By Rob Bonta and Jeff Bridges It’s hard being a kid. There’s class work, homework and, in some cases, part-time work. It’s even harder being a hungry kid. Imagine trying to focus on an important lesson with an empty stomach. How well would you perform? Now multiply that feeling by 4.3 million. That’s the number...

CA teachers, community colleges know what to do with extra state funds On Thursday morning, Gov. Jerry Brown is set to unveil an updated budget proposal for the next fiscal year. KPCC In L.A. Unified races, both union and charter school backers target iPads Charter-school backers and the teachers union are on opposite sides in...

The LA Unified school board is scheduled to meet today at 1 p.m. Among the agenda items of interest is a vote on a new contract with UTLA, as well as discussion on the district’s A through G graduation requirements. Also included is the “Seek Greater Opportunities for Four Year Olds,” a plan to expand Transitional Kindergarten to...

By Chris Megerian  As California staggered through years of budget crises, the state law intended to safeguard funds for public education was no defense against a flood of recessionary red ink. School budgets were cut by billions of dollars, and thousands of teachers were laid off. So it’s an incredible reversal of fortune that the...

How low voter turnout impacts LAUSD schools Over the last 50 years, local election turnout plummeted from a about 50 percent to less than 10 percent of eligible voters. KPCC LAUSD board seat election could determine the fate of charter schools The spending on both sides has turned the tussle in District 5 into a...

As if winning the City Section wrestling championship at 195 pounds wasn’t enough, an El Camino Real Charter High School senior will have his short film about the emotional and physical stress of the sport screened at no less than the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Rory McClellan’s film “Pride,” shot during this past wrestling season,...

By The Editorial Board It’s much easier for members of the L.A. Unified school board sitting on the dais to pass stringent and unrealistic new standards than it is for teachers on the ground to carry them out. Case in point: the district’s requirement that all students take the full schedule of college-prep courses —...

Students teaching students in new world of Common Core math Four years into teaching Common Core-based math in elementary schools, Downey Unified is betting that its collaborative approach will serve its students. KPCC Toxic turf? Movement grows against synthetic turf Artificial turf fields, cushioned with recycled crushed tires and increasingly in demand for US athletic...

By Jenna Chandler Moms who turned out last week to hear vaccine critic Andrew Wakefield speak in Dana Point said the debate over whether to inoculate their children has become so divisive it’s severing friendships. “The ‘V’ word, man, it’s a hot topic,” said Dotty “Sunshine” Hagmier, founder of local moms group Moms In Charge....

What schools must learn from LA’s iPad debacle When LA schools began handing out iPads in the fall of 2013, it looked like one of the country’s most ambitious rollouts of technology in the classroom. Wired LA rents are so high the school district is building apartments for teachers The LAUSD notes that annual median...