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Looming California Budget Changes Threaten Black Students, Study Says
Looming funding cuts threaten the academic progress of Black students in districts across California, according to a report by researchers at the University of Southern California. “The Cost of Equity: Exploring Recent K-12 Federal and State Funding Shifts and Their Impact on Black Students,” examines how changes in legislative and policy could impact California’s school...
By Ben Chapman | June 24, 2025
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L.A. Families Are Mostly Satisfied With Their Schools, Survey Says
Families are mostly satisfied with their LAUSD schools — although they want improvements in school safety and better mental health services for students, an annual survey of district parents has found. The 79-page “Family Insights” report found LAUSD families saw improvements in their schools in the past year, with support for leadership of the nation’s...
By Ben Chapman | June 17, 2025
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L.A. Schools Create ‘Perimeters of Safety’ Against ICE Agents
Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said Monday school police will create “perimeters of safety” around high school graduation ceremonies to keep out immigration enforcement agents after federal raids rocked the city last week. Speaking at a press conference at LAUSD headquarters, Carvalho also said the district would offer transportation to graduation events,...
By Ben Chapman | June 9, 2025
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Los Angeles School Board Moms Push For Paid Parental Leave
Three moms on the L.A. Unified School Board have assembled a resolution to improve benefits for pregnant teachers and other district employees who don’t qualify for California’s state-paid family leave. The board passed the resolution unanimously last month — and now the district is putting together a preliminary plan, with a deadline of February, 2026...
By Ben Chapman | June 3, 2025
Across All Ages & Demographics, Test Results Show Americans Are Getting Dumber
Parents, Medical Providers, Vaccine Experts Brace for RFK Jr.’s HHS Takeover
After Declaring NAEP Off-Limits, Education Department Cancels Upcoming Test
Interactive: Data From 9,500 Districts Finds Even More Staff and Fewer Students
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Top LAUSD Schools with Empty Seats Shut Out Needy Students, Report Says
Dozens of highly-rated Los Angeles Unified schools in wealthy neighborhoods have empty seats — but most students can’t access them, according to a new analysis of state enrollment data. “Crisis in the School House,” a 36-page report published by Available To All, a nonpartisan nonprofit led by Tim DeRoche, an author and parent who lives...
By Ben Chapman | May 20, 2025
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Q&A: LAUSD Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin Talks Budget, Enrollment and Safety
When she was laid off from her job as a Los Angeles Unified middle school teacher in the Great Recession, LAUSD school board member Tanya Ortiz Franklin couldn’t have imagined she’d be back one day as the boss. But such is life. Ortiz Franklin took her layoff and went to law school for a second...
By Ben Chapman | May 7, 2025
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Q&A: LAUSD Board Member Nick Melvoin on the Wildfires, Trump and Smartphones
Sharp and independent, Brentwood native Nick Melvoin has served on the LAUSD school board since 2017. But the attorney and former teacher said he’s never seen anything like this year, where he’s currently helping to guide the nation’s second-largest school system through some rough situations. That includes federal agents turning up at schools, looking for...
By Ben Chapman | April 29, 2025
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Five Years On, COVID-Era Enrollment Declines Decimate L.A. Schools
Five years after COVID-19 shut down all the schools in Los Angeles, enrollment declines in the nation’s second largest district are worsening again. Since the pandemic, the Los Angeles Unified School District has lost more than 70,000 students. Enrollment has fallen to 408,083, from a peak of 746,831 in 2002. Losses steepened this year, too,...
By Ben Chapman | April 22, 2025
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Federal Agents Turn Up at Two LA Schools Seeking ‘Access’ to Young Children
Federal agents who were denied entrance to two Los Angeles elementary schools this week were seeking “access” to five young students attending those schools, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said Thursday. News of U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents showing up at Lillian Street Elementary School and Russell Elementary School in South Los Angeles’...
By Ben Chapman | April 10, 2025
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LA Schools Face Stiff Headwinds From Wildfires and Trump, Report Says
The Los Angeles Unified School District is at a critical turning point, with fresh obstacles from both the recent wildfires and changes in federal aid and policies under the Trump administration, a new report argues. The 26-page document, “Looking Ahead as LAUSD Confronts Fire Recovery and Federal Policy Uncertainty,” found those twin events will place...
By Ben Chapman | March 25, 2025