On Friday, the first hearing will be held in the Vergara v. California, the lawsuit that, in terms of its massive size and scope, one union lawyer described “Doe v. Deasy on steroids.” Brought about by an organization called Students Matter, which is funded by wealthy tech entrepreneur David Welch, the suit takes aim at five laws in...

Today is Election Day. Go vote! Gov. Jerry Brown Crisscrosses California in Final Prop. 30 Push To shore up support for Proposition 30, Gov. Jerry Brown goes on a 5-city swing to tout his proposal to raise taxes and head off deep cuts to public education. LA Times Californians Started the Tax Revolt 34 Years...

Support for Brown’s Tax Measure Holding its Own Likely to be in the Prop. 30 camp’s favor is a massive increase in the number of newly-registered voters, said to be mostly young Democrats. Since the state launched an online registration program in September, nearly an additional one million residents have signed up to vote. SI&A...

Superintendent John Deasy submitted the district’s Race to the Top application to Washington yesterday without the support of UTLA — and without any real chance of wining approval — largely to score political points against the teachers union, according to Board-watchers. “I think both sides are ready to fight each other full steam on Tuesday [after the...

Big Districts Divided Over Cutting School Year if Prop. 30 Fails Slightly more than a third report that they do not plan any more furlough days, and the rest say that a shorter school year remains an option that they plan to raise with their unions. Ed Source L.A. Unified Competes For U.S. Funds Without Key...

Not too far removed from the seven-day strike that captured the nation’s attention in September, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has signed off on the district’s Race to the Top application. “Chicago — one of the most militant teachers unions in country — sees the light of day, and UTLA is still hiding under a...

LAUSD has just announced that it was sending in its $40 million Race to the Top Application today, despite the fact that UTLA refused to sign off on it. “Although UTLA refused to be a partner in this critically important grant,” said Deasy in a press release, “I will advocate for it on behalf of...

In a piece today in the Daily News, Barbara Jones writes that if Proposition 30 doesn’t pass, LAUSD says it would shorten the 2012-2013 school year by as many as 15 days, and the following school year by as many as 15 additional days. But on Monday, Superintendent John Deasy told LA School Report that other cuts...

LAUSD Bracing for Severe Cuts if Prop. 30 Loses To offset the cuts, the state is allowing districts to shave 15 days off their 175-day school calendars this year – and up to 15 additional days next year – a move that LAUSD officials fear could jeopardize students’ hard-won academic gains and hinder efforts to...

Not many people would recognize David Holmquist, general counsel for the LA Unified School District (pictured below). But Holmquist serves as an important role, overseeing all labor negotiations, and representing the district in over 1,000 lawsuits  – including attempts by LAUSD to recover overpayment from 600 employees and dismiss more than 120 teachers. We spoke last...