Incumbents, farmer look to bolster Yuba City education
Area 1, 2 seats.
CANDIDATE
Amarel 6,320, 30%
Johnston 5,057, 24%
Kobayashi (i) 6,113, 29%
Repka 3,431, 16%
Precincts reporting: 100%
Area 2, 1 seat.
CANDIDATE
Cooley (i) 7,629, 58%
Diaz 5,543, 42%
Precincts reporting: 100%
i = incumbent
Farmer John Amarel led and incumbent Sharman Kobayashi was second among the four candidates for the pair of seats representing south Yuba City on the Yuba City Unified School District board.
Elsewhere, incumbent Herb Cooley enjoyed a large lead over challenger Angel Diaz for the Yuba City Unified School District seat to represent the center of the town.
"I don't have the answer," Amarel said of why he led.
Amarel said his roles as a parent of children in the school district, along with being a landowner and taxpayer, may have helped him in the Area 1 election.
His ballot designation as a farmer and work in agriculture likely assisted, Amarel added.
"I hope people in the county realize we're an agricultural county," he said.
Attorney Mike Johnston and real estate agent Zac Repka trailed with all of the precinct results reported. Provisional ballots and mail ballots turned into polls still need to be counted.
Incumbent Cooley's large lead over Diaz for Area 2 comes after a campaign that included the challenger saying Cooley "feels like everything's fine."
"I don't," Diaz said.
Cooley pointed to his work as an advocate for issues, including district finances and keeping open Central Gaither Elementary.
Amarel said Tuesday night the first issue Yuba City Unified confronts is budgeting.
Issues he raised during the campaign included the state relying too heavily on standardized tests to measure student success.
"It's necessary," Amarel said. "But it's not the only standard."
Kobayashi said at a Yuba-Sutter Chamber of Commerce forum that she ran for Yuba City Unified trustee in 1996 because schools were rundown and overcrowded.
"I wanted us to have schools we could be proud of," she said.
A 1999 bond measure funded River Valley High School, three new elementary schools and modernization of other sites, the trustee said.
CONTACT Ryan McCarthy at rmccarthy@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4780. Find him on Facebook at /@ADrmccarthy or on Twitter at @ADrmccarthy.
