Three seats on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, which is responsible for the education of more than 400,000 students, will be up for election on Nov. 5. In addition, voters were asked whether or not they approved of a last-minute bond. measure.

LAUSD’s seven-member school board sets policy for the nation’s second-largest school district, with a workforce of approximately 74,000 teachers and staff. They also manage the district’s $18.4 billion budget and are responsible for hiring a superintendent.

Two of the races — District 3 in the San Fernando Valley and District 1 in South Los Angeles — were contested. By contrast, the third race, in District 5 covering the Eastside and suburbs from Vernon to South Gate, has seen less controversy.

LIVE ELECTION RESULTS: See a graph with the latest vote counts

Here’s the state of the races as of 1 a.m. Wednesday, though these results are preliminary. The initial round of results was composed entirely of mail-in ballots that arrived before Election Day. The LA County Clerk’s Office will continue counting ballots in the coming days and has until Dec. 3 to certify the election results.

LAUSD District 1 Board of Education:

Sherlett Hendy Newbill, an education policy advisor, led significantly in the early results, ahead of Kahllid Al-Alim, a community organizer and parent. Votes for Newbill were over 71%.

Al-Alim stirred up controversy and lost the support of the influential United Teachers Los Angeles or UTLA, when his posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, were criticized as anti-Semitic and reports surfaced that he followed a sexually explicit adult site. Following the controversy in February, he apologized and deleted his personal X account.

Hendy Newbill has worked for LAUSD for more than two decades and currently serves as policy advisor to retiring LAUSD District 1 Council Representative George McKenna. She is also the athletic director at her alma mater, Dorsey High School, overseeing the school’s athletic program.

LAUSD District 3 Board of Education:

Former principal Scott Schmerelson was just ahead of math teacher Daniel Chang. Schmerelson had 53% of the vote, while Chang had about 46%.

The two men are running for the spot on the board to represent District 3, which encompasses several neighborhoods stretching from North Hollywood to Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys and most West Valley communities.

Schmerelson served as assistant principal at Griffith Middle School in East Los Angeles for five years and then as principal at Lawrence Middle School in Chatsworth for another five years.

His challenger, Chang, is a math teacher at James Madison Middle School in North Hollywood who graduated from UC Berkeley and the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

LAUSD District 5 Board of Education:

Teacher Karla Griego had a significant advantage over the teacher Graciela “Grace” Ortiz, competing for the vacant seat vacated by longtime board member Jackie Goldberg. Griego had over 60% while Ortiz had over 35%.

The two professors share several similar views and are each backed by influential labor organizations, with UTLA supporting Griego and SEIU 99 supporting Ortiz.