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The vote totals trickled in Tuesday night and his opponent conceded defeat, Nick Melvoin grabbed a microphone and told his supporters that, by electing him to the Los Angeles school board, they had “awoken a sleeping giant.”

On election day, when Melvoin and Kelly Gonez, 28, won seats on the seven-member board, they formed its first-ever pro-charter majority. They did so with the backing of groups funded by wealthy charter school supporters, who spent more than $9 million on the campaigns.

The Los Angeles Unified School District’s problems are daunting. Enrollment in traditional public schools has been falling for more than a decade, partly because of competition from charter schools and partly because of declining birth rates. The loss of students, coupled with a large number of administrative positions and mounting pension and retiree healthcare costs, is sending the district hurtling toward a financial reckoning.

http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-lausd-election-20170518-story.html