The union political action committee charged with re-interviewing District 6 runoff candidates last night voted narrowly to remove Antonio Sanchez and make Monica Ratliff its sole endorsed candidate for the May 21 runoff — but fell well short of the two-thirds majority required to make the recommendation official. UTLA’s governing body, the House of Representatives,...

In the last few days, many explanations have been tossed about for the Coalition for School Reform’s failure to unseat incumbent Steve Zimmer and replace him with challenger Kate Anderson in last week’s School Board election: Some have blamed a backlash against out-of-state money given by the likes of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Rupert Murdoch. Others...

When District 6 runoff candidate Antonio Sanchez showed up to the UTLA endorsement interview last year, he was accompanied by Miguel Santiago, an old friend of Sanchez’s as well as a member of the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees and — more importantly — State Assembly Speaker John Perez’s District Director. Santiago’s appearance...

Tomorrow’s much-anticipated House of Representatives debate over District 6 endorsements isn’t the only potentially divisive issue UTLA’s governing body has on tap this Spring. Next month, members of the teachers union will also vote on a new initiative to demand various things from LAUSD such as better pay, reduced class size, restored funding of early childhood...

On Wednesday evening, UTLA’s House of Representatives will vote on whether to stick with its endorsements of Antonio Sanchez, a former aide to the Mayor, and classroom teacher Monica Ratliff, or to pick one candidate over the other in the District 6 school board runoff. Sources say that UTLA leadership doesn’t mind Sanchez, a politically connected...

Before and during a Wednesday evening education event held at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, a tired-looking Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa expressed frustration about the previous day’s election results — and pledged to keep working on school reform issues even after his term expires. “Obviously I was disappointed with the results in the fourth district,” Villaraigosa told LA School...

Unlike the closely watched Coalition for School Reform and the teachers union, SEIU Local 99 — which represents LAUSD classified employees like cafeteria workers and custodians — came out of Tuesday’s election an unequivocal winner. The union was two for three on election night, having backed both Monica Garcia and Steve Zimmer — and could...

Two UTLA-endorsed candidates, Antonio Sanchez and Monica Ratliff, won the most votes yesterday and will face each other in the May 21 general election for District 6. Earlier today, UTLA President Warren Fletcher put out a pro forma press release saying that either Sanchez or Ratliff would be strong Board members. However, UTLA’s House of...

After months of campaigning, thousands of trees chopped down and turned into glossy direct mail, and nearly $6 million spent, last night’s LAUSD Board election left the  ideological makeup of the School Board essentially untouched. Incumbent Monica Garcia won her re-election outright, garnering a very healthy 56% of the vote. In District 6, Antonio Sanchez is heading toward...

Last week, UTLA sent out an “evaluation rights toolkit” to all its chapter chairs to help members “effectively assert their evaluation rights, and to defeat Deasy’s attempted end‐run around the contract.” The “end-run” refers to the guidelines sent out by Superintendent John Deasy, recommending that up to 30 percent of new teacher evaluations be devoted...