The LA Unified board is preparing for a big spend on health care tomorrow when the members vote to approve a tentative agreement with eight labor partners on a package of benefits through 2018. But Monica Ratliff, the District 6 member, said in a statement this morning from the district that she wants to delay...

‘Teacher bashing’ may be turning new recruits away The precipitous decline in young people entering the teaching profession in California is now a 10-year trend. SI&A Cabinet Report Vaccine fears haunt L.A.’s west side The issue has dominated lives and reconfigured the behavior of parents in the affluent environs of west Los Angeles. Sacramento Bee...

By Derek Thompson | The Atlantic Each year, the U.S. government tells Americans how much money the country spends on stuff, like houses, cars, and alcohol. Organizing this information by income, Josh Zumbrun at The Wall Street Journal produces this nice chart of spending on food, health care, and other categories. Two clear stories. To the far left: The richest...

More state aid stabilizes school district finances Recent infusions of state aid, and the prospect of more to come, have improved the financial stability of California’s school districts. Sacramento Bee Santa Ana Unified set to offer ethnic studies classes In December, the LA Unified School District’s board voted to make ethnic studies courses a high...

By Howard Blume | The Los Angeles Times An advocacy group has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop teachers unions in California from using member dues for political purposes unless individual instructors provide their permission. The effort, if successful, could weaken the influence of these unions by limiting their spending. The lawsuit was filed Friday...

Panel approves $1b allocation for Common Core A proposal adding $1 billion for state schools transitioning to Common Core won easy passage Wednesday from a key legislative committee. SI&A Cabinet Report Chicago is waiting to see if runoff battle has humbled Rahm Emanuel Public school teachers, who were leading the charge against Emanuel and who went...

By Chris Megerian | The Los Angeles Times California could face a strange budget problem in coming months — one resulting from too much revenue rather than too little. In a worst-case scenario outlined by legislative analysts on Tuesday, there could be a $1.3 billion budget gap as higher-than-expected revenue collides with California’s formula for...

By The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board On the day they start kindergarten, Latino children are often already at a disadvantage. Their social skills and readiness to listen and learn are top-notch, but their cognitive and verbal skills, abilities that strongly predict future academic success, tend to be significantly less developed than those of their...

California now ranks 29th among all states and the District of Columbia in spending per student, up from 42nd two years ago, according a new report from the California Budget and Policy Center. The jump is attributed in part to Proposition 30’s tax increases, which were approved in November 2012. The new ranking is based...