it is why we have reserves,” Bove-LaMonica said.
Bove-LaMonica also dissented earlier this year, when the board voted to extend the terms of existing board members to comply with SB 415, a California law designed to increase turnout in local elections by moving them to even years, when congressional and presidential races take place. That vote extended the terms of Ehsan, as well as whoever is named as Ackerman’s replacement, to 2020 instead of 2019.
According to a letter sent to the district from the county office of education following Ackerman’s submittal of her resignation, “If a special election is called, its date will be determined based on when the board notifies this office of its intent to appoint or call a special election.” Reached by phone, a spokesperson for the county office said that it was difficult to determine exactly when an election would take place because elections are run by the Registrar-Recorder, a separate agency.
The spokesman said that of the roughly 80 school districts in the county, most vacancies are filled by appointment because of the cost. Special elections are especially costly because the cost is borne by only one government body, rather than shared, as with statewide elections.
Applications to be considered for the appointment were posted on the district’s website following the decision, with a filing deadline of Sept. 29. Chosen candidates will be notified by Oct. 6, and will be interviewed, in public, at the district’s Oct. 11 meeting. Deliberations and the announcement will take place at a special meeting to be held sometime between Oct. 11 and the Oct. 30 deadline.