Los Angeles County’s district attorney last week charged the city’s school board president with conspiracy, perjury, and offering false or forged testimony, in connection with his 2015 school board race.
Authorities said that Refugio Rodriguez and his cousin reimbursed $24,250 in campaign contributions to donors that Rodriguez reported had contributed to his campaign during his first run for the school board. The reimbursement went to 25 people, many of whom were family members and friends, the office said.
The charges came soon after Rodriguez’s selection as president of the Los Angeles Unified school board and just a few months after a pro-charter-school majority was elected and assumed control of the panel. Rodriguez is the co-founder of a Los Angeles-area charter school network known as Partnerships to Uplift Communities.
