“Over the past several years, teachers who have spent 10 years or fewer in the classroom have become the dues-paying majority. These newer teachers, along with many longtime teachers, are looking for their unions to elevate the profession — not to sacrifice teaching quality for job security.” — Teachers for New Unionism head Michael Stryer...

Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom seems like he’s on the verge of having won his race against Assembly member Betsy Butler. (See: KPCC, LA Observed, LA Weekly). If this happens, Bloom will have won despite being outspent by a wide margin, lacking key Democratic endorsements, and even having the state Democratic party circulate flyers against him.  And his victory...

Privacy advocates and technophobes have responded with alarm to the news reported in the SF Gate that the FAA has lately been inundated with requests from public and private agencies to launch drone programs domestically.  So far as we know, LAUSD isn’t among those public agencies who’ve inquired about using drones, but it might not...

While changes in district policies governing charter school oversight seem to be off the table for now, today’s SI&A Cabinet Report reminds us that the state may well take up the issue on its own. New legislation likely to be considered in the near future would require authorizers like LAUSD to consider charter schools’ performance in...

Many schools already require students to wear IDs with pictures, ID numbers, and class schedules on them. Now, a Texas high school student is on the verge of being transferred out of her magnet program to another school because she’s refused to participate in the pilot RFID tracking program in which plastic ID badges being...

It’s just an announcement, and there are lots of things that could prevent any real action from taking place, but kudos to the California Charter Schools Association for being one of two state charter groups to join the National Association of Charter School Authorizers this morning in Washington to call for a renewed focus on...

Many Washington insiders would disagree pretty vehemently with SI&A Cabinet Report‘s assessment that the Obama administration will try for a comprehensive overhaul of No Child Left Behind, but the news outlet’s latest article (Stakes likely go up on teacher evaluations in Obama’s second term) is still a good reminder that key policy issues like including...

Remember a few weeks ago when UTLA refused to sign onto LAUSD’s Race to the Top application, and Superintendent John Deasy sent it in anyway (along with a press release)? Well it took the US Department of Education about five minutes to reject LAUSD’s application, and — thanks to 300 peer reviewers — it took...

Some have said that the LA Times education coverage is overly teacher- and union-friendly. Indeed,  today’s news roundup alone contains a news story about the rollout of the new teacher observation system and another about the challenges of co-locating charter and district schools on the same campus. But a comparison of the images accompanying the latest editorial on Board member...

“Good for the committee that … put the brakes on this poorly planned effort Wednesday.” LA Times: A Tablet in Every Backpack?