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Maritza Molina, Hugo Rojas and incumbent Rocio Pizano are leading the race for three open seats on the Centinela Valley Union High school District Board of Trustees.

With nine precincts reporting, Molina leads Frank Talavera with 51 percent of the vote, Rojas leads Rudy Salas with 57 percent of the vote and Pizano leads Susie Diaz and Jessica Felix with 43 percent of the vote.

In Torrance, Mark Steffen, Al Muratsuchi and Michael Wermers are leading with one precinct reporting.

Steffen has 25 percent of the vote, Muratsuchi has 24.5 percent and Wermers has 17 percent. Kathleen Wood is coming in with 14 percent, G. Rick Marshall has 11 percent and Sameer Bhavnani has two percent.

Kevin Bellenfant, who dropped out early in the race, has six percent of the vote.

Voters in six South Bay school districts are set to go to the polls Tuesday to elect members of their governing boards.

Here's a list of districts and candidates:

Centinela Valley Union High School District: incumbents Rocio Pizano, Rudy Salas and Francisco Talavera; challengers Susie Diaz, Jessica Felix, Maritza Molina and Hugo Rojas.

Hawthorne School District: incumbent Nilo Michelin; challengers Nadia Barrera, Eugene Krank and John Vargas.

Hermosa Beach City School District: no incumbents; Carleen Beste, Jack Burns, Jake Pike, Sienna Tucker and Ray Waters.

Lennox School District: incumbents Maribel Amaya, Marisol Cruz and Maria Verduzco-Smith; challengers Rose Joseph, Juan Navarro, Humberto Rivera and Sonia Saldana.

Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District: incumbents Barbara Lucky and Malcolm Sharp; challengers Karen Hunter Bird, Anthony Collatos, Heather Haddon Matson and Gregory Royston.

Torrance Unified School District: incumbents Albert Muratsuchi and Mark Steffen; challengers Sameer Bhavnani, G. Rick Marshall, Michael Wermers and Kathleen Wood.

Polling locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

More information is available online at lavote.net

Candidates vying for a seat on the Centinela Valley Union High School Board of Trustees will take center stage this evening at 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria at Lawndale's Will Rogers Middle School. The event is sponsored by the Lawndale Elementary School District PTA and, from what I've heard, all seven candidates plan on attending. There are three open seats on the Centinela Board.

In Area One, recent University of California, Santa Barbara grad Maritza Molina will be facing current incumbent Francisco Talavera. In Area two, incumbent Rudy Salas will be running against Hugo Rojas, a current member of the Hawthorne school board. In Area five, incumbent Rocio Pizano will be running against Susie Diaz and Jessica Felix.

The Centinela Valley Secondary Teacher's Association is endorsing Salas, Talavera and Felix. Elections will be held November 3. Rogers Middle School is located at 4110 W. 154th Street in Lawndale.

At an election forum Wednesday night, a question was submitted to moderators that asked two of the challengers running for the Palos Verdes Peninsula school board why they had not voted in past elections in the school district.

The query was based on a review of voting records for Anthony Collatos and Greg Royston, according to the questioner's statement.

Collatos, an education professor at Pepperdine University, appeared slightly dumbfounded in response, saying, "My understanding is that I have voted ... Maybe there was a mistake."

Royston, a business attorney, said that he wasn't sure he was in the district in 2005, and that he had a family emergency in November 2007 and had to leave the country.

The exchange took place at the PV Council of PTAs and the local League of Women Voters forum at the Peninsula Center Library. The debate had some jabs that were a bit nasty between the two incumbents and four challengers, promising a fight that's bound to get messier in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 3 election. Three seats are set to be filled.

Thing is, my own review of voting records yesterday with a representative of the county Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk shows that both Collatos and Royston have in fact voted in recent elections.

Collatos voted in November 2005 and in November 2007. Royston voted in Novermber 2005, but not November 2007. They both also voted in May 19 parcel tax election.

