Orange County's Nonprofit Newsroom

Around 650,000 students attend Orange County’s public schools and community colleges – and control of their education is on the ballot this fall.

Education races often are overlooked on ballots.

But they have an enormous impact on decisions like classroom mask rules, in person-versus-online classes, charter schools and what should – and should not – be taught in classrooms.

“I think the voters need to understand that policies are made for these community colleges [and public schools] from elections,” said Jodi Balma, a political science professor at Fullerton College who tracks local elections.

“We have seven people that decide, so four votes on our board decide whether we’ll have a mask mandate, whether we’ll have a vaccine mandate. They approve curriculum, they approve hiring.” 

And local education boards often are stepping stones for people who go on to higher office – like District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who got his start as an elected official 30 years ago on the Brea Olinda school board.

Control over school boards is set to be one of the hottest issues on Orange County ballots this year, with the candidate fields now finalized.

Voice of OC has compiled a list below of everyone who will be on the ballot for the Nov. 8 election for all 28 public districts and four community college districts in Orange County.

“[A] big issue for K-12 is how the district is going to respond to COVID-19 – even though kids are back at school without mask requirements – but how school districts will respond to future outbreaks,” said Mike Moodian, a professor of political science at Chapman University.”

While school board races are listed as non-partisan positions on the ballot, candidates on both sides of the political aisle generally try to get one of the two party’s endorsements to get ahead. 

“They really try to get endorsements from parties to win,” Moodian said. “Voters often rely on cheat sheets from their local party…that means [candidates] often get involved in partisan debates when they’re running for school board.”

This year, conservatives are mounting an organizing effort around school board elections that seems to outpace their liberal counterparts, said Balma.

“We’re seeing an organized effort to run candidates that are very conservative for school boards. And I don’t see the same organization on the other side,” she said.

A hot-button issue this year is the debate around critical race theory, which many conservative leaders say contains anti-American rhetoric that vilifies white people. Others dispute that, saying schools need curriculum that discusses a variety of views on American history and that critical race theory isn’t actually taught in K-12 classrooms.

The Placentia-Yorba Linda School District is one of the most prominent venues for education clashes in Orange County, with their most public fight coming after the board narrowly voted to ban any teaching of critical race theory in the district, despite district officials saying it already wasn’t being taught.

[Read: Placentia-Yorba Linda School Trustees Narrowly Ban Critical Race Theory]

That renewed focus on school boards has even pushed out some people interested in running who don’t want to step into that spotlight. 

In Capistrano Unified School District, trustee Pamela Braunstein resigned her seat earlier this year after she said she was harassed for refusing to oppose state mask mandates. 

Read: Capistrano Unified School Board Members Resigns, Citing Harassment After School Mask Debate

Voters will also be deciding who leads the county’s four community college districts, positions that have enormous influence but usually don’t get much attention from voters or the media.

“They’re low-profile races, and people still don’t know who they’re voting for, so they rely upon limited information in terms of making their selections,” Moodian said.

“Usually it comes down to the candidates who can raise enough money to put their name on slate mailers.”  

Balma agreed on the challenges voters face in getting information, and pointed out that in elections without an incumbent, it’s a total free for all. 

“It’s a really challenging, low information race,” Balma said. “Voters are looking at names, whatever you infer from the name on your ballot, and then ballot designation.”

Voice of OC is interested in readers’ questions for school and college board candidates. Questions can be submitted to reporter Nick Gerda at ngerda@voiceofoc.org.

The races for county superintendent and the county Board of Education were already decided in the June primary, with voters re-electing every official to those positions, maintaining an often adversarial relationship between the county’s top education officials. 

[Read: 2022 Primary Election Night Results: Who Will Run Orange County Education?]

The election results put four of the five county trustees as firm charter school supporters, and after Trustee Beckie Gomez resigned in order to keep her seat on the Tustin City Council, they appointed another charter advocate earlier this month.

