Business lobby wins most of Louisiana education board races

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Business-backed candidates have won six of seven contested seats for Louisiana's top school board.

The Advocate reports that all the winners in Saturday's elections for the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education seats were backed by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. That's the state's top business lobbying organization.

The business-supported candidates defeated rival contenders backed by the two teacher unions, the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and the Louisiana Association of Educators.

One race headed to a Nov. 16 runoff: business-backed candidate Ronnie Morris will face Gregory Spiers, supported by the unions.

Saturday's winners included four incumbents: Sandy Holloway of Thibodaux, Jim Garvey of Metairie, Kira Orange Jones of New Orleans and Holly Boffy of Lafayette. Other winners were Preston Castille of Baton Rouge, and Ashley Ellis of Monroe.