Wage Coalition Endorses Slates for School and College Board

By Susan Reines
Staff Writer

July 29 – The labor advocacy group Coalition for the Living Wage -- following the lead of two educational union groups -- gave its nod Wednesday to the same Board of Education and College Board of Trustees candidates chosen earlier this month by a teacher’s union and college faculty organization.

The support of the coalition boosts the candidates’ prospects because union members can be expected to campaign for the candidates.

For the three Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education seats up for grabs, the coalition endorsed two incumbents -- Maria Leon-Vazquez and Jose Escarce -- and challenger Kathy Wisnicki.

Wisnicki, a Malibu resident who sits on the district’s Financial Oversight Committee, has been active for years in Parent Teacher Associations and the Malibu Foundation for Youth and Families.

A fourth Board of Education candidate sought the group’s support but did not win endorsement, according to Coalition spokeswoman Vivian Rothstein, who declined to release that candidate’s name.

The three other candidates in the school board race are Jim Jaffe, a retired SMMUSD teacher who has challenged Superintendent John Deasy and the board on financial matters; Ana Jara, co-chair of the Pico Neighborhood Association; and Santa Monica Airport Commissioner Jean Gebman.

Escarce, Leon-Vazquez, and Wisnicki all won the joint endorsements of the Santa Monica Malibu Classroom Teachers Association and the Santa Monica College Faculty Association last week.

The Coalition’s endorsements for College Board of Trustees also matched the SMMCTA/college faculty endorsements.

Challengers Susan Aminoff and Doug Willis received the support of the Coalition, and college faculty.