[Read: OC Board of Education Member Beckie Gomez Resigns Amid Lawsuit]

While individual school districts can still deny applications for charter schools, those decisions can be appealed to the county board of education. 

Below is a rundown of everyone who will appear on the November ballot for Orange County’s 28 school districts and four community college districts.

The descriptions of each candidate are their official ballot designation each submitted to appear on the ballot. Some of these titles could change if they’re challenged and county Registrar of Voters Bob Page or a judge rules that the law requires a different title.

Usually, some of those descriptions are changed after a legal battle filed by the candidate’s opponents.

And in races where there’s only one candidate – or the number of candidates is equal to or less than the number of open seats – those races will not appear on the ballot at all, under state law.

[Click here to see which school and college districts you’re in.]

[Click here to see city candidates who will appear on the November ballot in the 10 largest OC cities.]

[Click here to see the county, state and Congressional candidates who will appear on the November ballot.]

Jessica Guerrero, Education Policy Advisor 

Billie Joe Wright, High School Teacher 

Annemarie Randle-Trejo, Anaheim Union High School District Governing Board Member

Anna L. Piercy, Anaheim Union High School District Governing Board Member

Nicole Colon, Brea Olinda Unified School District Governing Board Member 

Carrie Flanders, Brea Olinda Unified School District Governing Board Member 

Andrea Dibsy, Business Owner/Parent 

Chris Becerra, Educational Consultant/Professor 

Ralph Lefeber, Student Transportation Manager 

Kira Davis, Small Business Owner 

Jessica Hubbard, Education Nonprofit Executive 

Michael Parham, Parent/Businessman/CPA 

James (Jim) Glantz, Education Consultant/Businessman 

Darin Patel, Software Developer 

Gary Pritchard, Community College Dean 

Gila Jones, Capistrano Unified School District School Board Member 

Jeanette Contreras, Library Director 

Henry Charoen, Centralia School District Governing Board Member 

Robert Alexander, Retired Sergeant LASD 

Jon Peat, Cypress City Councilmember 

Troy Tanaka, Parent/Landlord 

Sandra Lee, Cypress School District Governing Board Member Trustee Area C 

Kyle Chang, Public Health Statistician 

Sandra Crandall, Fountain Valley School District Governing Board Member 

Megan Irvine, Nurse/Business Owner 

Trisha Rintoul, Airline Pilot/Mother 

Dennis Cole, Education Operations Director 

Phu Nguyen, CEO/Business Owner 

Eileen Maeda, Credentialed Music Teacher 

Lauren Klatzker, Fullerton Joint Union High School District Governing Board Member

Matthew Van Hook, Educator 

Ruthi Hanchett, Educator/Parent 

Lisa Wozab, Small Businessowner/Parent

Rudy Garcia, School Facilities Supervisor 

Lan Quoc Nguyen, Garden Grove Unified School District Governing Board Member 

Mark Anthony Paredes, Healthcare Engagement Manager 

Bob Harden, Garden Grove Unified School District Governing Board Member

Marlene Bronson, Parent/Server 

Debra Hilton Kamm, Parent 

Katie Mcewen, Parent/Teacher 

Autumn Digiovanni, Businesswoman/Parent 

Paul R. Morrow, Incumbent 

Julie Norton, Parent/Business Owner 

Duane Dishno, Huntington Beach Union High School District Governing Board Member 

Diana Lee Carvey, Huntington Beach Union High School District Governing Board Member 

Bonnie Castrey, Huntington Beach Union High School District Governing Board Member 

