With just a month to go until the LAUSD Board District 5 special election, candidate Heather Repenning leads in fundraising. Her campaign has taken in $197,248 according to the Los Angeles City Ethics Comission website. Allison Bajracharya is close behind with $151,372 and Graciela Ortiz is in third among ten candidates, with $114,315. 

Jackie Goldberg is in fourth place, with $77,951. However, a PAC funded by the teachers union has spent $171,000 backing her. Service Employees International Union Local 99, the union of 30,000 teacher assistants, bus drivers and other school support staff, has spent nearly $429,000 to get Repenning elected.

 Other candidates in the race are Ana Cubas, who has brought in $49,169, Cynthia Gonzalez with $24,615, David Valdez at $19,283, Salvador “Chamba” Sanchez at $6,999, Nestor Enrique Valencia at $2,644, and Rocio Rivas who, as of the most recent reporting deadline (January 19), had not reported any funds raised.

These figures pale in comparison to the 2017 LAUSD board elections, when nearly $10 million was spent in the Board District 4 race and $5 million in the Board District 6 race. Independent expenditures by UTLA and the California Charter Schools Association accounted for most of that. CCSA is not endorsing a candidate in the BD5 primary and has not spent any money backing or opposing any candidates.