Fund Misuse Audits Center Stage in Santa Clara Board of Education Race

Santa Clara County voters face a single contested race among three seats on the Santa Clara County Board of Education ballot this November, as incumbent Trustee Raeena Lari defends her seat representing Morgan Hill, Gilroy, and part of the East Side Union High School District against challenger Karla Dominguez Vega amid the fallout from internal and federal spending investigations, according to Hoodline.

Two other trustee seats on the ballot are uncontested: former Saratoga Mayor and Councilmember Yan Zhao runs unopposed in Area 2 (covering Los Gatos, Cupertino, and Saratoga to succeed outgoing Trustee Tara Sreekrishnan), and incumbent Maimona Afzal Berta runs unopposed in Area 4 (covering most of San José Unified and parts of Oak Grove and East Side Union).

14 Internal Review Findings and $135,370 Head Start Audit

The election follows the October 2024 removal of former County Superintendent Mary Ann Dewan, whom the board majority voted to fire without cause. According to The Mercury News and San José Spotlight reports cited by Hoodline, an internal review produced 14 findings under Dewan’s tenure, including that a segregated county superintendent account was used to redirect grant funding for unrelated purposes, public dollars covered legal expenses tied to board investigations, and contracts were awarded in a manner suggesting personal favoritism.

Separately, a federal audit of the county’s Head Start program—which serves low-income children under age five—found that more than $135,370 (reported in an earlier account as $135,372) had been diverted to cover wages and credit-card expenses for a non-Head Start manager between January and June 2024. A 2018 civil grand jury report had previously estimated taxpayer costs exceeding $1 million from turnover among five superintendents over 11 years.

Competing Platforms on Oversight and a $28.49M Budget Deficit

• Raeena Lari, a research economist elected in 2022 and endorsed by the California Teachers Association, State Sen. Dave Cortese, and Assemblymembers Ash Kalra and Alex Lee, said the board prioritized investigating and acting on the audit findings, and pledged to enforce strict fiscal oversight, AI classroom guardrails, and educator housing and retention.
• Karla Dominguez Vega, a student support specialist in Morgan Hill Unified School District endorsed by former trustees Claudia Rossi and Kathleen King, criticized administrative salary increases alongside cuts to special education, foster youth, and migrant student programs, pledging stronger fiscal transparency and mental health support.

Whoever wins will confront a tightening budget: the proposed 2026–27 County School Service Fund projects $371.61 million in revenues against $400.1 million in expenditures—a $28.49 million fund balance decrease that lowers reserves from 4.63% in 2026–27 to 4.08% by 2028–29—after the county office laid off several hundred employees amid a 10% regional enrollment decline between 2015 and 2025.