What would federal shutdown mean for California education? Federal money for education will continue to flow into California, with some caveats, even with a government shutdown. The big-ticket federal education programs in California – $1.8 billion a year for low-performing schools and $1.4 billion a year for special education – will be unscathed, according to...

California truancy is at ‘crisis’ level, says attorney general One out of every four California elementary school students — nearly 1 million total — are truant each year, an “attendance crisis” that is jeopardizing their academic futures and depriving schools of needed dollars, the state attorney general said in a report to be released Monday....

L.A. Unified reports 71 iPads are missing Los Angeles school district officials are trying to track down 71 missing iPads — including 69 from one campus — but said Thursday that new security measures are designed to frustrate future thefts. Officials also acknowledged that student hacking of an iPad security system last week was more widespread than originally...

Who pays if L.A. Unified students lose or break iPads? Another issue in the Los Angeles Unified School District’s $1-billion effort to equip every student with an iPad surfaced Wednesday: Are parents liable if their child breaks or loses the tablet? The question emerged after revelations that 300 or so students at Roosevelt High School...

LAUSD completes harassment probe of Richard Vladovic Los Angeles Unified has completed a three-month investigation into allegations that school board President Richard Vladovic bullied and harassed district employees, but the results of the inquiry will not be released, the Daily News has learned. Board members were being briefed Tuesday on the results of the investigation,...

Enrollment in teacher preparation programs plummets Enrollments in teacher preparation programs in California are continuing to decline at a precipitous rate, according to new figures prepared for the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. A report for the commission indicates that 26,446 students were enrolled in teacher preparation programs in 2011-12 – a 24 percent reduction...

In Push For ‘Common’ Standards, Many Parents Left Uneducated Forty-five states have adopted the Common Core State Standards, the first-ever national academic standards for students. But opposition is growing, and some lawmakers are having second thoughts about their states’ support. Meanwhile, proponents of the standards are still struggling to explain the initiative to parents, many...

Future of high school exit exam unclear as California revamps testing The current overhaul of California’s student testing program is skipping, for now, the California High School Exit Exam, the one test that’s truly high stakes. If students don’t pass, they don’t receive a high school diploma. Gov. Jerry Brown has said he will sign...

LAUSD approves $113M budget to train teachers for Common Core After debating nearly two hours and voting down a proposed compromise, the Los Angeles Unified board on Tuesday approved a plan for spending $113 million to implement a new curriculum — the same budget that triggered the resignation of the district’s instructional chief when it...