By Alisha Kirby Recruitment efforts for special education positions – often the hardest jobs for schools to fill – have been forced to focus on out-of-state candidates as the shortage of teachers across California continues to loom. Vicki Barber, co-executive director of the California Statewide Taskforce on Special Education, said expanding the scope of the search...

Suspensions and expulsions decline as districts adopt alternatives, state says The number of students expelled and suspended from California schools continued to decline in 2014-15. EdSource, by Jane Meredith Adams How one student asked the state to tackle a looming education question The passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, the replacement of the No...

By Steve Lopez No question about it. The selection of Michelle King as superintendent of Los Angeles Unified comes with what PR folks call a nice narrative. King, 54, attended district schools as a student, got her first job as an LAUSD student aide in 1978, became a teacher and a principal, and worked her way up to second-in-command...

L.A. school board finds unity in opposing charter plan The Los Angeles Board of Education found common ground by offering its first public opposition to a controversial $490-million charter schools proposal. Los Angeles Times, by Zahira Torres Backers amend Prop. 30 initiative to meet governor’s demand As amended, revenue from continuing Prop. 30 after 2018...

Now that Michelle King has been hired as LA Unified’s new superintendent, it’s time to ask if the school board made the right decision. King, 54, who has worked for the district since 1984 and has been its No. 2 administrator since 2011, was chosen over several outside candidates, including San Francisco schools Supt. Richard Carranza...

The LA Unified school board is holding several open session meetings today, at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., with a closed session in-between. Items up for discussion include an exploration of why certain charter schools operate on split campuses and a vote on the future of the closed Highlander campus in the San Fernando Valley,...

By John Fensterwald  Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices were what news reports called hostile in their questioning of union lawyers Monday during arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a case that could undercut the financial stability and the political clout of public employee unions in California and nearly two dozen states Ten teachers in...

Who is new LA Unified Supt. Michelle King? If King has had nonconformist ideas about how to run the behemoth system or turn around lagging student achievement, she’s never made them widely known. Los Angeles Times, by Howard Blume Brown says it’s time to abandon API to judge schools’ performance Brown said the new federal...

The LA Unified school board is meeting today at 4 p.m., after which it might announce who will replace Ramon Cortines as superintendent. Cortines retired in December and his deputy, Michelle King, was named acting superintendent. The district plans to livestream any announcement and press conference that would follow.