LA Unified officials are in Sacramento today lobbying for adult education and transitional kindergarten programs. Oh yeah, and the budget, too. Among those joining in on the road trip are Chief Deputy Superintendent Michelle King, Chief Financial Officer Megan Reilly and board members George McKenna and Steve Zimmer. They planned to meet with Senate President Pro...

Ref Rodriguez is an anomaly not only for becoming the first candidate backed by the state charter schools to win a seat on the LA Unified board. He’s an anomaly for winning at a time of mayoral disengagement with public education. That’s the view of Ben Austin, political director for Students Matter, the Vergara people,...

A high-profile LAPD raid on Venice High School that made international headlines after 15 male students were arrested on charges of sexual assault has resulted in prosecutors’ decision not to prosecute anyone in the case. The large number of students arrested in mid-March and the high number of law enforcement personnel that descended on the...

By Elizabeth Harris and Ford Fessenden It started with a speech in the fall, to parents who had gathered in the auditorium to learn what to expect during the nascent school year. “I spoke at the open house and said, ‘We hope you’ll opt out of the tests,’ ” said Heather Roberts, vice president of the...

Tamar Galatzan, now an out-going LA Unified board member for District 3,  congratulated the career school administrator who defeated her yesterday, Scott Schmerelson, issuing a statement in which she expressed “great respect for my colleagues on the school board and what we have been able to accomplish during difficult financial times. “I’m grateful to them...

Anyone who is staunchly in the pro-reform or pro-union camp on LA Unified school board issues is probably feeling a little ambiguous today. Despite two new faces coming to the board, the ideological balance of power remained the same, and reactions from the major players and supporters in the election has been mixed. Here is...

* UPDATED Voters wanted change, but the changes came from opposite directions. For the first time since 2009, two seats on the LA Unified school board turned over at the same time in elections yesterday that proved once again how little Angelinos care about the people setting policy for the 643,000 kids attending city public...

LA Unified Board President Richard Vladovic successfully held his District 7 seat last night, winning a third term by the largest margin of the day’s three elections in a race with the lowest turn out. He won with 56 percent of the vote to Lydia Gutierrez’s 44 percent. Mike Trujillo, a campaign consultant to Vladovic,...

In the most of expensive and vitriolic of all three LA Unified board races, Bennett Kayser lost to Ref Rodriguez in the battle to represent District 5. Shortly after polls closed Rodriguez cemented an early lead, and Kayser, who had hoped for a second term, was never able to catch up. “This is a historic victory, as...

In a stunning upset, Scott Schmerelson handily defeated two-term incumbent Tamar Galatzan in the race for LA Unified’s District 3 seat. Schmerelson beat Galatzan with more than 3,000 votes, 55 percent to 45 percent. “I am very happy, very excited, and I’m ready for my five-year term,” he told LA School Report late last night,...