Contrary to the questioner's claim, there is no way to know if a given ballot showed marks for a specific election. Because of the privacy of ballots, all the county can say is whether a voter went the polls or submitted an absentee ballot -- NOT whether the voter participated in, for example, a school board election.

Stay tuned for more coverage.

Hi folks. We unfortunately had an error in our story on South Bay elections today.

Barbara Lucky, a board member with the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, did file papers on Friday (the last day for incumbents to file) to run for re-election. If re-elected, Lucky would serve her fourth term on the board.

I apologize for the mistake. The county website was not updated with this information until after 6:30 p.m., and we forgot to check for new filers.

This means there are five qualified candidates for three seats on the board: Lucky and incumbent Malcolm Sharp (Ginny Snider has chosen not to run again); Karen Bird, an attorney and wife of Palos Verdes Estates Councilman George Bird; Gregory Royston, also an attorney and a businessman from Rancho Palos Verdes; and Heather Haddon Mattson of Palos Verdes Estates, a former teacher and administrator with Los Angeles Unified who has served as a substitute in schools on The Hill.

Anthony Collatos, a Pepperdine University education professor who lives in Palos Verdes Estates, has pulled papers but has not yet qualified.

Semi-official results published this afternoon showed Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District's $165 parcel tax won voter approval.

Measure V, which needed a two-thirds vote to pass, won over 68.9 percent of voters, according to the county elections Web site. That was a slight increase from the figure reported at the conclusion of all-mail election on Tuesday night.

More than 43 percent of registered voters cast ballots.

The parcel tax will raised an estimated $3.3 million annually for the school district, which is struggling with state budget cuts. The measure will sunset in 2013.

An estimated 500 to 600 ballots remain to be counted in Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified's all-mail parcel tax election, county officials said this afternoon.

Preliminary results from the election's Tuesday deadline showed the $165 parcel tax passing with 68.6 percent of the vote. Nearly all of the remaining ballots would need to be "no" votes for the measure to fail.

Supporters of the $100,000 campaign in favor of Measure V celebrated last night, though the margin was much more narrow than for the 2007 extension of the existing $209 parcel tax. (See today's story.)

Today, they said they were waiting on final results from the county.

The ballots should be counted by Friday afternoon, when the Department of Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk will make semi-official results available at lavote.net.

Nearly 42 percent of voters cast ballots, according to the preliminary vote total.

The school district is set to hold a board meeting Thursday evening on its budget, which has been slashed following cuts to state education funding.

A meeting scheduled for July 6 will take into account the election results for the parcel tax, which is expected to raise about $3.3 million per year until it sunsets in 2013.

This Thursday's meeting is set for approximately 6:30 p.m. at 3801 Via La Selva, Palos Verdes Estates.

Incidentally, there is apparently some speculation as to whether the the mail-only ballot constituted a "rigging" of the election.

Here's an email I received:

There are some people who think the PV schools election was rigged, because it held unusual circumstances. For instance, you didn't get to vote at a polling place, you had to mail in your
ballot. If you didn't vote via mail you had to physically drop the ballot off at City Hall I believe in PVE.

The question is: was this done to make sure it passed.

In fact, the school district went with an all-mail election to save the cost of a full election -- a move that several other school districts have made this spring. Tuesday's balloting cost the district an estimated $123,000, while a to-the-polls event could have cost nearly $600,000.

Of course, the district hoped to make the terms of the election favorable to a "yes" vote. The school board chose not to hold the election on May 19 to avoid being associated with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ill-fated budget measures.

Voters in the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District should mail their ballots Thursday or Friday, at the latest, to ensure they arrive by Tuesday's mail-only election deadline.

Here's some background on Measure V, the $165 parcel tax, which would raise $3.3 million per year for the high-achieving school district. It comes on top of an existing $209 tax. Both would sunset in 2013.

The district has cut some $6 million from its budget since the state Legislature ordered broad cuts to education with its February budget. The governor's newest budget proposal -- which seems to be losing out to the budget committee's version -- would cut more than $6 million more, district officials have said.

