Rivas, Melvoin Face Challenges in Lausd Tuesday Primary
lausd voters in Districts 2, 4 and 6 will choose among candidates in Tuesday’s primary election for three board seats. The result will help shape the seven-member school board’s response to a projected $877 million structural budget deficit for the 2026-27 school year.
LAUSD serves more than 520,000 students across a 710-square-mile area covering most of Los Angeles and portions of 25 other cities or unincorporated areas in Los Angeles County. The district also narrowly avoided a teacher’s strike in April, and Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has been on paid leave since February after federal agents searched his home.
District 2 on the ballot
District 2 spans much of downtown and East L.A. and includes 76 elementary schools, 11 middle schools and 24 high schools. LAUSD data put enrollment there at 55,014 students during the 2025-26 school year, making the seat one of the district’s most closely watched contests.
The race pits incumbent and board vice president Rocío Rivas against Raquel Zamora, a teacher and counselor with 20 years of experience with LAUSD. Rivas said she supports strategic budget adjustments rather than reactive cuts that would disproportionately affect the district’s highest-need schools.
“I support an approach that makes strategic adjustments rather than reactive cuts that would disproportionately impact our highest-need schools,” Rivas said in response to a questionnaire. “This includes auditing contracts, reducing external consultants, maximizing public dollars through partnerships with nonprofits and leveraging bonds for long-term operational savings.”
Zamora said budget decisions must put students and classrooms first. “From my perspective as an educator, budget decisions must always prioritize students and classrooms. That means protecting core instructional programs, maintaining reasonable class sizes and preserving vital supports such as counselors, librarians, nurses and special education services,” she said.
She added: “When cuts are necessary, they should focus on reducing administrative inefficiencies and better utilizing existing resources — not taking supports away from students who need them most.”
Melvoin and Patel in District 4
District 4 primarily represents the Westside and includes 57 elementary schools, 11 middle schools and six high schools. It had 43,629 students during the 2025-26 school year and the second-lowest enrollment among the seven board districts.
The candidates are incumbent Nick Melvoin and Ankur Patel, an educator and the current outreach director for the Hindu University of America. Melvoin said LAUSD should take a comprehensive approach to its budget and enrollment challenges.
He said the district should communicate more clearly about the programs already available to attract families to their local schools. “We should do a better job communicating the strong programs already available to attract families to their local,” Melvoin said in response to a questionnaire.
The three contested seats leave the board with immediate responsibility for finances, staffing and school access as the district heads into another budget cycle. For voters in Districts 2 and 4, the choice is already in front of them: candidates are offering different answers on how to protect classroom services while narrowing a deficit that is already on the books.
