-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
After LAUSD Enrollment Falls by 11,000, Board President Says Schools May Close

After another year of dramatic enrollment losses, the Los Angeles Unified school board president is considering the possibility of closing or merging schools. The nation’s second-largest school district now enrolls 408,083 students, according to figures published Jan. 31. In the 2023-24 school year, LAUSD enrolled 419,749 kids; the year before that, 429,349. “I’m kind of...
By Ben Chapman | February 25, 2025
-
How Los Angeles Unified Slumped On The Latest Federal Tests

The nation’s second largest school district isn’t exactly coming roaring back from the pandemic, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly called the nation’s report card. But the Los Angeles Unified School District also isn’t lagging behind either, according to the federal measure of math and reading skills, which, among other things, is...
By Ben Chapman | February 20, 2025