The LA Unified School Board made two major decisions today that will go a long way toward shaping the months ahead. The six members green-lighted Phase 2 of the iPad plan, ensuring enough tablets for standardized testing in the Spring, and they approved the appointment of a non-voting representative to serve District 1 until later...

Even as the LA Unified School Board is trying to coordinate a special election for the District 1 seat in June, candidates are already lining up to run for the seat in the regular election, more than a year later. The City Ethics Commission says three people have registered, and another has signed up to...

After years of “drought” Governor Jerry Brown wants to make it rain on the state’s public schools. Brown’s budget proposal unveiled today for the 2014-15 fiscal year dedicates an extra $10 billion to K-12 schools, plus an additional $6 billion to wipe out the debt to schools accumulated over several years of recession cuts. It’s the...

With unusual dispatch, the Los Angeles City Council will address the issue of a special election tomorrow to fill the vacant seat at the Los Angeles Unified school board left by the death of Marguerite LaMotte. The City Council must approve the action taken by the LA Unified school board earlier this week, after spirited...

For all the passion and discord over how to fill a vacant seat, two of the six LA Unified board members were silent during the board’s hour-long debate last night. Neither the current president, Richard Vladovic, nor his predecessor, Monica Garcia, weighed in, apart from their votes. Before a 4-2 decision to hold a June...

After weeks of uncertainty, the Los Angeles Unified school board voted last night to hold a special election in June to fill the seat left vacant by Marguerite LaMotte, who died last month. But the remaining six members left open the possibility of appointing a caretaker to represent District 1 families and students in the...

UTLA is making sure no deadbeats hold leadership positions in the teachers union. While it seems like common sense — if you want to run for a union office, make sure your dues are up-to-date — some candidates might not have gotten the message. The teachers union’s board of directors discovered in December that a...

Without any debate on Tuesday, the LA Unified school board approved five new charter schools and renewed eight existing charters. One other renewal came with an asterisk: The Alliance Ouchi-O’Donovan 6-12 Complex, a low-performing middle school and high performing high school that merged this year, was asked to return next year for a review after...

An aerial view of Saturn Elementary School in Mid City reveals a giant asphalt rectangle – about 70,000 square feet – taking up two-thirds of a city block. There’s one tree on the playground, and the only patch of grass runs along the front of the school. It’s a bleak portrait of an era when...