*UPDATED After passionate debate and pleas from charter school administrators and parents, the LA Unified school board voted 4-3 to support three teacher union-backed bills being considered by the California legislature that all restrict some of the autonomies given to public charter schools. The most contested bill, SB 808, was pulled by its author on Monday...

The state Senate bill that was at the heart of Tuesday’s heated school board debate and which some charter advocates consider dangerous to the future of charter schools was pulled for discussion Monday by its author for two years. Pro-charter parents who met with State Sen. Tony Mendoza last Friday said they believed they helped...

*UPDATED A state bill that’s been labeled a charter killer could be supported by LA Unified’s lobbying capital if the school board passes a resolution on Tuesday’s agenda. School board vice president George McKenna, supported by fellow board member Scott Schmerelson, proposed the resolution that asks the school board to support the “swift passage” of...

Five more LA Unified high schools may divert their funding for teacher librarians this fall as principals decide to spend their budgets on other pressing needs, meaning 15 of the 84 high school libraries would not be fully staffed. The state’s Local Control Funding Formula allows more autonomy for district schools, and library staffing is among the discretionary items. But...

By Kevin Mahnken There are three middle schools in Palo Alto, each named after an important figure in local history: Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School honors the co-founder of Stanford University; David Starr Jordan Middle School is named after Stanford’s first president; and Terman Middle School memorializes the psychologist Lewis Terman and his son Frederick,...

*UPDATED A state audit released Thursday found that Alliance College-Ready Public Schools did not divert public funds intended for students on a nearly $1 million campaign to counter efforts by United Teachers Los Angeles to unionize its more than 600 teachers and counselors. The attempt to unionize the city’s largest charter management organization began more...

Great Public Schools Now will give $1.5 million in grants to LA Unified to expand enrollment at a magnet high school and a pilot high school, both in South Los Angeles, adding 1,000 new seats in three years, the nonprofit organization announced Thursday. The intent of the grants is to replicate high-performing LA Unified schools...

The state released its graduation rates Tuesday, pushing LA Unified’s Class of 2016 rate up to 77 percent, a 2 percentage point increase from the district’s preliminary projection in August and its biggest jump in seven years. The difference comes from how students are counted, as the state has better tracking information. The California Department...

New research shows that years after having even one black teacher in elementary school, black students experience major benefits, from being less likely to drop out of high school to being more likely to aspire to college and take college entrance exams. The recent study comes as there has been increasing attention to diversifying the teaching force,...

For decades, stereotypical homeschoolers have been white Christian families seeking to mix their children’s education with moral values. But in recent years, the demographics of homeschool families and the reasons they are choosing to teach their kids at home have grown more diverse. These days, homeschool parents are more likely to cite a negative school...