"Meet the new boss,
Same as the old boss."
- The Who, "Won't Get Fooled Again"
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent Alberto Carvalho's resignation last month drove home how secure the status quo's hold is on Los Angeles schools. For almost four months, the school board has allowed Carvalho to continue receiving his $440,000 annual salary, even as he has been under investigation by federal law enforcement, allegedly for his connections to the failed AI chatbot company AllHere.
When federal agents raided Carvalho's home, district offices, and property in Florida on February 25, 2026, it threatened to upend the ongoing school board elections. After all, the current board, including the three incumbents running for re"'election, had voted unanimously just a few months earlier to extend the superintendent's contract without seeking public input.
While the raid has not yet resulted in any arrests, the spectacle of federal agents carrying away boxes of potential evidence casts doubt on the strength of the board's oversight. How deeply had board members examined Carvalho's relationship with AllHere when the superintendent brought them a $6 million contract with the company? When AllHere went bankrupt, jeopardizing the district's investment, did they investigate why the superintendent had not warned them of the risk? Had the contract included appropriate safeguards?
These were all questions tailor"'made for the campaign trail. However, this form of accountability requires challengers willing to confront the status quo, and this race had very few of them. Kelly Gonez received 100% of the vote on Election Day because no one successfully qualified to run against her. Nick Melvoin and Dr. Rocio Rivas each drew a single challenger, ensuring their races would be decided in the primary.
Melvoin and Gonez had both performed poorly in the 2022 election cycle. When Melvoin sought a promotion to the halls of Congress, voters rejected him decisively. With blood in the water, you would expect a crowd lining up to take their shot, but there wasn't.
Why did challengers not materialize?
Part of the blame lies with the current political environment. In the age of Trump, local politicians, especially school board members, are subjected to harassment and sometimes violence by those who disagree with their policies. This was on full display three years ago when anti"'LGBTQ protestors surrounded Jackie Goldberg at Saticoy Elementary School. Even after voting ended, a business owner upset by the way the candidate's wife conducted herself during the campaign has continued to harass BD4 candidate Ankur Patel.
Who would want to subject themselves to this type of vitriol? The cost of stepping into public service has rarely been higher.
United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), the union representing the district's teachers, nurses, high school librarians, and other licensed professionals, also deserves part of the blame. As the largest counterweight to the charter school industry, the union has an obligation to build a bench so that candidates are ready when election season arrives. It is inexcusable that Gonez ran unopposed and that UTLA had no one prepared to support in a race against Melvoin, perhaps the most anti"'union of all the Los Angeles school board members.
Even without candidates waiting in the wings, the union had a candidate on the ballot who supported their needs in the race against Melvoin, but did not issue an endorsement. This is a mistake it has made repeatedly over the years.
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