Voters To Decide District 5 School Board Race on Tuesday, May 17

Voters living in Los Angeles Unified School District 5 will on Tuesday, May 17 go to the polls to elect their next representative on the board of education.

Their choices included Bennet Kayser, a resident of Echo Park and longtime middle school teacher at Irving Middle School, and Luis Sanchez, a former city commissioner and the current chief of staff for LAUSD Board President Monica Garcia.

The two candidates already squared off during the March 8 general election, but were forced into a run-off when neither candidate was able to secure 50-percent of the vote, the amount needed for the city clerk to certify the election. In that March 8 election, Sanchez won 45-percent of the vote from city voters compared to Kayser's 39-percent.

Though neither candidate has spoken in great detail about their plans to right the sinking ship that is the Los Angeles Unified School District, which is currently facing a $400 million dollar deficit for the coming fiscal year, their philosophical differences have nevertheless become clear.

Sanchez is an advocate of LAUSD's Public School Choice system, though which private charter schools are eligible to compete for opportunities to operate within public school buildings. Kayser is against allowing charters to compete within the Public School Choice system, instead arguing that competition only be opened to magnet schools within the public magnet school system.

Among Sanchez's chief financial support groups is SEIU Local 99, an education union comprising teachers, para-educators, custodians and cafeteria workers.

Kayser, meanwhile, has earned the endorsement of the United Teachers of Los Angeles.

For a full list of campaign contributions to made to each candidate's campaign, or to track how much has been spent by independent groups in favor of either candidate,  click here.

You can also find out where you can vote by clicking here.