School Board President Monica Garcia’s latest campaign finance statement includes some familiar names — including a $1,000 contribution from LAUSD Deputy Superintendent of Instruction Jaime Aquino, a top aide to Superintendent John Deasy. While it’s illegal to solicit campaign contributions from Los Angeles city employees, it is perfectly legal for  employees to give on their own accord,...

Over the three-day weekend, two powerful unions — the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the SEIU Local 99 (which represents classified LAUSD employees) kicked off what is expected to be an intense period of activity by independent expenditure (IE) committees over the next few months. The two organizations spent a combined $54,564 in support of School...

Last week, classroom teachers voted overwhelmingly to approve a new system of evaluations, which include data from California Standardized Tests.  “I’m gratified our members ratified the agreement that clearly states, individual AGT (Academic Growth Over Time) scores will not be used as part of a teacher’s final evaluation,” said UTLA chief Warren Fletcher in a...

Nearly 100 parents of students attending 24th St. Elementary dropped off a “parent trigger” petition yesterday at LAUSD’s headquarters, demanding drastic reforms and new governance for the school. At LAUSD, the parents received a “strikingly” different reception than parents received in previous instances of the parent trigger, according to the LA Times‘ Teresa Watanabe. And...

Changed votes by two Board members over the approval of two Aspire charter schools at this week’s Board meeting gave the public a glimpse at a much larger debate over whether charter schools based in Los Angeles should be allowed to operate their special education programs through a partnership with a far-off district that costs...

Parent Revolution has a big day planned for tomorrow, when they along with parents of 24th St. Elementary plan on dropping off their parent trigger petition, the first ever inside of LAUSD (see: Parent Trigger Coming to LAUSD). How closely this latest example of the trigger process will resemble or differ from previous instances in Compton...

The United Way of Greater Los Angeles — which has been active on issues such as the use of student test scores as part of teacher evaluations — is planning to hold a candidate forum for each School Board race: The first forum, for the Westside’s District 4, will be held on January 24 at...

While an avalanche of charter school approvals and renewals dominated today’s Board meeting, and two controversial resolutions were postponed, the Board did manage to approve a symbolic resolution in support of state lawmakers seeing to speed the removal of teachers accused of predatory sexual behavior, veto (and then approve) the creation of two more Aspire...

In an endorsement that somehow flew under the radar, outgoing School board member Nury Martinez has endorsed Iris Zuniga to be her replacement, according to the League of Women Voters’ Smart Voter website. The site notes that newly-elected Congressman Tony Cardenas and State Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra have also endorsed Zuniga. Aides to Martinez and Bocanegra have...

Jeneen Robinson, the youth minister who’s running to replace School Board member Steve Zimmer in the Westside’s District 4, has registered as a write-in candidate, according to the City Clerk’s website. Voters can write-in any candidate’s name on their ballot, but in order for that vote to count, the candidate has to be registered as a...