One of three Fresno Unified school board candidates backed by a teachers union earned a solid victory late Tuesday, while a second was defeated and a third -- incumbent Carol Mills -- held a razor-thin lead.
With votes from all precincts counted, former Fresno Teachers Association President Larry Moore outpolled imcumbent Manuel Núñez, 43% to 35%. Núñez represents the Roosevelt High area on the Board of Trustees.
Mills, who represents the Fresno High area, had 50.1% of the vote and challenger Natalie Clark, had 49.6%. Only 294 votes separated the candidates.
"I'm very optimistic," Mills said earlier Tuesday night.
Said Moore: "To be politically correct, I would say I am cautiously optimistic."
A third candidate backed by the Fresno Teachers Association, Virginia Hermosillo, lost to incumbent Janet Ryan. With all precincts reporting, Ryan received 59% of the vote to 40% for Hermosillo, a PTA/school volunteer.
Before the election, Núñez said two other Hispanic candidates running for the same seat -- Esmeralda Diaz and Paul H. Garcia -- would take votes from him. In the latest returns, Diaz and Garcia attracted about 21% of the total vote.
"I knew they would do it, but there was nothing I could do about it," Núñez said late Tuesday.
Diaz spent less than $1,000 on her campaign. She said she was pleased with her effort but conceded that she couldn't compete with "the political machines" that dominate the school board election.
"This was a huge accomplishment for me, because it's my first time," Diaz said. "I'm happy for Mr. Moore, but I will be back."
Garcia also spent less than $1,000. He said he too was pleased with his effort. The winners, he said, now must work as a team, because "there are big challenges ahead."
Fresno Unified, with 73,782 students, is the fourth-largest school district in California. Poverty rates are high; 85% of district's students are eligible to receive free or reduced-price school meals, according to the state Department of Education.
Trustees are paid $1,500 a month. Winners of the election will join a seven-member board that has been tackling high dropout rates, low student test scores and several years of declining enrollment.
The teachers union collected $164,000 to spend on the candidates it backed. The union pumped most of its money into radio advertisements and fliers criticizing Superintendent Michael Hanson's 35% pay raise. Trustees raised his annual pay in January to $277,000. Núñez and Ryan voted for the raise, while Mills opposed it.
Ryan, Núñez and Clark were endorsed by Fresno Citizens for Good Government, the Lincoln Club and other business and political leaders.
Together, they spent as much as the teachers union on television and radio ads, as well as fliers, to attack the union, saying its slate wants to fire Hanson.
FTA President Greg Gadams and the union's candidates say they aren't pushing for Hanson to lose his job. But Moore said that if he is elected, he would not "rubber stamp" everything Hanson recommended to the school board.
Of the three races, the Mills-Clark race has been the most contentious. Clark and her supporters repeatedly cited a grand jury report that accused Mills of micromanaging Hanson. Mills, however, said the 2007 grand jury report was unfounded. Although the grand jury asked Mills to step down as board president, trustees voted to retain her.
"I'm glad voters saw through the deceptive ads and misleading information," Mills said Tuesday night.
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