Santa Monica - Malibu School Board Gets New Leadership

By Lookout Staff

December 15, 2010 -- Dr. Jose Escarce, who overcame stiff opposition in 2008 to win a third term on the Santa Monica - Malibu School Board, and Ben Allen, who was the top vote getter in the race, have been elected president and vice president of the board.

The two board members, who were elected unanimously by their colleges last Thursday, will lead the board as the cash-strapped district searches for a superintendent and seeks ways to weather deep budget cuts from the State.

First elected in 2000, Escarce has served as vice president twice and president once. It is the first time Allen -- who served as the student member of the UC Board of Regents -- has been a board member since 2008. This is the first time he serves as an officer of the board.

Both members will serve in their posts for one year.

Escarce was elected to a third term two years ago with a controversial endorsement from Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR, the city's powerful tenants' group.

Escarce, who had failed to win the group's nod during its nominating convention, won the backing of its steering committee, after having fallen just one vote short of the necessary 55 percent to win. A faction of Special Education parents had joined the tenants group for the express purpose of mounting an organized effort to deny Escarce the nomination

Escarce has been a staunch advocate of engaging and fostering achievement among disengaged students by helping to encourage families to become involved in students' education.

A professor of medicine at UCLA and senior natural scientist at RAND, Escarce was elected in 2008 to the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, which is considered one of the highest honors in the field of health and medicine.

Escarce graduated from Princeton University, received a master's degree from Harvard University, and earned a medical degree and a doctorate in health economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his medical residency at Stanford University.

An attorney, Allen graduated in 2008 from UC Berkeley Law School, where he specialized in the law and politics of California’s school finance system.

Allen, who is an alumni of Santa Monica High School, has served on the school district's Financial Oversight Committee,, Santa Monica College's Bond Oversight Committee and the college's General Advisory Board.

He is widely considered a rising star on the local political scene.