Fullerton is known as “The Education City.” Families are drawn here for its thriving public schools, supported by talented and dedicated teachers and staff. My own experience is a testament to this. I once lived happily by the beach in Dana Point, but when my daughter was born, I realized I wanted more for her than ocean air.

I wanted her to grow up in a city with vibrant civic and arts institutions, a bustling downtown filled with local businesses, and a community that values public education. My husband and I did not return to our hometown of Placentia—we chose Fullerton, and we’ve thrived here and so has our daughter. I recently glowed with pride when, for the second year in a row, Fullerton School District was recognized as the best in North Orange County.

Despite the accolades, Fullerton faces serious challenges, including racial and class segregation across our school sites. This is not the fault of school or district staff, who work tirelessly on behalf of our children.

Our city was shaped and continues to reel from laws (like racial covenants in housing deeds) and social practices that segregated Latinos and other people of color to South Fullerton, especially FSD school board trustee Area 5, which comprises Elementary Schools Maple, Commonwealth, Richman,  Woodcrest, and Nicholas Junior High.

My husband’s family grew up in Area 5, where three generations of family members lived on Truslow. The oldest generation worked in the citrus packing house along the railroad tracks, while the youngest generation attended segregated Maple Elementary.

Contemporary economic challenges, such as high housing costs, have deepened inequalities within and between Fullerton’s schools, reinforcing economic segregation in South Fullerton. Middle-class families moving to South Fullerton—an area with lower, though still high, housing costs compared to the North—often take advantage of Fullerton’s open-enrollment policy, enrolling their children in higher-performing schools in the North.

In contrast, working-class and low-income parents face constraints that limit their ability to make the same choices. This middle-class flight from South Fullerton schools, even as the neighborhoods become more economically diverse, can result in fewer resources and declining enrollment, further entrenching income segregation within our school district.

These broader societal factors—beyond the control of parents or schools—help explain why the schools where children struggle the most, based on test scores and academic achievement, are in Area 5. In Area 5 schools, 9/10 students are Latino and low-income, and 4/10 are English language learners.
This trend of racial and economic segregation in schools, even as neighborhoods diversify, is not unique to Fullerton, but it is alarming because research shows that such segregation in schools is strongly associated with widening achievement gaps.

Leaders must learn from the past, understand the current moment, and push for change to make our communities better. However, Leonel Talavera, the current school board trustee representing Area 5, has remained silent on all of these issues.

I’ve attended numerous school board meetings and watched others online, and not once has Talavera ever addressed disparities that disproportionately affect the area he represents, not even when presented with data about educational inequities or when FSD was flagged by the state of California for over-identifying Latino children for special education.

The only initiative Leonel Talavera has introduced and publicly championed as a school board trustee is an elite sports academy that privatizes public education for affluent families. Located at Parks Junior High, a school outside of Talavera’s trustee area, families are required to pay a $1,000 monthly fee to a private sports entity to participate.

The program essentially rents out Parks’ fields and gyms during school hours to the private sports entity for less than $10,000 a year or allows students to trade out school electives and PE for other, off-campus, for-profit private sports programs. Some teachers, the teacher’s union, and concerned parents urged the school board not to approve the program, raising concerns about access, school privatization, and loosely vetted coaches who are not credentialed teachers.

The sports academy raises serious questions about who benefits, especially since one of the approved sports programs that kids can attend in lieu of PE is ZT Baseball, a Texas-based baseball academy and club team run by a hedge fund with strong connections to Trustee Talavera that he never publicly disclosed. Talavera coached for ZT Baseball and served on their board, and they contributed $2,500 to his re-election campaign after becoming an approved vendor in our school district (search campaign contributions here).

ZT Sports also just won a bid, to the exclusion and dismay of the City of Fullerton, to take over maintenance of the baseball fields at Ralph B. Clark sports complex. My concerns about the elite sports academy go beyond the privatization of our public goods–it also perpetuates economic inequality across our school sites.

It is also troubling that Talavera’s ballot statement includes numerous false claims, such as crediting himself for balancing the district’s budget and not raising taxes when in reality, school board members only approve budgets after they have been balanced by district staff, and school board members do not levy or raise taxes.

Among other exaggerated claims, Talavera takes credit for launching a therapy dog program, writing that the program “improved student well-being and reduced stress.” While dogs were brought into various schools a handful of times, no formal program exists, and no studies were conducted to assess its impact on student well-being.

Research, including my own extensive studies on how Latinos advance into the middle and upper classes, highlights the critical importance of elementary education in shaping a person’s mobility trajectory. Area 5 deserves a trustee who understands the value of public education and who is committed to listening to the community and representing all families. That person is Vanesa Estrella, a PTA mom, business owner, and long-time South Fullerton resident.

Estrella’s journey exemplifies the power of public education. She came to the US at eight years old as an English learner and was raised in a low-income family. She excelled in school and went on to become the president of the honor society at Fullerton College before transferring to Cal State Fullerton (CSUF). She graduated with honors from CSUF with a double major in business and criminal justice, and she now runs her family’s iconic South Fullerton business, El Pachuco Zoot Suits.

Elected by parents across the district as the President of FSD’s English Language Advisory Committee (DELAC), Estrella attends and speaks at all school board meetings, advocating for parents in her community—something Talavera has failed to do. When the district was flagged for overidentifying Latino students for special education, it was Estrella, not Talavera, who was called to collaborate with district staff on solutions because of her deep community ties.

Estrella’s grassroots support is evident. More than seventy-five individuals have contributed to her campaign, with donations ranging from $5 to $100. In contrast, Talavera has received only six small donations of $100; almost two-thirds of his campaign funds come from two sources:
• ZT Baseball and
• a construction company

Additionally, while Talavera lacks any endorsements from elected officials, Vanesa has garnered support from local leaders at all levels of government – a member of Congress, the state assembly, city council members, county supervisors, and members of other educational boards – who recognize her commitment to collaborate to get things done for our students. She also secured the Democratic Party’s endorsement over Talavera.

Area 5 needs a proactive and honest leader—someone who is trusted by families and committed to representing the community. Vanesa Estrella is that leader. She will focus on addressing the racial and economic educational disparities that Talavera has ignored, support parent choice, avoid conflicts of interest, and work with families, teachers, and district leaders to help every child reach their full potential via the power of public education, just as she has.

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Jody Agius Vallejo is a volunteer on Vanesa Estrella’s campaign and a Professor of Sociology at USC, where she also serves as Associate Director of USC Equity Research Institute. She specializes in immigrant integration and mobility, the minoritized middle and upper classes, and racial/ethnic inequality in the United States.

Her first book, “Barrios to Burbs: The Making of the Mexican American Middle Class,” was published by Stanford University Press.
*Leonel Talevera did not respond before this went to print.

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