The Morning Read
Your Daily Roundup of LAUSD news from across the web | 10.05.21
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Research shows that charter schools do best for California’s low-income and minority students. Now state officials are considering slowing their expansion
Updated California’s years-long debate over school choice has taken a decisive turn over the first few months of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s tenure — and the shift has come at the expense of charter schools. In February, Newsom convened a panel of experts to investigate whether charters siphon funding from school districts. The next month, he...
By Kevin Mahnken | June 9, 2019
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After parcel tax defeat, Los Angeles city and school leaders vow to keep fighting for funding for kids
One day after voters overwhelmingly rejected a $500 million-a-year parcel tax, Los Angeles city and school leaders sent a message to voters: We’ve heard your concerns. And we’re going to keep fighting to fund our schools. “This is just the beginning of our fight,” Superintendent Austin Beutner said as he launched into Wednesday’s news conference....
By Taylor Swaak | June 5, 2019
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Los Angeles voters roundly defeat parcel tax, leaving LAUSD on shaky financial footing
*Updated June 5 Los Angeles voters decisively defeated a parcel tax that would have sent $500 million a year to schools, according to unofficial results by the county registrar. Measure EE, which would have charged residents within L.A. Unified boundaries 16 cents per square foot of developed property for 12 years, fell more than 20...
By Taylor Swaak | June 5, 2019
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Antonucci: California Teachers Association’s strategic plan — how’s it doing?
Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. Back in 2014, the California Teachers Association generated a long-term strategic plan. Titled “Our Union, Our Future,” it described eight broad goals, including community engagement and coalition building, organizing unrepresented education workers and “transforming our profession.” In April, CTA assembled a working group of union officers, representatives...
By Mike Antonucci | June 4, 2019
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Do charter schools have a leg up on teacher diversity? What a prominent new study out of North Carolina reveals about charters employing a more diverse mix of educators
This article is from The 74’s ongoing ‘Big Picture’ series, bringing American education into sharper focus through new research and data. Go Deeper: See the full series. Over the past few years, education researchers have coalesced around a striking, if somewhat unpalatable, observation: Kids learn more from teachers of their own race. A decade of studies from...
By Kevin Mahnken | June 4, 2019
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A student’s plea: California lawmakers need to listen to kids like me. Traditional schools give up on us. Charter schools don’t.
California lawmakers have spent the past several weeks debating laws that would seriously hurt charter schools. While two of the bills have been shelved, others are moving forward that would be disastrous for students like me. What makes this situation especially disturbing is that voices like mine have not been heard. I’m a public high...
By Roberto Delgado | June 3, 2019
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Two of the strongest anti-charter bills fail in the California legislature, but two others move ahead as both sides claim victory
What started as a package of four bills tamping down on charter schools in California quickly became two this week, as legislation in the Assembly and the Senate that looked to cap the schools in one chamber and place a moratorium on their future growth in the other were both withdrawn. The demise of Assembly...
By Noble Ingram | May 31, 2019
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Commentary: L.A. voters should approve the parcel tax to support Beutner’s clear-headed leadership and give LAUSD students — finally — the school system they deserve
To paraphrase the great philosopher Yogi Berra, education is 50 percent about teaching and learning and 90 percent about money and politics. On June 4, the voters of Los Angeles have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change that and put the focus squarely where it belongs – on LA’s children. Over three years ago, we participated...
By Pete Taylor and Miguel A. Santana | May 31, 2019
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If LAUSD voters approve $500M annual parcel tax Tuesday, it would be their first. Here’s what happened in two California districts that OKed theirs years ago
*Updated June 3 If L.A. Unified’s proposed $500 million annual parcel tax passes Tuesday, it would be uncharted territory for the country’s second-largest school district. L.A. Unified has never had a parcel tax. They aren’t commonplace, with about 9 percent of school districts — most clustered in the Bay Area — passing or renewing parcel...
By Taylor Swaak | May 31, 2019
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Antonucci: Want to know where your education dollars go? Take a look at labor costs — it’s nearly all salary and benefits
Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. Any debate about public education finances invariably devolves to whether we are spending enough “in the classroom” and how much “administrative bloat” there is. Textbooks, maintenance, facilities, curriculum and student programs all come under scrutiny, either to find savings or to fight for additional funding....
By Mike Antonucci | May 29, 2019