Political Savvy vs. Education Skills in L.A. School Board Runoff Antonio Sanchez, 31, has the former, which has helped him attract big support from labor, while Monica Ratliff, 43, has the latter, making her the favorite of educators. LA Times LAUSD Board Race to be Decided by East Valley Voters Spending has topped $1.8 million...

Money Continues to Pour, Unevenly, Into LA Unified School Board Race Political action committees have spent nearly $600,000 on Antonio Sanchez’s behalf. The money has gone mostly to targeted full-color flyers and calls to some of the district’s nearly quarter of a million registered voters. Turnout in the city was less than 20 percent in...

Record-setting PAC spending funds person-to-person ground campaign Independent groups have spent a record $18 million dollars on Los Angeles city and school board races — nearly three times the previous high set in 2011. Most of the money paid for campaign mailers, and TV and radio ads. A big portion of the rest went to...

LAUSD Becomes First District to Ban ‘Willful Defiance’ Suspensions The action comes amid mounting national concern that removing students from school is imperiling their academic achievement and disproportionately harming minority students, particularly African-Americans. LA Times  LAUSD Board Saves Breakfast in the Classroom Despite facing criticism from teachers, Los Angeles Unified’s Breakfast in the Classroom was...

LAUSD Agenda Today Topped By Breakfast Program, Suspension Policy Demonstrators began gathering early Tuesday outside Los Angeles Unified headquarters, where the school board was expected to decide the fate of the Breakfast in the Classroom program, whether to ban student suspensions for “willful defiance” and funding for key programs.” The agenda for the noontime meeting covers...

LAUSD Cracks Down on Teacher Misconduct; 100 Fired, 200 Resign, 300 ‘Housed’ Under the zero-tolerance policy that Deasy enacted after the Miramonte Elementary sex-abuse scandal erupted in February 2012, the school board has voted to dismiss more than 100 teachers for misconduct, and accepted the resignations of at least 200 others who were about to...

Jury’s still out on educational value of iPad apps But no agency is making sure that an application labeled as “educational” really is — or that it’s appropriate for the age group it targets. That leaves many parents of preschoolers are in a quandary: to iPad or not to iPad? And what age is appropriate...

Eric Garcetti, Wendy Greuel Talk Education in Radio Mayoral Debate The candidates were asked to name who they are supporting in the LAUSD District 6 school board race in the eastern San Fernando Valley. Greuel said she is backing Antonio Sanchez over Monica Ratliff. Garcetti said he had only met with one of the candidates....

Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti Stop Hesitating and Support Parent Trigger It took a while, but Los Angeles mayoral hopefuls Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel finally met with parents and students on Monday at Los Angeles Unified’s chronically failing 24th Street Elementary.  LA Weekly Teacher Pay Hurt by Recession, Report Says According to a report...

LA Mayor’s Race: The city pension problem facing Garcetti and Greuel One of the biggest challenges facing the next mayor of Los Angeles is the ballooning cost of pensions for city employees. Those costs eat into other city services such as street repairs and paramedics. KPCC Eric Garcetti, Wendy Greuel Find Common Ground in USC Debate...