With turnout hovering at around 36 percent, Orange County voters headed to the polls or mailed in their ballots for the March 3 primary election.
The Orange County Registrar of Voters says there are still more than 100,000 ballots to be counted — including mailed and conditional ballots — so there are no official results yet. But this interactive Registrar website is tracking a number of state and local measures and races with big implications for schools.
Unofficial results show California voters were rejecting a measure that would have authorized a $15 billion bond for school modernization and construction projects for K-12 schools, community colleges and universities.
As of Friday, the Orange County Register reports that eight local district ballot measures intended to finance facility improvements and new construction were also falling short of the 55 percent needed to pass.
Preliminary returns for the Orange County Board of Education show two incumbents — Beckie Gomez and Ken Williams — ahead in their respective races, while La Habra City Councilman Tim Shaw was leading a pack of challengers in District 4.
For the latest OC election results, visit www.ocvote.com/vc/web/results/current-election-results.
Here are some of the other stories from the week ending March 6:
- The Orange County Board of Education granted a five-year charter renewal to the Orange County School of the Arts following its appeal of a conditional approval by Santa Ana Unified’s school board. Santa Ana has served as OCSA’s home district for two decades.
- Twenty-four rounds of the 57th annual Orange County Spelling Bee came down to the word “canaille,” and an eighth-grader from Fairmont Private School in North Tustin nailed it.
- On the same day it held a conference call with local schools and districts, the Orange County Health Care Agency on Tuesday announced that its Public Health Laboratory had found two additional “presumptive positive” cases of COVID-19. Meanwhile, school districts are working to keep parents informed about COVID-19 developments and parents throughout Southern California are expressing varying levels of anxiety over the coronavirus.
- Author and performer Joy Harjo, who recently became the first Native American selected as the Poet Laureate of the United States, drew a packed house as the featured speaker at a lecture hosted by Arts Orange County with support from OCDE and Fourth District PTA.
- A flier posted on a Starbucks bulletin board led to a unique and life-changing act of kindness, documented in a brief video for the OCDE Newsroom.
- State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond spent Monday morning at a campus in the Orange Unified School District reading some classic Dr. Seuss books in honor of national Read Across America Day.
- Speaking of Orange Unified, the district says Fred Kelly Stadium is nearing completion. Officials expect the 5,000-seat venue to be ready for May’s slate of commencement ceremonies.
- The Capistrano Unified School District is exploring options for overhauling math instruction, particularly in grades five and six.
- The Garden Grove Unified School District and the City of Garden Grove are teaming up to showcase the creativity of local students during the 42nd annual First Impressions Art Show, which starts Saturday.
- The Fountain Valley School District will celebrate the artistic talents of its students during the 8th annual “Let Art Grow” art show, set for 4 to 7 p.m. on March 10 at the district office.
This is the part where we encourage you to keep up with local education news stories by bookmarking the OCDE Newsroom, subscribing for emailed updates and following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.