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‘A call to action’: School board vote on supporting a charter moratorium leaves a lot unanswered but presents an opportunity for inclusive talk and real change, advocates say
Today’s L.A. Unified school board vote on a resolution calling for a moratorium on new charter schools is the latest fallout in the battle against charters that engulfed the district during the six-day teacher strike. But despite scant detail on the resolution’s origin and impact, advocates believe it poses an opportunity for an inclusive community...
By Taylor Swaak | January 29, 2019
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After teacher strike agreement, LAUSD school board to vote Tuesday on supporting charter school moratorium
The L.A. Unified school board will vote Tuesday on a resolution that would direct the superintendent to pursue a moratorium on new charter schools in the district. The resolution would also require the school board to call on state officials to study the financial impact of charters on the district to inform revisions to the...
By Taylor Swaak | January 25, 2019
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A look into the LAUSD, UTLA contract deal ending the 6-day teacher strike
*Updated Jan. 22 L.A. Unified and its teachers union announced Tuesday they had reached a contract deal to end the six-day teacher strike, heralding “a new chapter” in public education that district officials say will protect the district’s fiscal solvency. The deal has to be approved by a majority of United Teachers Los Angeles’s 34,000...
By Taylor Swaak | January 22, 2019
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Welcome but complicated — Mayor Garcetti, Gov. Newsom and the pressure to end the LAUSD teacher strike
*Updated Jan. 18 With pressure building to end the Los Angeles teacher strike, Mayor Eric Garcetti is now mediating contract negotiations between L.A. Unified and its union — a move education pundits say is welcome but possibly complicated by his prior disconnect and his actions this week backing educators. Education observers say Garcetti, elected in...
By Taylor Swaak | January 18, 2019
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‘Painful truth’: 9 numbers haunting LAUSD as strike continues
*Updated Jan. 18 L.A. Unified reports losing a net $75 million in the first week of the teacher strike from low student attendance, stretching its finances further as the district struggles to remain solvent. While the district tries to satiate the teachers union’s demands, it’s teetering on a proverbial “fiscal cliff” — shouldering more than...
By Taylor Swaak | January 17, 2019
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LAUSD could lose control of its finances if it agrees to a teachers contract that depletes reserves, county warns
*Updated Jan. 14 L.A. Unified could lose control of its finances if it signs off on a heftier contract agreement with its teachers union that drains its reserves past the mandated minimum level, County Superintendent of Schools Debra Duardo told LA School Report. “If [L.A. Unified and UTLA] did come to an agreement that was...
By Taylor Swaak | January 11, 2019
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Experts: Crippling long-term debt isn’t leaving L.A. schools much wiggle room to avert a teacher strike — and may doom the district to takeover
*Updated Jan. 14 The looming teacher strike in Los Angeles, no matter how it’s sliced, comes down to money — but not the salary raises and cost of new hires that have kept the district and its teachers union apart during nearly two years of contract negotiations. The real money problem, experts say, lies with...
By Taylor Swaak | January 9, 2019
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LAUSD, UTLA back to the bargaining table & more: 8 teacher strike updates you might have missed over winter break
*Updated Jan. 7 As nearly half a million L.A. Unified students return from holiday break on Monday, the district and its teachers union plan to sit down for a last-ditch attempt to avert a strike. If there’s no agreement, United Teachers Los Angeles intends to strike Thursday. There are more than 30,000 UTLA members who...
By Taylor Swaak | January 3, 2019
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A day after mediation panel backs LAUSD’s salary offer, UTLA sets a January strike date
*Updated United Teachers Los Angeles will strike Jan. 10 if L.A. Unified doesn’t take “a dramatically different approach” to negotiations, the union announced Wednesday. “[By] refusing to invest in our schools, the district has disrespected our students and disrespected us,” Alex Caputo-Pearl, the union’s president, said at a morning news conference. “We’ve reached the point...
By Taylor Swaak | December 19, 2018
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New look for the California School Dashboard is ‘an improvement’ — but it’s still not geared toward parents, advocates say
The much-anticipated redesign of California’s maligned school dashboard is live — but some education advocates aren’t convinced it went far enough to improve usability for parents. The California School Dashboard is a state-run platform that rates districts, schools and student groups on indicators such as test scores and student suspensions — and, as of this...
By Taylor Swaak | December 11, 2018