More than 200 employees have received pink slips. District Superintendent Walker Williams said "several dozen" teachers could be rehired if the ballot measure passes.

But Measure V comes at a time when many of the district's 41,229 registered voters (according to the county registrar) are feeling the pain of the recession.

A parcel tax is leading by a hair in South Pasadena, which is one of several mostly wealthy areas where education agencies are seeking parcel taxes to make up for state cuts.

Some interesting thoughts on parcel taxes in a blog post today from one the LA Times' editorial board members.

Voters on The Hill can drop off their ballots on Tuesday. More information on ballots and voting after the jump.

Ben Austin, who last year was forced out of the race for the Los Angeles school board's Westside seat, has sued the political consultant he blamed when he was booted from the ballot.

Austin filed suit against Sue Burnside and her company Burnside & Associates on Tuesday -- election day -- alleging breach of oral contract, fraud and negligent misrepresentation.

In the complaint, Austin calls himself the "leading candidate for a position on the Los Angeles School Board, who had already amassed a healthy war chest of campaign funds, and a 'who's who' list of endorsements."

Austin had been expected to be a front-runner for the seat that Steve Zimmer has apparently won. As head of Green Dot-affiliated Los Angeles Parents Union, Austin would have been a reform-focused candidate. He has said he expected the endorsement on L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- and the complaint states that he had the mayor's backing, among that of other heavy-hitters.

He alleges that Burnside farmed out signature-gathering work to Robert Urteaga, a consultant and Montebello councilman with a felony conviction who is currently the target of a recall campaign. The signatures were gathered in the incorrect board district, disqualifying Austin, Los Angeles officials have said.

"It was a stinging defeat that has tarnished the plaintiff's reputation," the complaint reads.

Urteaga, who according to the suit told Austin that he had in turn farmed out signatures gathering, was also a target of the suit. He could not immediately be reach for comment.

Burnside has said that Austin was not her client, she never agreed to a contract with him and has never met him.

"An independent contractor misrepresented himself - without my knowledge or approval - as an employee of Burnside & Associates when he agreed to collect the signatures for Mr. Austin," Burnside wrote in an email to friends and media when Austin was disqualified in December.

She said this morning that she had not been served with the complaint and thus would not comment on the lawsuit.

Austin is seeking damages in an amount to be determined at trial.

Los Angeles Unified board candidate Steve Zimmer has confirmed that he's received L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's endorsement.

Zimmer's website already lists the mayor's endorsement, though the announcement won't be made until after Inauguration festivities, the candidate said in an email.

Zimmer has been vying with fellow LAUSD high school teacher Mike Stryer for Villaraigosa's nod. Both men said last month that they were seeking the mayor's endorsement in their race to replace Marlene Canter representing diverse Westside/Hollywood/Woodland Hills District 4.

Just over $85,000 was raised in the race through Dec. 31.

Some observers had thought the mayor's endorsement would go to Ben Austin, a Green Dot-connected former deputy mayor under Richard Riordan. Austin dropped out of the race in December after saying a political consulting firm had incorrectly collected nominating signatures in the wrong board district.

As Daily News politics writer/blogger Rick Orlov reported Thursday, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party has endorsed Steve Zimmer in the two-teacher race for LAUSD's District 4 board seat.

The Dems also backed San Fernando Mayor Nury Martinez in another board contest; unchallenged incumbent Board President Monica Garcia got the nod too.

The Zimmer endorsement is interesting because his challenger, Mike Stryer, has been active in Westside Democratic circles. The Palisades Democratic Club, where he's a VP, gave him $1,000.

But Zimmer has long been involved in L.A. politics, having worked on a number of local campaigns, including L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's run for Assembly in 1994.

Villaraigosa is expected to name endorsements in LAUSD board races soon.

A little over $85,000 has been raised in the two-man race to replace Marlene Canter on Los Angeles Unified's Board of Education, according to city campaign finance records.

Monday was the deadline for candidates to file records of contributions received through Dec. 31.

