Communities for Excellent Public Schools (CEPS), a coalition of parents and other supporters of public education in Santa Monica has made early endorsements for the Santa Monica City Council, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, and Santa Monica College Board for the November 2024 election.
While the complete field won’t be known until later this summer, some candidates have already launched campaigns and are participating in events. At this point, of the four incumbents that could be on the ballot this fall; only Gleam Davis has made a formal announcement and she announced she will not be seeking re-election. Mayor Phil Brock and Councilmembers Oscar de la Torre and Christine Parra are widely expected to announce their campaigns closer to the deadline to “pull papers” with the city and submit signatures.
Nevertheless, CEPS did not endorse any incumbents choosing instead to endorse Dan Hall; Ellis Raskin; Barry Snell; and Natalya Zernitskaya.
In 2022, CEPS endorsed two candidates who won election, Caroline Torosis and Lana Negrete, as well as Zernitskaya.
For SMMUSD School Board CEPS did endorse a slate of incumbents, Jon Kean; Maria Leon-Vazquez; and Jennifer Smith. For College Board, the group endorsed incumbents Rob Rader; and Margaret Quinones-Perez as well as Anastasia Foster who is running to replace Susan Aminoff who is retiring.
“All of these candidates have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to public education in our community. At a time of challenging budgets, especially at City Hall, if they are elected these candidates will keep our children safe; assure continued City funding for SMMUSD; support essential after school programs; and advocate for secure, low-impact routes to schools.”
The CEPS board of directors is chaired by former Santa Monica Mayor Ted Winterer and Nicole Faries. (Full disclosure, the CEPS board also includes Next contributor Sirinya Matute.)
