Monica Ratliff files to run for Fuentes’ City Council seat in the Valley Ratliff, a grade school teacher who scored a significant upset in the 2013 election, filed initial paperwork Monday to run for the San Fernando Valley seat being vacated by Los Angeles City Councilman Felipe Fuentes. Los Angeles Times, by David Zahniser and...

The two schools with 1,850 students that were relocated due to a methane gas leak in Porter Ranch probably won’t be moved back to their locations before the end of the school year. Although the district continues to weigh options about returning the students back to their schools, there are no plans to move the...

LA Unified has so many different kinds of schools, it’s hard to keep them all straight. With such varied terms as affiliated charter, independent charter, magnet school, pilot school, continuation school, option school and others, it can be a challenge to understand what they are, what they offer and how they differ.  This is the first part...

Last week officials shut off water taps at 30 schools in Newark, N.J., after lead levels were found to exceed federal standards. Lead from aging pipes created a water crisis in Flint, Mich., in January and may do so next in cities in Ohio and Mississippi. So what about LA? “Yes, our water is safe,...

California moves to bring special education students ‘into the fold’ of mainstream education Ordered by the federal government to elevate academics for students with disabilities, and by the state to raise low-income student achievement, the California Department of Education is working to create a unified system that will do both. EdSource, by Jane Meredith Adams...

LA Unified has rejected a parent petition to take over a failing elementary school in South Central Los Angeles, reversing district policy and essentially asserting that no California school qualifies under the state “parent trigger” law. Parents of 20th Street Elementary School were informed of the district’s rejection in a letter late Saturday, the last day...

Superintendents, but not teachers, give high grades to Common Core rollout Most California teachers, principals and superintendents view the Common Core as more rigorous and more relevant to students than the previous state standards but disagree over how well the Common Core has been implemented, researchers from the nonprofit education agency WestEd have concluded. EdSource,...

  A civic group protesting the military-style weapons once held by LA Unified police said they will continue to disrupt meetings and hold demonstrations until they get answers and action. The group, Fight for the Soul of the Cities, took over a committee meeting at the LA Unified school board headquarters last month, and this week...

As educators from around the state head to Long Beach next week for the 23rd annual California Charter Schools Conference, California is holding steady in its friendliness to charter schools, says a January report from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS), a pro-charter advocacy group that releases an annual study of state-level policies. The survey...

What exactly is a good school? California is trying to find out The California State Board of Education on Thursday heard from about 60 people who commented on how to define a good or bad school. Some focused on “school climate,” or how students felt in school, and relationships with teachers. Los Angeles Times, by...