Here’s one vision of the future for California public schools: Every teacher is effective. Schools are free of child molesters. Schools provide quality instruction time to every kid in every classroom. These are all possibilities, judging from this season of potential change for the state’s public schools. In recent weeks, a trio of separate but...

*UPDATED The LA teachers union, UTLA, voted last night to endorse George McKenna for LA Unified’s District 1 board seat in the August runoff election. McKenna, a retired administrator, had no direct ties to the union and in his winning primary campaign struck a note of independence in assessing various issues. But in the end, said Marco...

Now what? Two years after Vergara v California was filed and one stunning Superior Court decision later, the long wait to a final resolution now begins in earnest. Will Judge Rolf Treu’s lower court decision stand? He knocked out five California laws that he viewed as unconstitutional, violating state laws that guarantee every public school...

This story is updated throughout the day In a stunning defeat for California’s public school teachers unions, a state superior court today ruled in favor of students challenging teacher protection laws in Vergara v California. It was a total triumph for the nine student plaintiffs, giving them a victory on all counts in an equal...

The voters have spoken. Well, some of them spoke. OK, a handful did. Turnout for the California primary on Tuesday was routinely disappointing — 18.3 percent statewide, 13.1 percent across LA County and how about that LA Unified District 1 school board race: 10 percent. Democracy inaction. Among 338,986 registered voters in the district, only 34,876...

And now there are two. LAUSD school board candidates George McKenna and Alex Johnson outpolled five others in yesterday’s election, but neither reached a majority, moving them into an August runoff to fill LA Unified’s vacant District 1 seat. McKenna, 73, a career school administrator and early favorite to replace the late Marguerite LaMotte, was...

Just when members of the Los Angeles teachers union, UTLA, thought brighter economic times for California would translate to higher salaries after seven years without a contract, the state threw them a curveball. In recent weeks, Gov. Jerry Brown and the legislature have begun debating over how to pay down teacher pension debt, which has...

LA Unified has opened contract negotiations with the teachers union, UTLA, offering a 2 percent raise for all teachers for the current school year, and another 2 percent increase next year. The union immediately dismissed the offer in a news release, calling it “far short of what educators deserve after seven years without a pay...

* UPDATED Parents of students at Stoner Elementary School, who have been fighting to get the co-located Citizens of the World  Charter School Mar Vista (CWC) off their campus, have succeeded in their quest. A letter from LA Unified has informed them the charter “will not be co-locating” on the campus next year, a decision...

* UPDATED In a major policy shift, the LA Unified school district will no longer require teachers under investigation to report to so-called “teacher jails.” Instead, teachers will be allowed to go home, with the understanding that they must remain there during their working hours unless they are summoned elsewhere as part of the investigation.The...