If you're looking for live results in this election, we have you covered: Newport Mesa Unified early results show school board challenger in the lead

A June 10 special election for the Newport-Mesa Unified school board will fill the seat for Area 5 in Newport Beach, made vacant when former board member Michelle Barto was elected to the Newport Beach City Council last year.

The winner of this election will serve out the rest of Barto’s term, which ends in December 2026.

There’s some political backstory here.

When Barto’s seat became vacant, the school board voted, 4-2, to appoint occupational therapist Kirstin Walsh to serve the remainder of the term. But that vote was overridden weeks later when a petition gathered enough signatures to force a special election instead. (In this case, the threshold was only 289 signatures, and the petition received 361.) Walsh is now running for the seat against Andrea McElroy, a businessperson.

What does the Newport-Mesa Unified school board do?

• Hire and fire the superintendent.
• Pass the annual budget (roughly $470 million for this year) and decide how it should be distributed.
• Set district-wide policies, such as use of cellphones in schools or curriculum changes.
• Oversee construction, repairs and improvements to school facilities and infrastructure.

Fast facts about Newport-Mesa Unified

• The district serves about 18,000 students at 33 schools in Newport Beach, Corona del Mar and Costa Mesa. Area 5, the region electing a trustee for the June 10 election, is made up of the areas surrounding Newport Elementary, Ensign Intermediate and Newport Harbor High.
• Newport-Mesa is one of a handful of “community funded” school districts in California, meaning it’s primarily funded through its own budget and receives less state money than other districts, due to having higher property tax revenues. 
• These board seats are nonpartisan, so individual trustees don’t represent any specific political party’s stances (although they may have their own personal political leanings).
• While many Orange County school districts have been political battlegrounds over issues like parental notification policies, book banning, critical race theory and more, Newport-Mesa has largely stayed out of these controversies. Nevertheless, both Area 5 candidates have hinted at their stances on certain political issues (more details in the candidate overviews below).

What’s on the agenda for next term:

• Transitional kindergarten. All California school districts are required to make transitional kindergarten — known as TK — available to four-year-olds in the state by the 2025-26 school year. While most districts get funding for TK programs through the state, Newport-Mesa is one of the exceptions — it funds TK entirely through its own budget. As a result, the school board will have to balance the funding needs of TK programs with the rest of the budget.
• Infrastructure upgrades. Last year Newport-Mesa released its facilities master plan, which outlines priorities for improving and upgrading the district’s aging buildings. Funding the plan must also come out of the district’s budget, so the board will have to find ways to shore up the funding to see it through. 

Meet the candidates

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Courtesy Kirstin Walsh

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Kirstin Walsh

Parent/occupational therapist

Walsh, a parent of two students at Newport Harbor High School, is a licensed pediatric occupational therapist. According to her ballot statement, she has actively served as a volunteer for Newport-Mesa schools for 13 years and is currently PTA president at Newport Harbor High. She served as the Area 5 trustee for Newport-Mesa Unified for five weeks before the petition triggered the June special election.

Walsh has said that improving the infrastructure of school facilities should be a top priority for the board. In a January interview with the board, she said she does “not personally have an agenda” of what she specifically wants to accomplish as a trustee and is “not politically based.”

In response to a candidate application question from the board, Walsh wrote that she agreed with California’s AB 1955 law, which prevents schools from requiring staff to notify parents if a student identifies as LGBTQ. Walsh also wrote that she is "against the banning of books," and also believes that there are "appropriate settings for books that might require a more mature reader."

Go deeper:

• Two candidates emerge in race to fill vacant seat on Newport-Mesa Unified board of trustees (Daily Pilot)

More voter resources:

• Website: WalshForNMUSD.com 
• Endorsements: See full list here
• Official candidate statement
• Candidate application questionnaire
• Jan. 27 Newport-Mesa Unified board interview (starts at 40:17)

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Courtesy Andrea McElroy

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Andrea McElroy

Businesswoman/parent

McElroy is a parent of three grown children who attended Newport-Mesa schools and is the co-founder and owner of Flair Play Active, a women’s clothing brand. She previously owned the Paper House, a stationery store in Newport Beach. She volunteered at Newport-Mesa schools while her daughter was in school, including for the theater program at Newport Heights Elementary.

McElroy says she wants to expand opportunities for the district’s students in career trade education, the arts and developing real-world skills. “Life skills such as grammar, cursive writing and penmanship, managing and understanding personal finances and understanding taxes are essential,” she wrote in her candidate application.

She has criticized the political alignment of the Newport-Mesa school board, writing on her campaign website that the board majority is “beholden to the career politicians in Sacramento, resulting in a decline in standards in our school district.”

She also wrote on her ballot statement that schools should focus on “fundamentals over Sacramento’s culture wars,” and “limit the indoctrinating efforts of programs like ethnic studies curriculum.”

McElroy and her former businesses were previously targets of lawsuits alleging breach of contract, unpaid rent and other claims, but she told the Daily Pilot that critics were misrepresenting her record.

Go deeper: 

• Two candidates emerge in race to fill vacant seat on Newport-Mesa Unified board of trustees (Daily Pilot)
• Lawsuits filed against candidate for NMUSD school board raise concern from opponents; she alleges ‘smear’ job (Daily Pilot)

More voter resources:

• Website: McElroy4NMUSD.com
• Endorsements: See full list here
• Official candidate statement
• Candidate application questionnaire
• Jan. 27 Newport-Mesa Unified board interview (starts at 19:35)