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In new legal complaint, parents say LAUSD is failing to ensure high-needs students are getting the funding they deserve

*Updated July 23: The California Department of Education on Monday declined to directly intervene, and sent the legal complaint to L.A. Unified and the L.A. County Office of Education to “promptly investigate.” The district and the county have until Sept. 20 to respond. See the CDE letter here. A June 28 version of L.A. Unified’s LCAP, which...
By Taylor Swaak | July 12, 2019
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Biden-Harris exchange makes busing a surprise focus of 2020 campaign. How will it affect the debate over integration?

So are the Democrats going to bus kids across town to integrate schools, or what? That’s the question that has captivated the political media the last two weeks. While the Trump administration has careened from one news cycle to the next, absorbing damaging headlines on everything from its treatment of detained migrants to the president’s...
By Kevin Mahnken | July 10, 2019
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Silicon Valley-funded startup AltSchool ends management of its private lab schools but invests in growing national network of partner schools

The education startup AltSchool, founded in 2013 by two Silicon Valley alumni, has announced that it’s breaking from the chain of four private microschools it operates in the Bay Area and New York City. The schools are known for their tiny class sizes and emphasis on “student-centered learning,” which tailors curriculum to each individual student’s...
By Noble Ingram | July 9, 2019
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Lawmakers are trying to end a weird quirk of California’s charter school sector. Here’s why the state is so unusual

California legislators are considering a change to education law that would address a peculiar and controversial feature of the state’s charter school sector. The proposed fix is dredging up long-standing issues around how the state permits and oversees schools of choice. At present, California school districts have the option to authorize charter schools that don’t...
By Kevin Mahnken | July 8, 2019
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Controversial bill that would make local districts sole authorizers of charter schools moves to a public hearing in the California Senate

A controversial charter school regulation moving through the California legislature will take its next step Wednesday when the state Senate Education Committee holds a public hearing that’s expected to draw crowds of supporters and opponents of the state’s large charter school sector. Assembly Bill 1505 would grant local districts sole authority to approve or deny...
By Noble Ingram | July 8, 2019
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LAUSD Superintendent Beutner relieved as Supreme Court blocks census question on citizenship, says district faced potential loss of $20 million

Education advocates were hopeful but still concerned after the Supreme Court ruled the Trump Administration — for now — cannot add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. “The Supreme Court’s decision to not include the citizenship question in the 2020 census is the right thing for public education,” L.A. Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner said in a...
By Carolyn Phenicie | June 28, 2019
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New teacher survey shows many educators report feeling satisfied in their job — but undervalued by their community

Teachers in the United States work long hours and feel undervalued by the public — but like their jobs anyway. Those findings, from an international education survey released this month, offer fodder for all sides of a debate about teacher pay and working conditions that is mobilizing teachers to protest across the country. The Teaching and Learning...
By Mark Keierleber | June 26, 2019
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Coming soon: School-level spending data, courtesy of ESSA. Here are 5 things states must focus on when creating their new report cards

Plenty of very smart people have written about how, despite policy efforts to funnel resources to the students who need the most support, like English learners and kids who are raised in lower-income households, it doesn’t always work out that way. At times, district leaders may not even be aware that the way they’re spreading...
By Brennan McMahon Parton | June 26, 2019
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Charters, child care and more: 5 ways education could come up at the Democratic debates

Education, an issue that has been pushed to the sidelines in recent presidential cycles, is getting some more attention in the early days of the 2020 contest. Mentions of universal pre-K and college affordability are practically stump-speech mandates. Teachers unions, riding a high of public support after successful strikes last year, have deep pockets and...
By Carolyn Phenicie | June 25, 2019
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Exclusive: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos calls for greater school accountability in helping English learners succeed and commits to ensuring immigrant children’s education

During a visit to Southern California last month, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos addressed educational needs of the Latino community, calling for more accountability for schools to help English-learning students succeed, guaranteeing immigrant students’ rights and explaining why school officials should embrace and encourage bilingual students. “A focus around the benefit of having a...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | June 24, 2019