Tanya Ortiz Franklin is the Board Member for LA Unified School Board District 7 (BD7)— serving approximately 175 schools encompassing the beautiful and diverse communities of Florence-Firestone, South LA, Watts, Gardena, Carson, Lomita, Harbor City, Wilmington and San Pedro. Tanya ran for the school board to ensure all students graduate fully prepared to thrive in the college, career and life of their choice.

It was important for Tanya to return to the community where she was previously a student, teacher, teacher-educator, and advocate. After graduating with her bachelor's degree in political science from Columbia University in 2005, Tanya earned her master's degree in elementary education at Loyola Marymount University while teaching sixth grade English and social studies at Stephen White Middle School.

During the Great Recession, she was laid off from LA Unified and attended UCLA School of Law, specializing in public interest law & policy and critical race studies. While in law school, she began working at the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools—a non-profit that manages approximately 20 LA Unified schools in Boyle Heights, South Los Angeles, and Watts—where she first focused on educator development, then on school culture and equitable policies and practices. When Tanya was elected to the school board in November 2020, her focus on educational equity and justice continued.

In her first term, Tanya has authored board-approved resolutions such as: 

• Exploring Mastery-Based Learning and Grading, which has resulted in more equitable grading across the district.
• Closing the Digital Divide to Improve Distance & Hybrid Learning, which has connected and paid for over 100,000 students to have high-speed broadband internet in their homes.
• Black Student Excellence through Educator Diversity, Preparation and Retention, which has caused the district to develop and implement specific strategies to recruit, retain and support more Black educators.
• Arts Justice: Access and Equity Across the Disciplines and the District, which aims to give all students TK-12th grade access to each art discipline at each school level. 
• Community-Based Safety Analysis and Expansion, which provides a holistic vision of school safety, creating a safe, welcoming, culturally- and racially-responsive school team supported by community partnerships.
• Modern Budget Transparency for Student Achievement, will create a customizable, AI-powered public budget tool that's clear, comprehensive, language accessible, and aims to connect to student outcomes.

Tanya’s responsibilities include the approval of the annual budget and evaluating the Superintendent, Alberto M. Carvalho, who was unanimously selected in February 2022. She and her colleagues have approved historic $20 billion dollar budgets aligned to a strategic plan aimed at improving college eligibility, early literacy, mathematics and social-emotional learning.

As a former classroom teacher and mom to future LAUSD students, it’s particularly important for Tanya to ground her decisions in community voices. She stays connected with her stakeholders by engaging with families, educators, students, and staff through regular community conversations, advisory councils, school visits and events, including the BD7 Annual College Signing Day. Her priority in decision-making is to center the communities that have historically been pushed to the margins, including grounding her decisions in their impact on high- and highest-need schools.

In her spare time, Tanya enjoys spending time with her family, running, and exploring Los Angeles.

To learn more about Tanya Ortiz Franklin, visit: https://www.lausd.org/domain/1293 or follow us on social media @lausdbd7