Preliminary Election Results from 37 School Board Contests in Orange County

The Orange County Registrar of Voters is tallying the ballots from the 2026 General Election and releasing unofficial results in batches.

This story represents the results from a vote count released on Nov. 3, 2026 at 11 p.m. accounting for 672,859 ballots, representing a turnout of 35.1% of the county's 1,916,510 registered voters. Note: this page will be updated daily until the election results are certified.

Top Takeaways from the Election Results

Incumbents are Leading in the Majority of Contests

If an incumbent is running for school board in Orange County this election, they are most likely leading their opponent(s), based on the latest vote counts.

In the Orange Unified School District, the four incumbents on the school board are ahead of a slate of four challengers.

Incumbents are also leading in contests for school boards in the Anaheim Elementary School District, Anaheim Union High School District, Irvine Unified School District, Santa Ana Unified School District and others. (Scroll down to see results from all school board contests across Orange County.)

Where Incumbents are Losing

In the Laguna Beach Unified School District, incumbent Dee Perry and her campaign partner Elizabeth Bates are trailing their opponents. Preliminary tallies show incumbent Joan Malczewski and candidates Shaheen Sheik-Sadhal and Kimberly Smith leading the contest for the three seats up for a vote.

The incumbent in Trustee Area 4 in the Brea Olinda Unified School District is also trailing her opponent. Candidate Natalie Johnson was appointed to the position in April after its previous occupant, Christopher Becerra, was ousted following his arrest in late 2025. Teacher Wendy Criner is currently leading Johnson by 162 votes.

Bond Measures are Passing

Measure A, an $83 million bond measure in the Laguna Beach Unified School District is currently passing. Measure B, a $128 million bond measure in the Westminster School District, is also on track to pass.

Scroll below to see the unofficial results from all of the school board contests in Orange County.

Unified and Union High School Districts

Anaheim Union High School District

•  📌 Worth noting: The seats for Trustee Area 3 and Trustee Area 5 were scheduled to be on the ballot but only the incumbents, Jose Paolo Magcalas in Trustee Area 3 and Ron Hoshi in Trustee Area 5, filed qualifying paperwork to run so they automatically retain their seats.

Brea Olinda Unified School District

• 📌Worth noting: The seat for Trustee Area 1 was scheduled to be on the ballot but only incumbent Carrie Flanders filed qualifying paperwork to run so she will automatically retain the seat.

Capistrano Unified School District

• 📌 Worth noting: No incumbents ran for reelection to the Capistrano Unified school board, which means no matter which candidates win, three new trustees will join the seven-member board. 

Fullerton Joint Union High School District

•  📌 Worth noting: The seat for Trustee Area 4 was scheduled to be on the ballot but only incumbent Lauren Klatzker filed qualifying paperwork to run so she will automatically retain the seat.

Garden Grove Unified School District

• 📌Worth noting: After 32 years on the board, Trustee Bob Harden opted not to seek reelection to represent Trustee Area 4.

Irvine Unified School District

Laguna Beach Unified School District

• 📌 Worth noting: Two camps formed among the LBUSD candidates. Incumbent Perry, a former teacher in the district, campaigned with candidate Elizabeth Bates, a district parent and Laguna Beach High School alumna. They asked voters to vote only for them and leave the third spot open on the ballot. Incumbent Joan Malczewski and candidates Kimberly Smith, a district parent and CEO of a firm called Copia, and Shaheen Sheik-Sadhal, a district parent,  lawyer, and co-founder of Families Unified for Education in Laguna, a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization, asked for voters to support their slate of three candidates. Their backers encouraged voters to “flip the board.” 

Newport-Mesa Unified School District

• 📌 Worth noting: The seats for Trustee Area 4 and Trustee Area 5 were scheduled to be on the ballot but only the incumbents, Lisa Pearson in Trustee Area 4 and Andrew McElroy in Trustee Area 5, filed qualifying paperwork to run so they automatically retain their seats.

Orange Unified School District

• 📌 Worth noting: The candidates organized into two slates. The incumbents teamed up and endorsed one another with support from the group OUSD Proud, the same people that successfully recalled two board trustees in 2024. Challengers (minus Armando Perez-Serrato) also aligned publicly in their campaigns and were promoted by a group called Orange United, which is supported by one of the trustees that was recalled in 2024.

Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District

• 📌 Worth noting: There is a very public split on the PYLUSD Board of Education between the current board majority, including incumbent Carrie Buck, and the more conservative trustees, Leandra Blades and Todd Frazier. Frazier ran for reelection to his seat representing Trustee Area 4. In Trustee Area 5, Buck ran for reelection to a seat she’s held since 2010. Buck was challenged by district parent Justin Aguirre who was endorsed by Blades.

Saddleback Valley Unified School District

• 📌 Worth noting: In Trustee Area 1, incumbent Dan Walsh was the only candidate to file qualifying paperwork to run so he automatically retains his seat.

Santa Ana Unified School District

Tustin Unified School District

• 📌 Worth noting: Challengers Ziggy McBride and Kelly Felton campaigned together publicly with the endorsement of TUSD Trustee Kathy Copeland. Meanwhile, the other TUSD trustees, Allyson Muñiz Damikolas and Jonathan Stone, endorsed Lynn Davis and Jonathan Abelove. 

Elementary and TK-8 School Districts

Anaheim Elementary School District

• 📌 Worth noting: The contest in Trustee Area 2 is a rematch from the 2018 race when Juan Gabriel Alvarez beat Jeff Cole, who was the incumbent and held the seat from 2010-2018. In Trustee Area 4, Mark Lopez challenged Alva Alvarez to regain the seat he was ousted from in 2025. That’s when the board voted 3-2 to declare the seat vacant, arguing it was unlawful for Lopez to serve on two local governing boards after he won election to the North Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees. Lopez still serves on the NOCCCD board. 
• The seat for Trustee Area 5 was scheduled to be on the ballot but only the incumbent Ryan Ruelas filed qualifying paperwork to run so he automatically retains the seat.

Cypress School District

• 📌 Worth noting: After nearly 12 years on the board, current Board President Lydia Sondhi did not run for reelection to her seat representing Trustee Area D. Only one candidate, Jeanette James, filed qualifying paperwork to run for the seat so she will automatically be installed into the position. 

Fountain Valley School District

• 📌 Worth noting: After serving on the board since 2014, incumbent Sandra Crandall did not seek reelection. Incumbent Phu Nguyen did not run to keep the seat he first won in 2022.

Fullerton School District

• 📌 Worth noting: The seats for Trustee Area 1 and Trustee Area 4 were scheduled to be on the ballot but only the incumbents, Miguel Alvarez in Trustee Area 1 and Ruthi Hanchett in Trustee Area 4, filed qualifying paperwork to run so they automatically retain their seats.
• After serving on the FSD board for 20 years, Trustee Beverly Berryman did not seek reelection to represent Trustee Area 3.

Huntington Beach City School District

• 📌 Worth noting: The seats for Trustee Area 2 and Trustee Area 5 were scheduled to be on the ballot but only the incumbents, Meghan Willis in Trustee Area 2 and Paul Morrow in Trustee Area 5, filed qualifying paperwork to run so they automatically retain their seats.

La Habra City School District

• 📌 Worth noting: For the first time, voters in the LHCSD voted by trustee area. That means voters cast ballots for one trustee from their geographic area. This replaces the at-large voting system where all voters elected all five board members.
• In Trustee Area 2, Monique Heredia was the only candidate to file qualifying paperwork to run so Heredia automatically wins the seat. Similarly, in Trustee Area 3, only Gabby Garcia filed qualifying paperwork to run and will gain the seat.

Lowell Joint School District

• 📌 Worth noting: Two other seats on the five-member Lowell Joint board were due to be on the ballot but they were not considered by voters. That’s because the incumbents, Christine Berg in Trustee Area 2 and Anastasia Shackelford in Trustee Area 5, were the only candidates to file qualifying paperwork to run so they will keep their seats.

Magnolia School District

• 📌 Worth noting: The seats for Trustee Area 1 and Trustee Area 2 were scheduled to be on the ballot but they were not up for a vote because only the incumbents filed qualifying paperwork to run. In Trustee Area 1, Patricia Soave will keep her seat. In Trustee Area 2, Connie Martin will keep her seat. 

Ocean View School District

• 📌 Worth noting: For the first time, voters in the Ocean View School District experienced trustee area voting. That means voters elected one trustee from  their geographic area, which replaced the at-large voting system where all voters elected all five board members.
• The seats for Trustee Area 2 and Trustee Area 4 were scheduled to be on the ballot but they were not up for a vote. In Trustee Area 2, attorney Jackie Kimble was the only candidate to file qualifying paperwork to run so she automatically won the seat. Similarly, Trustee Area 4 incumbent Patricia Singer was the only candidate to file qualifying paperwork to run so she automatically retains her seat.