By Kathleen Acuff

Photos By Joe Hu/Town Crier School board candidate David Pefley and his wife, Shirley, chat with former Los Altos School District Superintendent Marge Gratiot at the Town Crier’s “ElectionWatch” party Nov. 8.

Voters chose experience and fiscal expertise in local school board elections last week, electing Mark Goines, David Pefley and David Luskin to the open seats.

The Los Altos School District saw its most exciting race in years won by three MBAs who stressed the importance of pulling the community together to make momentous decisions in the midst of financial distress. In the next two years, the board must decide the future of the district’s only expansion site, renewal of the district’s parcel tax allotment - 20 percent of its budget ­- and the shape of future school enrollment boundaries.

Goines, Pefley and Luskin were well ahead of the pack. Tammy Logan, who withdrew from the race shortly after filing her application, nevertheless won more than twice as many votes as Bruce Wiener, who brought up the rear.

Some mud splattered as the campaign proceeded toward the finish line, but much less than some spectators had expected. In the end, Goines maintained a small lead over Pefley, the only candidate from Los Altos Hills, and Luskin came in third. Together they received 18,932 of the 29,362 votes counted last week.

“We’re pleased with the results of the election,” Superintendent Tim Justus said. “Now our task is to bring the new people together into the governance team.”

Justus plans a board administration workshop for new trustees in January. The winners will be sworn in at the Dec. 12 board meeting, when Margot Harrigan takes the president’s chair.

Harrigan said all three trustees-elect are well prepared to assume their responsibilities on the board.

“They’ve attended board meetings, they’ve been involved as volunteers, they have children in the schools - they’re ready to walk on and start making decisions,” she said.

“I don’t anticipate that Tim and I will have to scale back any decision-making or push out activities until they have more experience and understanding. We can move forward with decisions about Phase 2 construction, the parcel tax and Bullis.”

Tammy Logan, who withdrew from the race, said, “I’m really excited to get over 1,200 votes. It says that maybe in two years it will be back to normal.”

Logan was among those who said the election was won through “a big parents’ grassroots effort of e-mail, house parties and signs.”

Speaking of the rumor that one candidate spent $40,000 on his campaign, Logan said, “I’m really glad I didn’t try to stay in.” Candidates have until early December to file their final financial reports.

Goines said the election process was “more involved” than he had expected it to be. The phone solicitations toward the end of the race were, he said, “over the top, and a couple were negative.”

Los Altos resident Gordon Elder complained of a “push polling” call just before the election, claiming “Luskin is a registered Republican. Will this influence your vote?”

“It is comical that the most shocking revelation that his opponent could come up with is that David Luskin is a Republican!” Elder said.

Goines estimated that he spent $27,000, including in-kind donations, on his campaign.

“I had a plan from Day 1 and stuck to it,” said the former president of the Los Altos Educational Foundation.

Goines said his first priority on the board would be “to pass the new parcel tax.” After that, if “the facts and figures support it,” will be reopening Bullis-Purissima Elementary School.

Pefley said, “We’re all one team now. It’s time to move ahead to make the schools strong. There has been too much focus on the past, even in the newspapers. We are where we are, whoever put us here and we need to move forward.”

Luskin said he was pleased that the three winners conducted “positive, information-oriented campaigns that were obviously very well received by the electorate.” He estimated that he spent $22,000 on his campaign - “much more than I would have liked to have spent but necessary.”

His priority for his term is passing the parcel tax. “If we do not pass that, we’ll have a deep financial crisis.”

Former Superintendent Marge Gratiot, who retired last year, was nonetheless concerned about the future of the board, and relieved by the results.

“This election is so important,” she said on election night. “All three leading candidates, I have confidence in.”

In Cupertino, voters returned all three incumbents to their seats for another four years. Board President Pearl Cheng garnered the most votes, but Ben Liao trailed by fewer than 500 votes, by last week’s count. Gary McCue was close behind Liao. Newcomer Susan McGhie lost to McCue by about 500 votes.

In the Foothill-De Anza Community College District election, incumbents Bruce Swenson and Paul Fong won easily. The day after the election, the board appointed Laura Casas Frier, who had vied for election, to serve the remainder of the late Andrea Leiderman’s term. Chancellor Martha J. Kanter issued the oath of office to Frier last Wednesday. Fong and Swenson will be sworn in at the board’s Dec. 5 meeting.