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The last 24 hours: Democrats hold Senate floor as final DeVos confirmation looms

Democratic senators spent the wee small hours of the morning holding the Senate floor in a marathon protest of Betsy DeVos’s nomination as education secretary. Their last-ditch effort is not expected to derail her confirmation vote around noon today but it kept alive what has become the fiercest opposition to a President Trump cabinet appointee. Several...
By Carolyn Phenicie | February 7, 2017
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‘They wonder how we do it’: Downey Unified — a school district in LA’s shadow with the same student demographics — is getting 96% of kids across the graduation stage

Downey Unified School District looks much like others in the Los Angeles area, including LA Unified. It serves thousands of students, the majority of them Latino and low income. But its 96 percent graduation rate and other achievements have won it both recognition and the highest honor — replication. Downey has been designated as an exemplary school...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | February 6, 2017
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What SCOTUS nominee Neil Gorsuch’s past rulings on education cases could mean on the high court

President Trump Tuesday evening nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch, currently serving on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals based in Colorado, to fill the seat on the Supreme Court left empty after Justice Antonin Scalia’s unexpected death nearly a year ago. Gorsuch was student body president at Georgetown Prep in suburban Washington, D.C., where his mother was...
By Carolyn Phenicie | February 2, 2017
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Blazing the college trail: A graduate returns to her South LA home to help others find the way

As the first in her family to attend college and from a disadvantaged community where few students think it is possible to leave, Carolina Martínez Orozco wanted to prove that you can leave, and succeed. She also wanted to come back and encourage others. “It was always my goal to go to college outside of...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | February 1, 2017
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Betsy DeVos nomination clears hurdle, leaving acrimony and uncertainty about full Senate vote

Betsy DeVos’s nomination as education secretary moved forward after a bitter party-line vote by the Senate education committee and an unusually rancorous process that galvanized her opponents, frayed Senate relations and raised the spectre that some Republicans could defect when the vote reaches the full body. The intention of committee Democrats to block DeVos was...
By Carolyn Phenicie | January 31, 2017
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After repeatedly warning of deficits, CFO Megan Reilly leaves LAUSD for Santa Clara County

LA Unified Chief Financial Officer Megan Reilly, who is widely credited with steering the district through the Great Recession but has repeatedly warned of coming deficits, has resigned to take a similar position at the Santa Clara County Office of Education. Reilly was hired by LA Unified in 2007. On Monday, Superintendent Michelle King thanked Reilly...
By Sarah Favot | January 30, 2017
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At LAX protests, a teachable moment for parents

This article was produced in partnership with our colleagues at The74Million.org. The East Coast protests started haphazardly enough Saturday afternoon. Washington, D.C., residents started gathering at Dulles International Airport around the same time New Yorkers were trekking to JFK’s international terminal — rallied by Facebook Live videos and social media posts that decried President Trump’s...
By LA School Report | January 29, 2017
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Why did the feds raid Celerity charter, and what’s next?

*UPDATED Seven federal agencies united in a raid Wednesday in Los Angeles of a charter school network that oversees high-performing schools but had come under scrutiny for its financial and management practices. The raid of Celerity Educational Group, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, came after an investigation by LA Unified’s own Office of...
By Mike Szymanski | January 26, 2017
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Parents cite urgent need for counselors in LA schools who can aid DACA students

Thousands of undocumented students and educators received a respite from uncertainty Wednesday when the DACA program survived President Donald Trump’s first executive order on immigration. Earlier this week his spokesman stated that ending the program is not among the administration’s immediate priorities. Still, for some parents, promises made by LA Unified officials that schools in LA...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | January 25, 2017
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Report: Half of LA families are using school choice programs, but many struggle to find quality options

Half of Los Angeles public school students are part of school choice programs, but that doesn’t mean quality options are accessible for all students, according to a report released Wednesday. Parent Revolution, an LA group that works with parents through organizing, individual school choice and advocacy, spent a year helping families enroll in school choice programs...
By Sarah Favot | January 25, 2017