L.A. Unified Teachers Ratings Should Be Disclosed, Judge Rules The performance ratings of individual teachers in the city school district are matters of keen public interest and should be released to the Los Angeles Times, a judge ordered Thursday. LA Times Art Teacher’s Angry Letter Prompts Suspension by LAUSD A Van Nuys art teacher who...

Prop 30 Means a Year of ‘Stabilization’ When the 2013-2014 school year kicks off on Aug. 13, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will begin a year of “stabilization,” board member Steve Zimmer, 4th District, said. With a potentially longer school year and other changes being mulled for the 2014-2015 school year, the district is...

Foundation’s Grant Will Bring 700 New Teachers to LA The Arkansas-based Walton Family Foundation announced Wednesday that it was donating $20 million to a nonprofit that recruits talented college graduates to teach in public schools for two years. The largest number of instructors, more than 700, is slated for Los Angeles. LA Times School Districts Invited to...

Parents to Weigh in on How School Districts Spend New Funds A new report by the State’s Legislative Analyst spells out accountability measures school districts must meet under California’s new funding formula, which gives district with lots of low-income or English-learning students more money – and more control over how to spend it. One significant...

School Born of California Parent-Trigger Law Opens its Doors The Desert Trails Preparatory Academy, in Adelanto, Calif., welcomes students following a tumultuous process led by a group of parents determined to change the leadership and direction of what has been to date an academically struggling school. Edweek  Debate Looms Over how to Spend Money for...

With ‘Parent Trigger’ Laws on the Ropes, Three Overhauled Schools Reopen in Los Angeles Controversial legislation that allows parents to vote in new management at public schools is faltering everywhere but Southern California, where the law is getting its first real test. Time Deferred Classroom Repairs Loom as a Costly Crisis For Taxpayers For years, the...

Advocates: Start Spending New Money Now on High-Needs Students Two dozen organizations advocating for disadvantaged students wrote county and school district superintendents and charter school administrators Wednesday, reminding them that the new funding formula directing more money to low-income kids and English learners is now the law even though the initial regulations for the system...

Nury Martinez Wins L.A. City Council Race Former Los Angeles school board member Nury Martinez pulled off a come-from-behind victory Tuesday in her race against rival Cindy Montañez for an open City Council seat in the east San Fernando Valley to become City Hall’s only elected female officeholder. LA Times Pressure on Deasy Must Not be a...

Polls Open for LA Council District 6 The special election — to fill the seat of former Councilman Tony Cardenas, now in Congress — pits Nury Martinez, 40, a former Los Angeles school board member, against Cindy Montañez, 39, a Department of Water and Power executive and former state legislator. LA Times  Vote for Nury...

Issue of Child Sexual Abuse Emerges in District 6 Race The late-breaking controversy — which included one candidate telling her story of being abused as a child — has added a wild card to Tuesday’s special election to fill the eastern San Fernando Valley 6th District seat vacated by Tony Cardenas, who was elected to...