Last night, the increasingly star-studded effort to improve education in Los Angeles got a boost from several members of the cast of “Les Miserables” and other Hollywood stars, who turned out for a party hosted by Vanity Fair to raise money for the LA Fund for Public Education. Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha...

While no one yet knows who will ultimately win the three contested School Board races, there are already some big winners among campaign consultants (who get paid no matter what). As you can see below, big money has been flowing out from independent expenditure committees and campaigns to consultants who specialize in mailers, TV ads,...

A new section of LA School Report launches today, devoted to the three hotly contested Los Angeles School Board races. Election 2013, features in-depth information about each of the ten candidates, including questionnaires, biographies, endorsements, and the latest news on campaign contributions and spending. The enhanced coverage provides readers with easy access to information as the March...

Don’t forget: Today, February 19, is the last day to register to vote in the March elections. Other folks have registered and voted by mail since February 5th. Go here to register to vote online. Some other dates to remember: February 26, 2013 (Tuesday): The last day to apply by mail for a vote-by-mail ballot in the March primary...

On Friday, the LA Weekly first reported that all of the mayoral candidates but one — Eric Garcetti — had indicated support for the parent trigger. Then, in a 5:00 pm update, the alternative weekly reported that Garcetti was supporting the parents at 24th Street Elementary who have initiated a trigger process — “but he...

An education-related event dubbed March As One took place over the weekend, and numerous political candidates were there:”Garcetti, Greuel, James, Perry, and Pleitez shared their platforms for education,” writes organizer Catherine Aguilar, “as well as the School Board candidates: Garcia, Montanez, Zimmer [pictured], Anderson [pictured], Cano, and Ratliff.” The crowd marched three miles and gathered at...

Watch the video of last night’s two-hour event, via United Way of Greater LA, or scroll through the #laboardrace tweets below from during the event.

A pro-charter, pro-accountability group called Democrats for Education Reform has issued a report card on District 2 incumbent Monica Garcia and District 4 incumbent Steve Zimmer, based on “parent choice and quality schools; school district transparency; district leadership; and teacher effectiveness and quality.” Meantime, Zimmer has followed UTLA’s lead and issued a response to the news that...

Independent expenditure committees have already begun going negative on their candidates’ opponents — on budget cutting/layoffs (against District 2 incumbent Monica Garcia) and cutting the arts and spending too much on the Robert Kennedy Community School building (against District 4 incumbent Steve Zimmer). The latest LA Weekly reminds us it’s likely to get much worse in...

This is a guest post by Jason Mandell, Director of Public Affairs at United Way of Greater Los Angeles Recently I was talking with someone about the city’s March 5th election, which includes three hotly contested school board races, and this was her response: “I don’t have children in public schools, so I don’t really care...