On Tuesday, union-backed (and incumbent) Los Angeles Board of Education member David Tokofsky defeated challenger Nellie Rios-Parra in a key runoff election that shifted the board's balance of power back to the union. Four years ago, with the backing of the Coalition for Kids, a political action group led by financier Eli Broad and former mayor Richard Riordan, reform-minded candidates were able to win a majority on the school board. This year, the teachers' union outspent the Coalition and helped defeat two reformist incumbents in the general election in March, then provided Tokofsky with plenty of financial support to help him ensure victory in this runoff. [For more details on the general election, see http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=14#293.]
"Trustee Tokofsky reelected," by Cara Mia DiMassa, Duke Helfand, and Erika Hayasaki, Los Angeles Times, May 21, 2003