Two education outlets — Hechinger Report (affiliated with Columbia University) and Education Week — have recently published stories out about the LAUSD School Board races focused on the large amount of money that’s been raised by the Coalition for School Reform. Mainstream  outlets — the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post — are almost sure to follow. If they do, however, they...

Anyone (like me) who thought that American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten was going to follow up on her recent trip to LA with a big, fat Lotto-sized check for District 4 candidate Steve Zimmer and UTLA-PACE is going to be sorely disappointed. Word is out that the AFT has sent a $75,000 check to...

This is a guest commentary from Unai Montes-Irueste, a former classroom teacher who spent much of last year blogging for Leadership for Educational Equity, the political recruitment spinoff of Teach For America, and is now a contributor to Politic365.com: A school board race in the second largest public education system in the nation has become the...

Gloria Romero, the former Democratic state legislator who is now heading the California chapter of Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), announced her support for School Board President Monica Garcia last Wednesday, urging supporters to contribute to Garcia’s campaign. The pro-charter, pro-accountability group issued a report card on Garcia and incumbent Steve Zimmer on Thursday morning. However, DFER-California isn’t providing...

Reactions so far to the LA Times editorial page endorsements have been mixed. Nearly everyone agrees that newspaper endorsements aren’t likely to make or break a close School Board race.  Opinions differ on whether the LA Times editorial page is pro-union or pro-reform. Indeed, the Friday endorsements were a mixed bag and doled out criticism of both UTLA...

The first episode of the Oprah Winfrey Network reality series, “Blackboard Wars,” has been moved up to this weekend. Check out the first five minutes here: I had the chance to watch the first two episodes and I have to say that I liked it — not because it’s necessarily accurate or even particularly new...

This is a guest post by Jason Mandell, Director of Public Affairs at United Way of Greater Los Angeles Recently I was talking with someone about the city’s March 5th election, which includes three hotly contested school board races, and this was her response: “I don’t have children in public schools, so I don’t really care...

If you were running for School Board it might seem obvious you would need to be prepared to answer this simple question: “Do you support current LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy?” But at last week’s District 6 candidate forum for the Los Angeles School Board race in the San Fernando Valley, this question made for some...

Lots of different folks want to help 24th Street Elementary School turn things around, according to Parent Revolution — including LAUSD itself and a former 24th Street educator.  EdSource notes that Celerity was one of the outfits that expressed interest in Compton back when the trigger was being attempted there. A number of these outfits will likely...

The steep decline of District 6 candidate Iris Zuniga’s campaign — and her sudden withdrawal earlier this week —  were vivid examples of the sudden twists and turns that part of any political campaign. Things can and do change quickly during campaign season, and no doubt there are many more twists and turns before we...