LA School Report has learned that the teachers union’s political arm, UTLA-PACE, has sent a direct mail piece on behalf of a Westside District 4 candidate, Steve Zimmer, in what appears to be its first election expenditure. The mailer is notable because UTLA-PACE is expected to spend big on behalf of UTLA-backed school board candidates, but...

Outside Spending Pours Into L.A. School Board Race Outside groups are mounting campaigns to influence the outcome of three races for seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education. LA Times See also: LA School Report Teachers’ Ratings Still High Despite New Measures High teacher rating results, among the first trickling out from states’ newly...

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...

L.A. Unified Misspent Millions Marked for School Lunches At least eight California school districts have misappropriated millions of dollars in funding intended to pay for meals for low-income students — the biggest culprit being the Los Angeles Unified School District, according to a state Senate watchdog group. LA Times See also: KPCC, LA Daily News...

Conflicting priorities over how to spend an influx of $6 billion in statewide Prop. 30 funds are causing tensions between LAUSD and the teachers union, UTLA. As a recent UTLA newletter reveals, concerns about how the money will be spent are one of the reasons that the union is so focused on the outcome of...

With the March 5 election day now less than a month away, the Coalition for School Reform, the LA County Federation of Labor, and the Local 99 branch of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have each kicked their LAUSD School Board spending up a notch, but UTLA-PACE — a major player in past elections...

Brown Details How to Hold Districts Accountable Under Funding Reform Responding to criticism that he is offering flexibility without accountability, Gov. Jerry Brown has offered up specifics on how he would hold school districts responsible for extra money he is proposing to give them for high-needs children under his proposed sweeping reforms of how California...

Big Hollywood Donors Enter School Board Race for First Time Hollywood donates a lot of money to national political campaigns. Big players in “the industry” have also donated to Los Angeles City Hall races over the years. But L.A. Unified school board races have been way off the radars of these big donors. Until now....

Over the weekend, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) Director of Communications Suzanne Spurgeon emailed us a statement about our Friday story on how UTLA has been reporting and spending its money so far in the LAUSD School Board campaign: “To our knowledge PACE has reported expenditures in a timely and proper manner. If there have...

L.A. Parent Group Applies Lessons From Compton, Adelanto Efforts to Take Over School  The 24th Street Elementary School Parent Union has received eight letters of interest from groups wanting a chance to reform the school. Six are from established charter schools, one is from a retired 24th Street teacher and one is from L.A. Unified...