School overcrowding is down and buildings are safer and updated. But according to a recent report, there’s still $60 billion worth of work needed on LA Unified schools. Since 1997 an unprecedented series of bonds approved specifically for school buildings to ease overcrowding has provided the district with $19.5 billion. While the district has completed 20,000 modernization...

Even before the deputy attorney general got to finish a single statement, the 2nd District Court of Appeals justices hearing a landmark education case Thursday jumped in to ask questions. How do you tell if a teacher is “grossly ineffective”? Is there proof that discrimination has occurred? What is the impact on the state? For...

Arguments in one of the most important lawsuits involving public education will be heard Thursday morning in the state Court of Appeals in Los Angeles. The case of Vergara v. California seeks to overturn five laws involving teacher tenure, dismissals and the last-in, first-out layoff policies. The case was brought on behalf of nine students in five...

Although LA Unified stands to potentially have its highest graduation rate ever this year, the district doesn’t want students to settle for D grades. In fact, the percentage of students maintaining a C or better in college prep or A-G classes has more than doubled in 10 years, according to the latest LA Unified statistics. In a...

LA Unified has returned the last of the military-style weapons it received under a controversial federal program. The news was released in a letter Tuesday, which stated that as of Feb. 5 the last of the weapons, demilitarized rifles, were back in federal custody. The letter from LA Unified Police Chief Steven Zipperman was addressed to Eric Mann,...

A group of community activists including students and parents plan to disrupt LA Unified’s Committee of the Whole on Tuesday afternoon to protest weapons on school campuses. Fight for the Soul of the Cities is protesting the federal government’s 1033 Program, which outfitted school police with machine guns and other weapons. The local civil rights group is asking that...

The 6-foot-3, 300-pound student came to the coach because he was struggling with his classes. If he had a 3.0 grade point average, USC might give him a scholarship. Narbonne High School football coach Manuel Douglas spoke with brutal honesty. “You’re a good talented young man, but you have to want it,” Douglas told him. “I can’t want...

The second largest school district in the nation went on record last week saying it won’t allow law enforcement agents looking to deport those without documentation into any of its 1,274 schools without a review process. The LA Unified School Board voted unanimously to make the district a “safe zone.” The district is not the first. Across the nation...

LA Unified Superintendent Michelle King issued a statement commending Thursday’s announcement that the Porter Ranch well that has been leaking methane gas since October has been sealed, but there was no clear indication of when the two relocated schools and their 1,850 students would return home. Two schools were moved to temporary locations over the winter break...

As part of demonstrations taking place at schools around LA Unified and in cities across the country, a group of roughly 100 protesters made up of parents, students, district leaders and politicians gathered outside Hamilton High School Wednesday morning to rally in support of public education. “Every day at this school I’m exposed to someone with different...