Sweeping change set for special education services A blue ribbon panel shared 44 specific recommendations aimed ultimately at improving academic outcomes for students with disabilities. SI&A Cabinet Report Critics say EPA played dual role in recycled tire controversy The EPA has terminated its longtime campaign to promote the use of recycled tires on artificial turf...

LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines had a stern warning today for the LA teachers union as well as for the district, itself: Not only are teachers not getting the salary increases they have been demanding in the now stalled contract negotiations, he said, but with a remaining budget deficit of $160 million, he has already...

A new state bill introduced by Assembly Member Sebastian Ridley-Thomas would allow classified school employees to apply for unemployment benefits over the summer. Assembly Bill 399 would impact a wide array of school employees, including bus drivers, special education assistants, cafeteria workers and other classified school workers who under current law are not allowed to apply...

Ref Rodriguez, the charter school administrator who is challenging incumbent Bennett Kayser for LA Unified’s District 5 board seat, raised the most money of any board candidate since the last reporting period, $51,772, according to the latest figures posted by the City Ethics Commission. Carl Petersen, one of five candidates challenging incumbent Tamar Galatzan in...

Fueling the impasse announced yesterday between the teachers union, UTLA, and LA Unified is a dispute over so-called “unaccounted” sources of money that the teachers union says could be used for raises and other demands. “We are bargaining in good faith but when we uncover a $59 million pot of money the district doesn’t know...

NBC Los Angeles last night came out with a story that should disturb any LA Unified student, parent or staff member: it found that thousands of school children could be drinking from fountains tainted with dangerous levels of lead. The report is a followup to a story first examined by NBC seven years ago, when...

No more Mr. Nice Guys. Last night’s forum for the three candidates in the LA Unified District 5 board race included lots of head shaking, some eye rolling, silently mouthing words (“That’s not true”) and at least one tiff. Perhaps some of the frustration was due to changing rules. Initially there was no time set...

The possibility of a strike by Los Angeles teachers loomed larger today as the teachers union, UTLA, declared an impasse in negotiations with LA Unified, citing a lack of progress in bargaining since the talks began last year. The district agreed and said it would join the union with “reluctant willingness” in asking the state...