Charter school groups spending big in California legislative races Groups that support the expansion of charter schools in California are spending big this year to support the campaigns of sympathetic Democrats vying for open seats in the state Legislature. By Aaron Mendelson, KPCC Building California’s initial college, career readiness metric could prove challenging, EdSource Holocaust...

The California Joint Legislative Audit Committee voted Wednesday to audit Alliance College-Ready Public Schools over the charter management organization’s use of funds in its unionization conflict with the LA teachers union, UTLA. Alliance operates 27 independent charter schools in LA Unified. The organization’s management has for more than a year been resisting an attempt by UTLA...

Parents may be on the verge of settling a two-year “parent trigger” battle at 20th Street Elementary School without a lawsuit, which both sides hoped to avoid. Nearly 200 parents, students and teachers attended a Monday evening meeting at the school and heard about a unique alternative in which 20th Street would win greater autonomy but be neither...

By Richard Winton and Howard Blume In a recent court hearing, one young man after another claimed that former Franklin High football coach Jaime Jimenez befriended them during summer practice before 9th grade, then sexually abused them. But it’s not the allegations against Jimenez that are at the center of a lawsuit filed this month against the Los Angeles...

California charter schools involved in multiple political battles A major front in the perpetual war between California’s educational establishment and school reform groups is the role of charter schools, which function outside the traditional structure and are semi-free to experiment with new methods of teaching. A fierce clash in the state’s largest school district, Los...

How much do charter schools cost LA Unified? Fact-checking the teachers union’s estimate The study commissioned by Los Angeles’ teachers union determined that charter schools cost the LA Unified School District more than $591 million annually. A closer look at the calculation of fixed costs left behind when students leave LAUSD, whether those students would end up...

California may spend more on its students, but the high cost of living means students in the state — and particularly in Los Angeles — are getting far less on average than those in the rest of the nation, a new study shows. But even if there’s less purchasing power for education in California, at...

LA School Report is thrilled to welcome Sarah Favot to the team as writer/reporter. Favot’s data-driven, investigative and political reporting will bolster the breadth and depth of education coverage in California for LA School Report and nationwide for The 74. Favot comes to LA School Report from the Los Angeles Daily News where she covered Los...

Turning around Artesia, Part 2: This school figured out how to make it ‘cool’ to succeed Almost 12 years ago, Sergio Garcia became principal of Artesia High School, a school smack in the middle of a neighborhood in Southern California that has seen its share of gang violence. At Garcia’s first meeting with the staff,...

When school district administrators call parents at home it can often lead to tension-filled conversations. But in the case of Laura and Michael McIntyre, it led to criminal charges and a lawsuit. In 2004, the McIntyres decided to take their nine children out of private school and homeschool them in an empty space inside a...