Endorsed · LAUSD Board of Education District 4 (BD4)

Nick Melvoin

Incumbent

Why Thrive LA endorses Nick

Nick Melvoin is a two-term incumbent on the LAUSD Board of Education representing District 4, a former LAUSD teacher and attorney who has spent nearly a decade fighting for fiscal discipline and educational accountability in a district that desperately needs both. Melvoin's background gives him credibility his opponents cannot match. He taught in LAUSD classrooms, earned a Master's in Urban Education from Loyola Marymount, and studied law at NYU. He served on the Obama administration's domestic policy council and clerked in the U.S. Attorney General's Office. Melvoin has also championed parental choice and school quality by supporting the expansion of high-performing charter schools, giving families, particularly in underserved communities, alternatives when their neighborhood schools fail them. Competition drives improvement, and Melvoin understands that giving parents options is not a threat to public education but a necessary complement to it. Nick Melvoin is the fiscally responsible, results-driven leader LAUSD District 4 needs to protect classrooms from budget crises and keep every education dollar accountable.

Key positions

  • Fiscal Discipline at LAUSD: Melvoin negotiated a 90-10 healthcare cost-sharing plan with UTLA projected to save roughly $57 million annually and has been one of the few board members willing to publicly confront LAUSD's $13.5 billion unfunded pension liability.
  • Teacher Compensation Reform: He advocates paying teachers more earlier in their careers rather than deferring pay into unsustainable lifetime benefit structures. A model that supports current educators while protecting district solvency.
  • Parental Choice and School Quality: Melvoin has championed the expansion of high-performing charter schools, giving families in underserved communities real alternatives when neighborhood schools fall short.
  • Deep Institutional Experience: A former LAUSD teacher with a Master's in Urban Education from LMU and a law degree from NYU, Melvoin has also served on the Obama administration's domestic policy council and clerked in the U.S. Attorney General's Office.

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