Dem running on accountability tied to board settlements in child sex-abuse cases

A California Democrat running for Congress in a newly redrawn Central Valley congressional district has campaigned on bringing transparency to his local school board — but during his tenure, the board he served on reportedly settled multiple sex-abuse cases behind closed doors. 

Randy Villegas, running to represent California’s newly redrawn 22nd Congressional District in the U.S. House following passage of the state’s Proposition 50, is a college professor and most recently a school board member who ran on bringing transparency to the Visalia Unified School District (VUSD) in Central California. 

Meanwhile, on the website set up for his congressional candidacy, Villegas says he is running to “bring accountable, people-first leadership to Washington.” But, during his tenure as a Visalia Unified School District school board member, the district settled five confidential sex-abuse cases totaling nearly $14.4 million that included provisions to hide information from the public, according to data and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times. 

In at least one of the settlements authorized unanimously by the board, Villegas was present, Fox News Digital could confirm. In that settlement agreement, Visalia Unified School District paid out $3 million following sexual assault allegations against a kindergarten teacher from six former students, and it contained explicit provisions to keep the public in the dark. 

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It marked the fifth “secret settlement” in three years at Visalia Unified School District, according to the LA Times, all of which came during Villegas’s tenure on the board that remains ongoing. Fox News Digital could not independently confirm if Villegas was present for the other four votes.

Fox News Digital reached out to Villegas’s campaign and Visalia Unified School District for comment, including questions about Villegas’s past transparency message, the board’s approval of confidential sex-abuse settlements and whether the public deserved more disclosure, but did not hear back in time for publication.

“California Democrats have turned this race into a nightmare for parents,” press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), Christian Martinez, told Fox News Digital. “Socialist Randy Villegas quietly approved massive confidential settlements tied to the sexual abuse of children, while Progressive Jasmeet Bains is backed by activists who pushed to weaken sex offender laws and strip parents of their rights proving both are willing to sacrifice kids’ safety to protect their far-left allies and agenda.”

Visalia Unified School District board minutes from March 2025, reviewed by Fox News Digital, state Villegas was present when the board returned from closed session and unanimously approved a settlement agreement only identified as “existing litigation” titled “Tulare County Superior Court, Case No. VCU 294247.”

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When Fox News Digital searched the case number on the Tulare County, California, Superior Court’s case search portal, there were six defendants matching the March 2025 settlement documents shared by the LA Times.

The case involved allegations of sexual abuse and assault from six former students against an adult male kindergarten teacher, with incidents occurring decades prior in both a classroom and the restroom, according to a 2022 complaint shared by the L.A. Times that detailed the six accusers’ allegations.

The teacher, between the years 1969 and 1971, allegedly “used his kindergarten classroom and position of trust and authority to egregiously assault the youngest and most tender of students,” the complaint says, alleging the teacher “upended the kindergarten classroom into his personal playing field where (the teacher) preyed on and repeatedly assaulted multiple female students.”

The resulting March 2025 confidential settlement agreement, approved by the board with Villegas present, included provisions where parties agreed to state only “the matter has been resolved” and promised to provide no “further elaboration, discussion, or disclosure” to third-parties about it.

The settlements were reached to resolve claims and did not constitute any admission of wrongdoing.

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The settlement agreement also acknowledged that the district may be required to disclose settlement terms under the California Public Records Act, but barred former students involved in the settlement from “directly or indirectly” encouraging anyone to file a public-records request about the settlements, or making one themselves.

At least three of the other settlement agreements from Villegas’ tenure on the Visalia Unified School District board and shared by the LA Times, which spanned abuse dating back decades, included the same secrecy provisions, according to a review by Fox News Digital.

The fifth, an $8 million settlement approved during Villegas’s tenure, according to the LA Times’ reporting but unverified independently by Fox News Digital, included allegations from a former student who said, when they were 15, they were allegedly groomed and sexually assaulted by a school staff member in their mid-30s. The alleged abuse, according to a copy of the complaint shared by the LA Times, took place during the 2022–2023 school year. 

The plaintiff accused Visalia Unified School District of negligent hiring, supervision and retention, in the complaint, alleging the district knew or should have known the defendant was unfit to work there.

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The plaintiff’s attorney told news outlet ABC 30 that the defendant in the case had been released from the same school a decade earlier over serious misconduct before being brought back in 2022. That lawyer later represented another student with allegations against the same staff member, ABC30 reported, adding the defendant was facing 11 felony counts for misconduct during the 2022–2023 school year.

The settlement in that case was reached one month before a civil trial was expected to start, The Fresno Bee added in coverage from 2025. 

Villegas, while running to retain his vacancy appointment to the school board in 2022, prior to any of the aforementioned settlements, bragged that during his temporary appointment he “pushed for transparency, supporting a policy to grant the public access to meeting recordings,” in a candidate profile for the Visalia Times Delta. In the bio on his congressional candidacy website, Villegas echoes a similar message.

“Randy’s running to fight for working families, protect our democracy, and bring accountable, people-first leadership to Washington,” Villegas’ website says. “He’s challenging Republican David Valadao, who has consistently sided with corporate interests over the needs of our communities.”

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Villegas, who teaches political science at the College of the Sequoias since getting his doctorate from the University of California at Santa Cruz, is running in California’s June 2 top-two primary against incumbent Republican Rep. David Valadao and Democratic Assemblywoman Bains. 

Fox News Digital reached out to campaigns for Valadao and Bains for comment, but did not hear back in time for publication.   

Villegas’ campaign has drawn support from the progressive wing of the party, most notably Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who endorsed Villegas in November 2025, Dolores Huerta, the co-founder of the United Farm Workers alongside Cesar Chavez, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, whose co-chairs, Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., praised Villegas as a candidate who would bring Central Valley voices to Congress. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., also has endorsed Villegas, according to local California reporting. 

The 22nd Congressional District was previously held by Republicans Devin Nunes and Connie Conway.