By Joe Mathews Last week, Michelle King was appointed superintendent of L.A. Unified, California’s largest school district. But can we really trust her to lead the Los Angeles schools? After all, she’s from Los Angeles. Actually, that understates how suspiciously local King is. As a child, she attended L.A. Unified schools. Then she got degrees...

LAUSD not concerned about state’s threat of penalties California wants more kids vaccinated and says it will financially penalize schools admitting a high percentage of kindergartners who were overdue for measles vaccine. KPCC, by Rebecca Plevin Moving control of schools could save state millions, lawmaker says One lawmaker thinks the best way to improve your...

California’s teacher shortage is only going to grow more problematic unless the state takes action, according to a new report from the Learning Policy Institute. The report, Addressing California’s Emerging Teacher Shortage: An Analysis of Sources and Solutions, analyzes the origins of the shortage and also offers policy recommendations on how to fix it. “Our analysis...

The latest independent audit of LA Unified shows that through the end of the last fiscal year, on June 30, the district had liabilities that surpassed assets by $4.2 billion. The previous year showed assets over liabilities by $1.7 billion, making for a 12-month swing of $5.9 billion, according to Melba W. Simpson, of Simpson &...

What’s the easiest way for LAUSD to save millions of dollars to help stave off a budget crisis? Keep students in school. More than 80,000 students are chronically absent at LA Unified, and that results in an annual loss of $139 million in revenue, Debra Duardo, executive director of Student Health and Human Services at...

By Louis Freedberg When Michelle King was appointed to head the Los Angeles Unified School District last week, she became the most prominent African-American school superintendent in the state and the nation. But her ascent to the top post is hardly typical of California districts. She is one of only a small number of African-American superintendents...

Amid preschool seats shortage, LAUSD has hundreds of openings There are 400 unfilled Early Transitional Kindergarten spots at district elementary schools. KPCC, by Deepa Fernandes New LAUSD Superintendent Michelle King to students: Dream Big Decades after she walked the halls of Century Park Elementary School, King toured the building and spent some time with the...

Los Angeles Unified’s new superintendent, Michelle King, said today the district is working on a response to a review panel‘s examination of district finances, and ideas would go before the school board next month. “It’s a huge concern of mine,” King said today, during a 2 1/2 minute interview with LA School Report. “I have work...

Conserving water and investing in new water stations will save LA Unified money in the long run, according to a report released yesterday. The report, from chief facilities director Mark Hovatter, also said eliminating the flushing just to clear lead from drinking water would save 9,500 gallons of water a day or 2.5 million gallons a...

Declaring that she has no intention of turning LA Unified into an all-charter school district, board member Mónica Ratliff chaired a board committee meeting yesterday that examined just what it is that makes charters different from traditional schools. For one thing, as she learned from a presentation to the committee, charter school teachers don’t have...