Accusations that charter schools screen out special education students or discourage them from enrolling have returned with a controversial plan by the Broad Foundation to expand charter enrollment at LA Unified. After the president of the LA teachers union, Alex Caputo-Pearl of UTLA, raised the issue a year ago, telling the Los Angeles Times a year...

Two committee meetings and a board meeting on the sufficiency of school textbooks will keep the LA Unified school board members busy tomorrow as they discuss the adequacy of textbooks, a detailed analysis of the recent state test scores and district plans to expand early education classes. Two of the new school board members will chair their...

By Lyndsey Layton The National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union, endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. “We recommended Hillary Clinton on the incredible and lengthy track record she has, that is just wrapped around children, working families and education, from preschool to graduate school,” NEA president Lily...

Late parent notification of test results frustrates some educators The California Department of Education said the delays were due in part to a desire to ship all the reports at once. EdSource, by Theresa Harrington  Obama vs. teachers unions: It’s still on Unions wanted Obama to fire Arne Duncan. They got John King instead. Politico, by...

LA Unified is gathering public input on six different academic calendars it is considering for the years ahead. However, there have been technical glitches with its phone survey, and it isn’t clear when or if it will be completed. The stories here at LA School Report about the calendar options have attracted a high level of interest...

UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl released a 12-minute video on YouTube today in which he asks members to vote for a dues increase. According to Caputo-Pearl, the union has not updated its dues structure since its inception 45 years ago, which now “literally threatens the future of UTLA.” In the video, Caputo-Pearl points out that UTLA’s...

The union representing school support personnel is pressing LAUSD to provide the same health benefits for all its members, fearing that the district wants to create a second-class level of employees. Among the 35,000 members of Service Employees International Union Local 99 (SEIU) are about 7,000 who work as teacher aides, community representatives, after-school coaches and...

WASHINGTON — Arne Duncan, the secretary of education and a member of President Obama’s original cabinet, will step down in December after a long tenure in which he repeatedly challenged the nation’s schools to break out of their hidebound ways. A White House official confirmed Mr. Duncan’s decision to step down and said the president...

By Michael Fitzgerald What the new Boston superintendent has to say about testing, charter schools, and innovation. Globe Magazine: You’ve been handing out Atul Gawande’s “Cowboys and Pit Crews” [a 2011 commencement address on why the medical profession needs to be more collaborative]. How is it being received?  Tommy Chang: When I walk schools, I have...

Governor approves ‘yes means yes’ sexual education for high schools Jerry Brown approved legislation making California the first state in the nation to bring lessons about sexual consent required at many colleges into high schools. Associated Press, by Lisa Leff How the Department of Education’s top salaries stack up New York Department of Education’s top...