The plan to expand arts access for students across LA Unified and restore nearly $16 million in arts funding will include data gathered in a new Arts Equity Index, a tool to identify schools in greatest need of arts instruction. School board member Steve Zimmer, who proposed the idea at the board meeting Tuesday, called...

A new poll shows that two-thirds of California voters agree that the state should get rid of “Last in, First Out,” a teacher tenure policy that requires the newest K-12 teachers be laid off first, regardless of merit. Just 17 percent said layoffs by reverse seniority should continue. The poll was conducted by the USC Rossier School...

An extraordinary year for LA Unified came to an extraordinary end yesterday as the school board unanimously approved —  and with minimal debate — its largest budget in seven years. The six board members played musical chairs congratulating one another and Superintendent John Deasy for a job well done. Members were especially complimentary of the...

In its final meeting of the 2013-14 fiscal year, the LA Unified school board may decide to break tradition by delaying the annual vote for board president. Normally, board members elect a new leader for the coming year during a summer meeting prior to the start of the next academic year. But the members may...

Sylvia Rousseau, the temporary liaison for LA Unified School District 1, is leaving her post on a high note. Throughout her four-month tenure, Rousseau has been an avid advocate for the district’s Standard English Learners, a group of “invisible” students, as she calls them, who consistently perform well below grade level on all types of...

In a surprising move, the LA Unified Board of Education today moved swiftly through multiple motions that had been expected to be quite contentious. Most board meetings these day, go well into the dinner hour. The highlight, aside from the meeting lasting less than two and a half hours, was a parade of speakers making...