*UPDATED While LA Unified is firmly committed to online credit recovery classes as a means to the district’s newly stated top goal — 100 percent graduation — Los Angeles charter school operators use these classes much more sparingly, as their graduation rates tend to be far ahead of the district’s. At three of the city’s...

L.A. Unified backs down and agrees to provide lifetime benefits to charter school teachers The Los Angeles school district and a well-known charter school have quietly resolved a conflict in a way that will help a group of employees but deepen the district’s long-term budget deficit. L.A. Unified has agreed to pay lifetime health benefits...

By Marisa Crabtree In the new era of the Local Control Funding Formula and the Every Student Succeeds Act, school districts have begun showing a renewed dedication to teacher, parent and community engagement. I was disappointed, however, that the Los Angeles Unified School District missed an opportunity to weigh student, family and community concerns before deciding to shift the school...

  One of the most popular classes at 20th Street Elementary School has 43 dedicated students who come twice a week. They’re all parents. The parents of this 600-student school just south of downtown Los Angeles come here to learn English. They do projects for teachers. They discuss school issues. Their children even help them...

LA charter school parts ways with business chief, cuts principal’s salary The governing board of El Camino Real Charter High School announced Wednesday night that Marshall Mayotte will no longer be the school’s chief business officer by the end of December and that Executive Director David Fehte is taking a cut in both salary and...

As the state reported today that Californians’ conservation efforts are slacking off, millions of gallons of water are still being wasted each year by LA Unified because of unnecessary flushing of the water fountains, a report revealed Tuesday. Plans to end the practice won’t take place until the end of the 2017-18 school year, but board...

Make sure you complete your ballot. That’s the message that came from LA Unified school board members at a committee meeting Tuesday night. During the meeting, the board’s Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee heard a presentation from Pedro Salcido, the district’s co-director of government relations and legislative affairs, on key initiatives related to the school...

At a goal-setting meeting last week for LA Unified school board members and Superintendent Michelle King, board President Steve Zimmer said he wanted the district to focus on eradicating the school readiness gap. Described as the variations in academic performance among children entering kindergarten and first grade who are from low-income and diverse backgrounds compared to their...

LA charter school refuses to release spending report Embattled El Camino Real Charter High School has formally denied requests to release an investigative report by an outside firm into administrator spending and reimbursement policies. The governing board of the Woodland Hills charter school commissioned the independent probe after the Los Angeles Unified School District warned the...

Members of the LA teachers union, UTLA, will be out in the streets Thursday as part of a “Day of Action” that is planned in conjunction with 200 other cities. Union members will be visiting homes in the areas near LA Unified schools for planned “neighborhood walks” where they will ask residents what they want...