Mike Stryer has raised $53,000 to Steve Zimmer's approximately $32,000.*

Both men are white LAUSD high school teachers. They're vying to represent a diverse district that runs from Westchester into Hollywood and up past Pacific Palisades into Woodland Hills. The race has changed significantly since contender Ben Austin dropped out last month after a signature-gathering fiasco.

Incumbent Monica Garcia, who is unchallenged in her bid to retain representation of downtown-centered District 2 -- has raised about $107,000.

In District 6, in the northeastern San Fernando Valley, the two candidates seeking to replace Julie Korenstein have raised significantly less -- about $23,000. Louis Pugliese, who has run for a board seat before, has far outpaced San Fernando Mayor Nury Martinez, who has just $1,500.

*Digging a little deeper, I see that Stryer loaned himself $30,000. A notable portion of his contributions come from outside the district -- other parts of California and outside the state. Also: Actress Ricki Lake gave him $250.

Most of Zimmer's contributions are from L.A., and a striking number are from LAUSD teachers and other employees. (Not surprising, perhaps, since he's got UTLA's endorsement.)

Generally speaking, it looks like Stryer, who has a background in business, has a lot more high-income donors -- at least surmising based on their job titles.

Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti endorsed Steve Zimmer for L.A. Unified Board of Education today.

Garcetti's spokeswoman, Julie Wong, said her boss was backing Zimmer in the race to replace Marlene Canter in the Westside/District 4 board seat.

The eastern edge of the school board district -- which runs from Westchester north to the southwest San Fernando Valley, and east into Hollywood -- overlaps with the western side of Garcetti's Hollywood/Silver Lake/Echo Park-based council district.

The board race was last week narrowed to two candidates, both LAUSD high school school teachers. Zimmer is known for community work at and around Marshall High School, and he's been endorsed by United Teachers Los Angeles.

His opponent, Mike Stryer, is a teacher at Fairfax High with a business background.

OK, I hope this is the last time I post on this situation with former LAUSD board candidate Ben Austin and the voter-signature debacle.

Consultant Sue Burnside, who runs the political consultancy that Austin said he hired to gather signatures, denies her firm had anything to do with it. She said in a statement issued Friday that an independent contractor claimed to represent her firm as a signature gatherer.

Burnside's statement is below, followed by a letter from Austin to his supporters on his exit from the campaign, in which he writes that the wrong signatures were collected "by accident."

Four days after a major campaign slip-up more or less forced him out of the contest, Los Angeles Unified board hopeful Ben Austin announced with an apology this afternoon that he would withdraw from the race.

Austin had been a top contender to replace Marlene Canter in the Westside/District 4 board seat.

He submitted voter signatures from backers in the wrong board district (a mishap he blamed on a political consulting firm), essentially disqualifying him from the race.

He could have appealed the city Election Division's decision, but it was a long shot.

His statement, in which he puts in a plug for his current gig at the Green Dot-affiliated Los Angeles Parents Union, follows:

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.

Nominating petitions were due Wednesday for elections conducted by the city of Los Angeles, which include the three Los Angeles Unified board spots that will come before voters in March.

In the District 4 race for the seat that Marlene Canter will vacate after two terms, the three lesser-known candidates have dropped out, after the initial filing period ended early last month.

That leaves the following four:

Ben Austin, head of the Los Angeles Parents Union, a Green Dot off-shoot. He was an adviser to Rob Reiner from 2002 to 2006, the year that Reiner resigned from the First 5 commission amid allegations that the pre-school-focused body had misused funds in support of a political campaign (for Prop 82, the universal pre-school ballot measure that went down in flames). Before that, Austin was a a spokesman/deputy mayor to Richard Riordan. Grew up in Venice, went to Berkeley and Georgetown Law. Austin lives in the Beverly Glen area, according to his filing.

See his website for more for more.
Tag line: "Change our children need."

Bill Ring, a parent activist who headed up the LAUSD Parent Collaborative, which apparently hasn't met since April. He lives in the Holmby Hills/Westwood area, according to his filing. He also moderates the LAUSD parents listserv.

