Months in the making, LA Unified’s $6.8 billion budget, along with an extra $332 million through the Local Control Funding Formula, finally reached the school board today, as Superintendent John Deasy walked the members through its highlights, pointing to dozens of areas where the new money is going. His presentation was the featured attraction at...

Edweek has done a nice job providing opposing perspectives on the potential outcome of the Vergara v. California case, a lawsuit challenging the state’s teacher tenure and job protection laws. Below are the two articles, the first of which claims that the case is a lose-lose for the plaintiffs and defendants, while the second lauds...

The sound of classroom silence. As part of a rally by parents, education advocates and civil rights groups who represent Communities for Los Angeles Student Success, or CLASS, 375 desks were set up this morning at the LAUSD headquarters in downtown Los Angeles. With downtown LA’s skyline as the backdrop, the empty desks represented the number...

This morning, the Los Angeles Unified School Board meets to discuss a wide variety of issues including what promises to be a charged debate about a budget plan unveiled by Superintendent John Deasy last week. Community groups have held a series of meetings and rallies, including one last night, advocating for a say in the...

Ballots were dropped in the mail today to the 35,000 members of the Los Angeles teachers union (UTLA), to decide who will win the top job of the second largest teachers union in the country, in a second-round runoff. It’s down to two candidates from the original field of ten: between current president Warren Fletcher, considered...

With the LA Unified board meeting tomorrow, two rallies are taking place outside district headquarters that seek support for two different educational issues. Parents, education advocates and civil rights groups, who represent Communities for Los Angeles Student Success, or CLASS, are organizing a “silent protest” on behalf of low-income students, schools and communities by placing...

Six LA Unified high schools are splitting a $7 million Youth CareerConnect grant to expand career pathways in health care, biotechnology, and business. The district is one of the first in the nation awarded funds from a collaboration between the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor. It is designed to help schools provide more industry-related...

Garfield High School held a ribbon-cutting ceremony last Saturday for the Jaime Escalante Auditorium, which appears as a radical improvement over the old theater set ablaze by an arsonist seven years ago. Construction of the new auditorium included the restoration of Memorial plaza, which connects the auditorium to a new three-story building that includes classrooms and administrative...

The budget proposal LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy will present to the school board tomorrow has won lukewarm responses from three of the district’s biggest labor partners — the teachers union (UTLA), the principals union (AALA) and the support workers union (SEIU Local 99). After reviewing documents the district released on Friday, each group expressed cautious...

A new study by the California Department of Public Health has found that childhood trauma has a long-term impact on a child’s life, and the consequences are far more prevalent among children from low-income families. It is an especially acute issue for LA Unified, which has among the highest concentrations of low-income students in the...