Wednesday, November 4, 2026

Torres Leads McNamara, Declares Victory in Pasadena Unified School Board District 7

Pasadena college consultant, who entered the race on the final filing day, says she will focus on district finances and revenue generation

Cynthia Torres, a Pasadena college admissions consultant with more than a decade of school finance oversight experience, declared victory Tuesday night in the race for the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education District 7 seat, where she held a lead of about 15 percentage points.

Results were not final. Asked what her message would be if the lead holds, Torres said it was one of gratitude.

“I feel very grateful for the trust that’s been extended to me,” Torres said in an interview at her election night gathering. “And I will work so hard to justify that support and to bring a new day to the school board. I hope that what I can communicate is hope that we’re really going to be turning the page and bringing a renewed focus.”

The seat is being vacated by Board Vice President Yarma Velázquez, who announced she would not seek re-election. The race is decided by plurality, meaning the candidate with the most votes wins regardless of whether that total exceeds 50 percent.

District 7 covers parts of western Pasadena, including the neighborhoods around the Rose Bowl and Madison Heights.

“This outcome is because our message got through to the voters, and that’s what is important,” Torres said. She said the room was filled with people who helped her campaign and thanked the community “for supporting the message of advancing the school district and working for the kids.”

Torres said she entered the race late, on the last day possible, and had been campaigning continuously for the past few months. She said she had been “cautiously optimistic” going into election night.

“It’s very hard to imagine when you’re starting a race, what will happen,” she said. “So from that standpoint, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I’m so thrilled.”

Without public polling in the race, Torres said she gauged voter sentiment through canvassing. She said she and her team spent a couple of months knocking on doors and talking with voters on their porches and in their yards.

Asked about her priorities, Torres named a financial sustainability plan and revenue generation, saying she wants to focus on bringing more money into the district.

Torres said she spent 11 years working on school district finance in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, where she chaired that district’s Financial Oversight Committee. She also said she served on a citizens oversight committee in the Pasadena Unified School District. In an earlier interview during the campaign, she said she served on a Pasadena Unified School District bond committee from 2018 to 2019.

“I’m going to bring that experience to our district, and I’m hoping that good things will happen as a result of bringing that skill set to the board,” she said.

During the campaign, Torres said she wanted the Pasadena Unified School District to explore strategic fundraising, corporate and philanthropic partnerships, sponsorships, asset management opportunities and deeper partnerships with Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre.

Torres said she is hopeful that “together with the board, we’re going to be able to carve out some new possibilities for the district.”

The district faces a multimillion-dollar structural deficit that has led to layoffs and budget cuts, and is still recovering from the January 2025 Eaton Fire, which damaged or destroyed multiple Pasadena Unified School District campuses and displaced thousands of students.

Torres is the founder and president of College Decisions LLC, a Pasadena-based independent educational consulting firm she established in 2010. Before entering education, she spent more than 25 years in financial services, including positions at Goldman Sachs, Fidelity Investments and First Interstate Bank of California, according to her professional profile.

A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School, Torres served as president of the Harvard Alumni Association in 2014-2015.