This old website has some info about him starting a parents union in the district. Tag line, at least according to an email: "Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way."

Mike Stryer, a teacher and UTLA co-chair at Fairfax High School. Stryer had a career in international finance and business before becoming a teacher in 2003. He's got degrees from Stanford, Yale and Pepperdine. He's the head of the social studies department. He wants to get rid of local district offices. He lives in Pacific Palisades, and his two kids go to private schools.

See his website. Tag line: "For a district we deserve!"

Steve Zimmer, a teacher at Marshall High School. Zimmer started out as a Teach for America instructor in 1992, and went on to teach at Marshall, where he's worked on public service initiatives for students. From his site: "He is a long time supporter of immigrant rights and progressive labor in Los Angeles. Steve was the founder and leader of a teacher's group that led opposition to Proposition 187 ..." He lives in Hollywood, according to his filing.

See the website. Tag line: "We are LAUSD."

Through Sept. 30, Stryer had raised about $11,000 and Zimmer had almost $26,000, according to L.A. City Ethics Commission filings.The next filing deadline is not until Jan. 12.

Also of note: It's just Board President Monica Garcia running for re-election in District 2. San Fernando Mayor Nury Martinez and Louis Pugliese, who's run for the board before, are the two candidates in District 6 after three others dropped out.

Mike Stryer, a Fairfax High School teacher and candidate for Marlene Canter's District 4 LAUSD board seat, says he'd like to close the eight local district offices, in a profile in the Palisadian-Post.

"It's just another layer of bureaucracy between the school site and the central office," he said. By closing the offices, the district could save $40 million to $60 million, which could be used to reduce class sizes, add electives and improve teacher training, Stryer said.

Of course, Stryer may at least in part get his wish before even facing voters, if Senior Deputy Superintendent Raymond Cortines' pledge to cut the local district budgets in half becomes a reality.

The profile of Stryer also notes that the candidate's two children attend private schools: Viewpoint School in Calabasas and Milken School in Bel-Air.

Stryer is the UTLA chair and head of the social studies deparment at Fairfax. He's got an unusual background for an urban school teacher. According to the story:

He received his bachelor's degree in political science from Stanford and his master's degree in international relations from Yale. He worked for JPMorgan Chase in international finance in New York and for the international divisions of a gift company and a sporting goods company in Los Angeles before changing careers.

For the District 4 seat, add:

• Bev Meyer, who's listed as an educator and arts advocate
• Ben Austin, head of the Steve Barr (Green Dot)-backed Los Angeles Parents Union, former deputy mayor to Richard Riordan, former comms director for the 2000 Democratic Convention in L.A., etc.

Doesn't look like Austin has reported any contributions to the city Ethics Commission just yet.

*One more filed Saturday: Geoff Forgione, an attorney.

Candidates for the three LAUSD board seats that will be filled by voters in March must submit their declarations of intent to run by noon Saturday.

As of this morning, four applicants have filed to run for the Westside District 4 seat, which Marlene Canter is relinquishing after two terms.

• Bill Ring, a parent activist, former head of the Parent Collaborative and a publisher of the seemingly defunct "Guerilla Guide to L.A. Unified"
• Mike Stryer (website already up!), a teacher at Fairfax High School, where's he's been a UTLA chapter chair, who has raised almost $11,000 since August
• David Jimenez, who's listed as a psychologist
• Steve Zimmer, a teacher at Marshall High School and community organizer who's raised almost $26,000 since May

I hear there may be at least one more candidate filing.

For Julie Korenstein's District 6 seat (northeast San Fernando Valley), two candidates have filed:

• Nury Martinez, mayor of San Fernando
• Louis Pugliese, a lecturer at Cal State Northridge (and maybe an LAUSD teacher?) who's run for the board previously and has got $11,200 in the bank, mostly from loans

No one has filed thus far to challenge Monica Garcia for her District 2 (downtown and environs) seat.