Scott Rogers, Software Sales Executive 

Angela Salinardi, Parent/Holistic Practitioner 

Matthew Harper, Businessman/Business Owner 

Christine Hernandez, Nonprofit Program Director 

Saul Lankster, Criminal Justice Professor 

Marlene Bronson, Parent/Server 

Katie Mcewen, Parent/Teacher 

Debra Hilton Kamm, Education Advocate/Parent 

Adam Rogers, La Habra City School District Governing Board Member 

Joshua Atwater, System Administrator/Parent 

Rocio Carmona, Business Owner/Parent 

Marlys Davidson, Los Alamitos Board Member 

Colin Edwards, Parent/Orange County Businessowner 

Diana D. Hill, Los Alamitos Unified School District Governing Board Member

Christine Berg, Retired Teacher 

Kathi Lundstrom, Retired Elementary Teacher 

Karen Shaw, Lowell Joint School District Governing Board Member 

Esther Evangelista, Elementary School Counselor 

Michelle Murphy, Nonprofit Executive/Parent 

Kristen Nicole Valle, Executive Assistant 

Lisa Pearson, Retired Educator/Parent 

Barbara George, Business Owner/Mom 

Reina Shebesta, School Counselor/Parent 

Ashley Anderson, Newport-Mesa Unified School District Governing Board Member 

Vicky Rodriguez, Tax Preparer/Notary 

Kristen Seaburn, Executive Assistant/Parent 

John Briscoe, Ocean View School District Governing Board Member 

Patricia Singer, Ocean View School District Governing Board Member 

Dan Pearce, First Responder 

Jack Souders, Ocean View School District Governing Board Member 

Morgan Westmoreland, Nurse Educator/Parent 

Andrea Yamasaki, Orange Unified School District Governing Board Member 

Angela Williams, Teacher/Parent 

Kathy Moffat, Orange Unified School District Governing Board Member 

Madison Klovstad Miner, Educator/Parent 

Kristin “Kris” Erickson, Orange Unified School District Governing Board Member

Timothy Surridge, Educational Consultant 

Rick Ledesma, Orange Unified School District Governing Board Member

Mike Nguyen, Engineer/Businessman 

Karin M. Freeman, Placentia-Yorba Unified School District Governing Board Member 

Steve Slawson, Orange County Small Businessowner 

Todd Frazier, Local Businessowner 

Carrie Buck, Placentia-Yorba Unified School District Governing Board Member

Richard Ingle, Attorney/Business Owner 

Donna Freedman, School Board President 

Kevin T. Hayakawa, Physics Professor 

Greg Kunath, Saddleback Valley Unified School District Governing Board Member 

Barbara Schulman, Saddleback Valley Unified School District Governing Board Member 

Katelyn Brazer Aceves, Family Community Liaison 

Sylvia Iglesias, Parent/Administrative Manager 

Hector Bustos, Youth Nonprofit Director 

Joyce Burdette, Curriculum Specialist/Parent 

Elizabeth Winkler, Educator/Parent 

Lynn Davis, Tustin Unified School District Governing Board Member 

Kelly Felton, College Science Professor 

Jim Moreno, Coast Community College District Governing Board Member 

Russell A Neal II, Retired Engineer 

Barbara Dunsheath, North Orange County Community College District Trustee 

Blaze Bhence, Business Technology Consultant 

Jeffrey P. Brown, North Orange County Community College District Trustee/Engineer 

Jessica Rutan, Retired Educator/Mother 

John R. Hanna, Rancho Santiago Community College District Governing Board Member 

Steve Rocco, Educational Publisher/Writer 

Terri Whitt Rydell, South Orange County Community College District Trustee 

Derek Reeve, San Juan Capistrano Mayor 

Pramod Kunju, Business Owner 

Nick Gerda covers county government for Voice of OC. You can contact him at ngerda@voiceofoc.org.

Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and a corps member with Report for America, a Groundtruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.

About Voice of OC: Mission | Editorial Policies | Contact Us | Funding | Privacy Policy

Join the conversation: In lieu of comments, we encourage readers to engage with us across a variety of mediums. Join our Facebook discussion. Message us via our website or staff page. Send us a secure tip. Share your thoughts in a community opinion piece.