*UPDATED In his first interview after declaring victory in the LA Unified school board election, Nick Melvoin vowed to protect parents’ choices in education and to move the district beyond the charter school versus traditional school narrative. “I would like the first thing we try to tackle to be moving beyond this what we call...

*UPDATED Reform-backed candidates swept the LA Unified school board election Tuesday night, unseating the board president and swinging the balance of the board toward a reform majority for the first time since 2010, according to unofficial election results. Steve Zimmer, the board president who was running for his third and final term, conceded before any results...

Kelly Gonez and Imelda Padilla are two political newcomers who are running for the east San Fernando Valley seat on the LA Unified school board. Both are young Latinas who grew up in the district. LA School Report sat down separately with each of them to ask what differentiates them. In many ways, the District...

Greg Martayan, the fourth-place finisher in the primary election who received a crucial number of votes that could sway the outcome in the runoff, has endorsed Steve Zimmer, he told LA School Report on Wednesday. Martayan joins a number of other high-profile endorsements in the most expensive school board race in U.S. history. U.S. Senator...

It’s difficult to measure whether voters are interested in the Los Angeles school board elections, which could shift the ideological balance of the board. But for those most affected by how well LA Unified delivers education, it was standing room only at a Saturday forum where students heard how the four candidates plan to make...

Outside groups have poured more than $10 million into the LA Unified school board election, which already this spring became the most expensive school board race in the nation. When it comes to the money the candidates themselves have raised, board President Steve Zimmer stepped up his campaign fundraising efforts last month raising more than...

In an intimate setting Tuesday night at a Sylmar charter school, LA Unified school board candidates Kelly Gonez and Imelda Padilla met for the first and possibly only time ahead of the runoff. Differences stood out in the candidates’ demeanor, but their platforms had some similarities. The forum for the board District 6 candidates at...

It was going to be one of the only opportunities to see all four candidates for two LA Unified school board seats appear together ahead of the May 16 runoff election. But organizers of Saturday’s forum on college readiness hosted by the United Way of Greater Los Angeles only expect board President Steve Zimmer and...

Fourth Street Elementary’s students are supposed to receive nearly $10.5 million under the state’s funding formula, but a new database published by the California Charter Schools Association shows that the East LA school has just $5.4 million to spend. The database’s release comes after a wave of criticisms levied against LA Unified and other California...

*UPDATED A state audit released Thursday found that Alliance College-Ready Public Schools did not divert public funds intended for students on a nearly $1 million campaign to counter efforts by United Teachers Los Angeles to unionize its more than 600 teachers and counselors. The attempt to unionize the city’s largest charter management organization began more...