A second candidate hopeful in the race to replace Marlene Canter on the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education has been knocked out of the race after failing to file enough voter signatures.
Bill Ring, a parent activist, was 52 signatures short of the 500 needed to run for the Westside board seat, city election officials said. The Los Angeles City Clerk's office made the finding of "insufficient" for Ring's nominating petition on Wednesday.
The news comes after well-connected politico Ben Austin was kicked out of the race on Monday, also for failing to come up with enough voter signatures.
Austin blamed the political consultancy that he had hired, Burnside & Associates, for gathering signatures in the wrong board district. Firm head Susan Burnside -- who's been active in Los Angeles politics for 20 years -- has since said that she is looking into the matter. She added that she has been out of the country for a month and has never met Austin.
With Austin and Ring out of the race, only two candidates are left. Both are teachers.
Steve Zimmer, a teacher at Marshall High School with an activist background, received the endorsement of United Teachers Los Angeles. Mike Stryer is a teacher at Fairfax High School with a background in business.
Both had begun fundraising before Sept. 30, according to their filings with the City Ethics Commission.
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