Ever wonder how much money your local LAUSD school gets? Here’s a way to find out. Click here, and what you see is LA Unified’s $4.58 billion school-by-school spending plan for the 2014-2015 academic year. Each line item reflects a category and shows whether its funding is restricted, which means the money can only be...

A successful program aimed at providing free classroom breakfast to low-income students in Los Angeles Unified has quietly made a change: it will now allow schools with more affluent populations to use alternative approaches to feeding kids in the morning. Part of a national school breakfast program, LAUSD’s “Breakfast in the Classroom” (BIC) is funded...

Just in case parents around the country missed the decision in Vergara v. California, a union-watch group in Washington is spreading the word. The Center for Union Facts, a nonprofit, ran an ad in today’s USA Today that urges parents and school reform advocates to to follow Vergara’s lead and sue when teacher unions block reform efforts. Judge Rolf...

Tom Waldman is moving on, although he’s not going far. The Director of Communications for LA Unified is stepping into a new role with the district: the newly created post as Executive Director of Board Communications. Taking on the role, which was Superintendent John Deasy’s idea, means Waldman will work with the school board, exclusively....

*UPDATED The LA teachers union, UTLA, voted last night to endorse George McKenna for LA Unified’s District 1 board seat in the August runoff election. McKenna, a retired administrator, had no direct ties to the union and in his winning primary campaign struck a note of independence in assessing various issues. But in the end, said Marco...

Sherlett Hendy-Newbill, the Dorsey High teacher who finished third in the District 1 school board race, is throwing her support behind George McKenna in the August runoff. McKenna, a former administrator, was the top vote getter in the June 3 primary, with 43.7 percent of the vote. He will face the runner-up, Alex Johnson, an...

Predictably, the historic superior court decision yesterday in the Vergara case elicited mixed reactions from members of the LA Unified school board. The ruling, which found California laws dictating teacher tenure, seniority rights and dismissal practices unconstitutional, is seen as huge blow to teacher unions and a boost to education reformers. Here is what a...

The new state funding formula that is sending more money into LA Unified is enabling the district to expand programs for foster youth, a group of students who have been under-served by the district for years. The LAUSD student population currently includes between 8,500 and 11,600 foster youth, as much as 12 percent of the...

Now what? Two years after Vergara v California was filed and one stunning Superior Court decision later, the long wait to a final resolution now begins in earnest. Will Judge Rolf Treu’s lower court decision stand? He knocked out five California laws that he viewed as unconstitutional, violating state laws that guarantee every public school...

The LA Unified Board of Education got one step closer yesterday to approving Superintendent John Deasy’s 2014-15 school budget. And unless the six-member board makes radical changes over the next two weeks, his work, which includes plans for divvying up $332 million in new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) monies, will carry the day. Passage...