Sun Valley voters in LAUSD District 6 had no real choice in the 2026 primary. Incumbent Kelly Gonez advances to a third term with no ballot opponent, while the school board faces an $877 million deficit and a superintendent on leave.
Sun Valley residents did not get a choice in who represents them on the Los Angeles Unified School District board this election cycle. Incumbent sailed to a third and final term in District 6 with no opponent on the ballot, according to results released by the Los Angeles County registrar's office.
Gonez, first elected in 2017, faced only a last-minute write-in challenge from Jose Sagredo, whose name did not appear on the ballot. Additional ballots remained to be counted as of Wednesday afternoon, but the outcome was never in doubt.
District 6 covers the eastern San Fernando Valley. It includes Sun Valley, Arleta, North Hollywood, Panorama City, San Fernando, Sylmar and Toluca Lake.
The district serves 54,214 students across 64 elementary schools, 12 middle schools and 14 high schools, according to LAUSD data for the 2025-26 school year.
Gonez also served as board president in 2020 and 2023. She will return to a board facing one of the most difficult periods in LAUSD's recent history.
The board that reassembles after this election inherits a district with deep problems. LAUSD faces a projected $877 million structural budget deficit for the 2026-27 school year. The board voted in May to eliminate more than 650 jobs as part of a plan to cut spending. Further layoffs and school closures could come.
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho remains on paid administrative leave after federal agents searched his home and office in February. The board appointed longtime administrator Andres Chait as acting superintendent. Carvalho has not been charged with a crime and has said he wants to return to work. The board has not publicly discussed whether or when he will be reinstated.
"They've gotta really consider hard if he's gonna bring a lot of baggage back into the administrative position," said Lance Christensen, vice president of education policy at the California Policy Center.
Student enrollment in LAUSD has dropped more than 40 percent compared to two decades ago, driven by declining birthrates and the high cost of living in Southern California. The district now serves roughly 390,000 students, down from a peak of more than 600,000.
"We're not gonna see a return of the students of the past," said Pedro Noguera, dean of USC's Rossier School of Education. "We're gonna see a much smaller district than we've known, and that means that the district has to think strategically about how to downsize central office operations, as well as the number of schools they run."
The broader LAUSD election cycle was marked by the absence of the kind of high-spending, heated races that defined the past decade. Charter school advocates, who poured tens of millions into school board races in the 2010s and early 2020s, largely stepped aside this year. The United Teachers Los Angeles union backed Rocio Rivas in District 2 with more than $889,000 in independent expenditures. Rivas led with 60.69 percent of the vote against challenger Raquel Zamora.
In District 4, incumbent Nick Melvoin captured 65.38 percent of the vote, backed by retired businessman Bill Bloomfield, who spent $367,093 on his behalf.
District 6 had neither a union-backed challenger nor a charter-backed candidate. Gonez was the only certified candidate on the ballot.
"With no charter support activated, no viable opponent to any of the incumbents, no bond measure and the superintendent on leave not being politicized, LAUSD elections were the sleepiest in a decade," said Fernando Guerra, a political science professor at Loyola Marymount University.
Gonez's campaign website stated she would "continue fighting to protect our schools from attacks, to expand opportunities for every child no matter their ZIP code, language, or immigration status, and to ensure our classrooms are places of joy, belonging, and safety."
The board will face decisions about whether to close or consolidate schools as enrollment continues to decline. It must also manage a budget that has relied on billions of dollars in reserves to close the gap between revenue and expenses. School leaders warn those reserves could be depleted within a few years without structural change.
Election results are scheduled to be certified June 26.
For Sun Valley families, the message from this cycle is clear. The person making decisions about their schools was never in jeopardy. The bigger question is whether that same board can handle the problems that are coming.
This article was generated with AI assistance.