LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines said today President Obama’s proposed 2016 budget would provided strong benefits for the district if approved by Congress. At stake: $1 billion increase for Title I, which supports schools with a high percentage of low-income students and a $3 billion investment in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math instruction, plus additional...

*UPDATED Four years after playing a major role in Bennett Kayser’s election to the LA Unified school board, an Encino-based political consulting firm is now working to defeat him. Shallman Communications in 2011 was paid more than $60,000 by the LA teachers union, UTLA, to help shape Kayser’s image. Through the union’s independent expenditures, it...

* UPDATED This is the next in a series of profiles on candidates running in the March 3 primary for the LA Unified school board. Today’s focus is Carl Petersen, a candidate for the District 3 seat.   If Carl Petersen does not win the crowded LA Unified school board race for District 3, it...

A campaign flyer implying that LA Unified board member Bennett Kayser is racist is drawing more fire, as two more would-be beneficiaries renounced its message, and an LA Times editorial accused the sponsoring organization of engaging in “slimy tactics on behalf of children.” Produced by an arm of the California Charter Schools Association, the flyer...

By The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board It’s not a big deal for a local political candidate to skip a debate or two during a campaign. But the last-minute disintegration of a planned three-man debate last Wednesday was another matter. Bennett Kayser, campaigning to retain his seat on the Los Angeles Unified school board, pulled...

Canoga Park High could be latest to become a charter school After more than 100 years with LAUSD, the western San Fernando Valley’s oldest high school could become an independent charter this fall. Los Angeles Daily News Commentary: Don’t punish other districts for L.A. Unified’s problems It’s very clear from readers that many don’t equate...

In the aftermath of the Miramonte Elementary sex abuse scandal, which has so far cost LA Unified roughly $170 million in settlements, was the creation of a special unit to handle all future sexual abuse allegations. The Student Safety Investigative Team passed its one-year anniversary of active investigations on Jan. 7, and to date has investigated...

SEIU Local 99 has a new leader to steer the union’s 45,000 LA Unified employee membership. Max Arias has been named Executive Director starting Feb 16. He is replacing Scott Washburn who has been serving as interim executive director since July, 2014. The union represents teachers assistants, custodians, cafeteria workers, and bus drivers among other service positions....

Let the negative campaigning begin! An arm of the California Charter Schools Association‘s political action committee has unleashed the first campaign attack with a full color, glossy flyer aimed at District 5 board incumbent Bennett Kayser. The message targets a very specific demographic: Latinos. It features five sad looking brown-skinned kids with their heads in their...

The slow pace of negotiations between LA Unified and the teachers union, UTLA, continued yesterday, with the district proposing new language on employee evaluations, transfers and early retirement incentives and no counter-offers this time from the union on those issues or anything else. That leaves the talks about where they’ve been, with all 12unresolved issues...