Barbara Torres, the president of SEIU 99, one of the most powerful unions in the Los Angeles school district, said today she is stepping aside in the 2015 race for school board in District 5, currently held by school board member Bennett Kayser. Torres said she made her decision after a story in LA School Report...

The Los Angeles Unified school board faced long hours of personal and emotional pleas yesterday on a vast array of issues, including how to spend $837 million in money directed to helping low-income students, children in foster care and English learners. A parade of community members addressing the board at the end, each speaking for...

Anyone attending a recent LA Unified School Board meeting has heard Monica Ratliff talk about “providing a safe and inclusive learning environment for all students” by boosting the district’s custodial staff. Tomorrow she’ll lay out her plan for doing it. Item No. 47 on another loooooong agenda, represents Ratliff’s attempt to hire 108 new full-time...

Marshall Tuck, a former charter school executive, is challenging incumbent Tom Torlakson to become California’s next State Superintendent of Public Education. The race includes Lydia Gutierrez, a former teacher who also ran four years ago. The three are on the statewide June 3 primary ballot. We caught up with Tuck at a forum last week, and...

The Ward A.M.E. Church in South LA was packed for a Wednesday night. But the people filing through doors weren’t there to talk about Jesus (though his name did come up). They were there to talk about the race for LA Unified School Board District 1. Sherlett Hendy-Newbill, Alex Johnson, Genethia Hudley-Hayes and George McKenna — the...

Despite the ongoing debate over whether charter schools are better than traditional public schools and the steady increase annually of new charters, the California Charter Schools Association reports a record number of students are on charter school wait lists statewide. In LA Unified, the largest district in the state, an estimated 36,300 students are hoping...

Despite a state budget deadline looming, it’s possible that LA Unified teachers will start yet another school year without a new contract. The district’s proposed spending budget for 2014-15, which must be approved by the school board and submitted to the state by July, includes a line item for teacher raises that remains to be negotiated with...

LA Unified’s summer school programs are getting a massive injection of money this year, to a whopping $29 million from the current $1 million budget. The surge of cash, drawn from a combination of sources, will increase access to classes for struggling students by 600 percent over the previous two years. Altogether, approximately 60,000 students from...

It was “pencils down” day yesterday, for the members of the Parent Advisory Committee, who completed their first opportunity to weigh in on LA Unified’s Local Control and Accountability Plan, the so-called LCAP required of Gov. Jerry Brown‘s new Local Control Funding Formula. The 47 parents and guardians selected to give feedback, have had two...