A year has passed since historic wildfires scorched vast swaths of Los Angeles and eight schools, where enrollment is still a fraction of what it was before the fires.  The schools have mostly reopened after prolonged closures, using temporary classrooms. But the fires, which killed dozens and left thousands homeless, have chopped enrollment by half...

In our country, conversations about improving student performance typically focus on curriculum standards, class size, testing, teacher pay and school technology. These debates are certainly important, but they overlook a quieter factor that affects learning every single day: children’s oral health. As a practicing dentist in Montclair, California, I regularly see children whose ability to...

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday proposed paring down the responsibilities of California’s elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction and shifting more power to the State Board of Education. “California can no longer postpone reforms that have been recommended regularly for a century,” Newsom said, referring to...

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. The past few years, California has been all about the ABCs, 1-2-3s and the wheels on the bus, investing more than $5 billion in early childhood education. But kindergarten, a staple of elementary schools for more than a century, remains optional. Despite nearly...

This story was originally published on LAist. The Trump administration says it’s planning to freeze about $10 billion in federal support for needy families in California and four other Democrat-run states, as the president announced an investigation into unspecified fraud in California. The plans come on the heels of the Trump administration announcing a freeze on...

Hunger is on the rise for the early care and education workforce, according to recent research from the Stanford Center on Early Childhood, and signs suggest the challenge is unlikely to improve in the short term. In June, 58% of early care and education providers surveyed by the RAPID Survey Project at Stanford said they...

This story was originally published by EdSource. Sign up for their daily newsletter. A year ago, Tanya Reyes watched in disbelief as the Eaton fire incinerated her Altadena home. As her three daughters listed everything they had lost in the days that followed, Reyes kept reminding them that what mattered most was that they still had each...

Concerned about longstanding disparities between Los Angeles schools and a possible loss of state and federal funds, the Los Angeles Unified School District is tapping private philanthropy to fill the gaps. The district recently reignited its dormant nonprofit, the LAUSD Education Foundation, hiring a new executive director to court dollars from corporations and foundations. The...

Budget cuts, staffing reductions and school consolidations are coming to Los Angeles Unified as the cash-strapped district works to balance its shrinking budget, a top school official said.  LAUSD’s chief financial officer in an interview last week said declining enrollments and the end of pandemic relief funds have forced the district to take cost-cutting measures.  ...

The Los Angeles Unified School District has seen some impressive academic results over the last few years. But in pursuing those gains, district leaders have led themselves into a financially unsustainable position. Its most recent proposed budget contains the blunt admission that, “L.A. Unified currently has a structural deficit whereby in-year expenditures exceed in-year revenues....