← Election Series · Down-ballot coverage · California
Endorses Van Laar
The race
Gilroy Unified School District elects its board by trustee area. Four seats are on the 2026 cycle, per the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters' Final Qualified List:
- Area 1 — NOT a contest. Gabriela Kim was the only qualified candidate and was appointed in lieu of election under Education Code §5328. No call is made.
- Area 3 — contested. Incumbent Michelle Nelson vs. Daniel Harney.
- Area 4 — contested. Trevor Scott Van Laar vs. Jane Stevens.
- Area 7 — NOT a contest. Tuyen Fiack was the only qualified candidate and was appointed in lieu of election. No call is made.
The district context, from Citizen Portal's meeting coverage through 2026: the board adopted a facilities master plan and polled on a potential $700–$900 million bond; it voted on an ICE-detention resolution (forwarding it to the county school boards association in July 2026); it approved a shift from integrated math back to a traditional algebra–geometry–algebra 2 pathway (May 2026); and teachers and parents pressed the board through the year for livable wages and smaller classes amid stalled contract talks.
The candidates
### Area 1 — appointed in lieu of election
Gabriela Kim — No campaign record or adverse finding was located for Kim in this pass; she takes the seat without a vote because no opponent filed.
### Area 3
Michelle Nelson (incumbent) — Credit: Nelson is a sitting trustee who was chosen by her colleagues as board vice president in the board's December 2025 reorganization (President Fayek was re-elected at the same meeting, per Citizen Portal's coverage). She has governed through the bond-feasibility process and the district's program votes listed above. Dirt: No proven adverse finding was located. Gap: No re-election platform, campaign site, or questionnaire response was located for Nelson in this pass — her record here is her incumbency itself.
Daniel Harney (challenger) — Record: The only document located for Harney in this pass is his California Form 700 Statement of Economic Interests, e-filed August 6, 2026, which confirms his candidacy for "Gilroy Unified SD, Governing Board Member, TA 3" — a filing, not a platform. Dirt: None located. Gap: No campaign site, statement, endorsement, or news mention was located. Unproven; record insufficient (documented below).
### Area 4
Trevor Scott Van Laar (challenger) — Record (his campaign site, in his own words): Van Laar is a nearly two-decade GUSD parent — four children through Gilroy schools (three graduated; the youngest at Gilroy High), with years as a volunteer, coach, and committee member across dual immersion, FFA, athletics, and band. His published vision leads with fiscal stewardship: "Responsible investment in students — We must responsibly balance the district's long-term financial stability with the needs of students and staff today. That means transparent budgeting, careful use of reserves, and a serious effort to identify sustainable new sources of revenue." Credit: The only published platform in either contested Gilroy race, and it leads with the exact stewardship language — transparent budgeting, careful reserves — this page weighs, from a parent with 17 years in the district's schools. Dirt: None located. He is unproven as an officeholder — not a demerit under this page's rules.
Jane Stevens — No campaign site, platform, endorsement, statement, or news mention was located in this pass. Unproven; record insufficient (documented below).
### Area 7 — appointed in lieu of election
Tuyen Fiack — No campaign record or adverse finding was located for Fiack in this pass; she takes the seat without a vote because no opponent filed.
Pros and cons
- Nelson — Pro: Sitting trustee and board vice president; continuity through a bond decision and contract fights. Con: Published nothing for re-election; no documented positions on parental rights or curriculum.
- Harney — Pro: Willing to challenge an incumbent. Con: A Form 700 is the whole findable file — no positions at all.
- Van Laar — Pro: Documented, stated fiscal alignment (transparent budgeting, careful use of reserves) plus 17 years of parent service in these schools. Con: Unproven in office; his published vision is one page deep.
- Stevens — Pro: None documented. Con: No findable record.
Record gaps
Searches run for every candidate (October 25, 2026): Registrar's Final Qualified List (roster, areas, appointed-in-lieu status); Van Laar's campaign site (read in full); NetFile campaign-filing records (Harney's Form 700); Citizen Portal's Gilroy Unified meeting feed for the board's 2026 actions and the December 2025 officer elections (Nelson as vice president); the district's trustee-area elections page; candidate-name web searches (Nelson, Harney, Stevens, Kim, Fiack) for campaign sites, questionnaires, endorsements, and local news including Gilroy Dispatch coverage. Stevens and Harney are earned insufficient-record verdicts: the deep pass found a filing for one and nothing at all for the other.
OUR CALL
Area 4 — endorse Trevor Scott Van Laar. Unproven-but-aligned, on his own published words: transparent budgeting and careful use of reserves in a district weighing a bond of up to $900 million is precisely the stewardship this seat will vote on, and his 17 years as a GUSD parent, volunteer, and coach are documented service, not a résumé line.
Area 3 — no endorsement (insufficient record). Nelson offers incumbency without a published platform; Harney offers a filing without a single documented position. Neither earned an endorsement on a sourced record.
Areas 1 and 7 — no call. Kim and Fiack were appointed in lieu of election; there are no contests to decide.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website. Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same. --- Sources — bulleted with URLs. - Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters — Final Qualified List of Local Eligible Candidates, Nov 3 2026 General Election — https://files.santaclaracounty.gov/exjcpb1296/2026-09/qualified-list-of-local-candidates-9-28-26.pdf?VersionId=CM6jbwAVTLFIjLakj6hJku2l9KPAIxli - Trevor Van Laar for School Board — campaign site (vision: transparent budgeting, careful use of reserves) — https://www.vanlaarforschoolboard.com/ - NetFile / Santa Clara County — Daniel Harney Form 700 Statement of Economic Interests (filed Aug. 6, 2026; Gilroy Unified TA 3) — https://netfile.com/api/public/sites/api/SeiDocuments/download/217184556?aid=SCC&name=Harney_Daniel&date=8_6_2026 - Citizen Portal — Gilroy Unified feed (Dec. 2025 reorganization: Nelson chosen vice president; 2026 board actions) — https://citizenportal.ai/feed/14149/california/school-districts/gilroy-unified - Gilroy Unified School District — Board of Education Trustee Areas & Elections — https://www.gilroyunified.org/about-us-and-contact/board-of-education/board-of-education-elections AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.