Despite only modest spending on behalf of Bennett Kayser in the race to represent LA Unified’s board District 5, the teachers union said today it’s not abandoning him in the May 19 run off against reform darling, Ref Rodriguez. According to the latest data from the LA City Ethics Commission, the political action committee connected...

Lost in the focus on double-digit salary increases in the tentative deal between LA Unified and UTLA is an agreement to overhaul the process by which the district’s 30,000 teachers will be evaluated. Under the new plan, which begins next year, both sides agreed to an interim three-tier final evaluation system, with three ratings: “exceeds...

LA Unified’s ability to pay for a new teacher contract that gives the union’s 35,000 members a 10.4 percent raise — their first in eight years — relies on two factors: One, a stronger than expected boost in tax revenues from the state. And two, a solution to the systemic problem of declining enrollment. That,...

* UPDATED The 10.4 percent salary increases LA Unified has agreed to in its deal with United Teachers Los Angeles will cost the district $607 million over three years, according to an analysis Superintendent Ramon Cortines circulated to board members today. Later, the board voted unanimously, 7-0, to approve the deal. The final salary figure...

The Los Angeles Unified school board is meeting tomorrow afternoon in private to vote on approving the contract agreement negotiated with the 35,000-member teachers union, UTLA, that gives district teachers a 10.4 percent raise over two years. What that translates to in dollars is a work in progress. Tom Waldman, the district spokesman, told LA School...

The Burbank Unified School District voted overwhelmingly yesterday to appoint Matt Hill as its Superintendent, but only after a long and emotional meeting during which board members endured a slew of impassioned criticism from Burbank teachers. Long-time Board Member Dave Kemp became so frustrated by the parade of union teachers berating the board for choosing Hill,...

The vote to open LA Unified’s first all-girls high school was swift and the motion was passed with no fanfare; it was one of more than two dozen resolutions lumped together, including one to open a similar all-girls charter middle school, that were approved in a single vote by the Los Angeles Unifed school board earlier...

One of the last top tier LA Unified executives who was instrumental in launching the disastrous iPad and MISIS programs, is one step away from getting a new job. Matt Hill, the district’s Chief Strategy Officer, is believed to be the favorite among two finalists for the superintendent position at Burbank Unified School District, a...

The LA Unified school board yesterday approved a health care package of benefits for its unions that will increase the district’s contributions to the plan to $1.23 billion over the next three years. without requiring an analysis of the long-term effects of additional costs, including the possibility of bankruptcy. Board member Monica Ratliff tried to...

A quarter of women living in Los Angeles do not hold a high school diploma, almost twice the number of women nationally, according to a new study focusing on issues affecting the women and girls of LA. The report, called the Status of Women and Girls in Los Angeles, was produced by Mount Saint Mary’s...