Dozens of LA Unified schools lack staff needed to run libraries As many as 145 schools across L.A. Unified may have closed their libraries, according to staffing numbers provided to KPCC this week. The district said it does not have a tally of shuttered libraries, but figures show schools and the district have hired only...

Via Ed Source | By John Fensterwald In a letter on Monday, leaders of the state Senate and Assembly criticized proposed regulations on state funding for the state’s neediest students as inconsistent with the intent of the new school finance law. Their letter to the State Board of Education, which must adopt the regulations in...

California using $2-million arts grant windfall for new programs The California Arts Council, the agency behind state government’s arts grants, is putting down most of its chips from a one-time, $2-million funding windfall on several new bets involving arts education and community improvement through the arts. The nearly $1.6 million allocated at the panel’s most...

It’s that time of year again, and naturally, thoughts turn to LA Unified school board committees. Well, probably not, but it is worth noting that what’s old is new again, as the deliberative process has returned, echoes of a bygone, pre-Monica Garcia as president time. Back then, in the middle of the last decade, as...

Via the LA Times | By Stephen Ceasar When Carmina Rosas visited her son’s first-grade classroom, she got a lesson of her own. She learned that her 6-year-old, who attends New Open World Academy in Koreatown, could read 59 of the 96 “high-frequency” words he should have known by that time in the school year....

L.A. Unified’s local food push is healthy for area economy too The savory smell of nutmeg and cinnamon wafts through the Azusa bakery, where dozens of workers in blue gloves and hairnets cook up L.A. Unified’s newest star product. The “Glorious Morning” muffin is chewy and moist, packed with whole wheat, raisins and carrots —...

Under pressure from the federal government, California is expanding a field test of computer-based assessments to test students in both math and English language arts, rather than just one subject area. A law recently signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, AB 484, (see story here) requires testing in only one subject. The change, announced yesterday by...