Castro Won’t Run Again for Schools Post

Los Angeles school board member Victoria Castro announced Friday that she will not run for reelection in April because of the financial strain caused by the low-paying position.

Castro has been the school board’s most outspoken advocate for the half-finished Belmont Learning Complex, which is in her district. The onetime middle school principal who served two terms on the school board said she will continue to fight for Belmont.

“I just can’t afford to serve at $24,000 a year,” Castro said at a news conference, referring to her annual school board salary. “I am not abandoning the families and children of this district. I will continue my career as a community activist and educator.”

Had she sought reelection, Castro would have faced strong competition from a candidate backed by Mayor Richard Riordan.

The mayor, who helped challengers oust three board members in 1999, has been looking for candidates to oppose Castro and another board member, Julie Korenstein. Riordan is backing a third school board member up for reelection, Valerie Fields.

Castro said the mayor’s opposition was not a factor in her decision to step down at the end of her term in June.

The mayor, who has been interviewing potential candidates for Castro’s seat, appears to be settling on environmental attorney Jose Huizar.

“We are definitely moving in that direction,” a mayoral aide said.

Huizar, who works for the firm Weston, Benshoof also appears to have strong backing among some of the area’s leading Latino power brokers. He said he has not decided whether to run for Castro’s seat.

“I am quite flattered and excited that several people have approached me and asked me to run,” he said. “I am considering all my options now.”

Castro started in Los Angeles Unified a quarter-century ago as a math teacher at Hollenbeck Middle School in Boyle Heights. She served as principal of nearby Belvedere Middle School for seven years before being elected to the school board in 1993. She was reelected in 1997 and served as board president in 1998.

In 1997 she made an unsuccessful run for an Assembly seat.

Castro said she has made school safety a priority during her tenure. She represents some of the most crowded and poverty-stricken neighborhoods in the school district, including the downtown corridor that is home to the Belmont Learning Complex.

Castro has often taken positions opposed by the school district’s powerful teachers union, siding instead with management.

Since Riordan’s slate of school board candidates took office 18 months ago, Castro has often found herself on the fringe.When the board voted last January to kill the Belmont project midway through construction, Castro and Mike Lansing cast the only dissenting votes.

Though she cited financial duress in her decision not to run, others familiar with the district said she had lost support among some key Latino politicians.

“She was not a very effective political leader,” one source said. “She didn’t form alliances.”

Castro said she will work as executive director of the Hispanic Engineers Awards Achievement Conference, a nonprofit organization that promotes math, science and engineering studies among Latinos.

She said she is not interested in running for the Los Angeles City Council seat being vacated by Mike Hernandez, but may consider another run for the Assembly.