LA School Report

*Updated Aug. 23 Families whose children attend schools in LA Unified’s Board District 5, in southeast and northeast Los Angeles, will get to elect a new representative in a special election on March 5. That’s what the school board on Tuesday decided to do with the seat that has been vacant since Ref Rodríguez stepped...

Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.) Finding the right school where her son could succeed was a struggle for Mary Najera. For years, she didn’t know how to find other public school...

Every time Ana Ponce drives down the highway between Los Angeles and San Diego, she’s haunted by a childhood memory: her night in lockup — the sterile white room, the sounds of crying, and the fear she might be lost. Born in Mexico, Ponce moved to the U.S. when she was 4, and, even as...

LA Unified has one of the most generous health care benefits packages in the state. But that means a big chunk has to come out of the money the district gets to educate each child — $2,300, to be exact. That’s 14 percent of the $16,000 the district gets annually per student. Five years ago,...

*Updated Aug. 15 LA Unified kicked off the school year this week by more than doubling the number of new magnet schools and programs. But the mostly high-achieving school choice options have a new opponent: the teachers union. LA Unified is locked in a contract dispute with United Teachers Los Angeles, which is calling for...

Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.) Of all the things Magda Karina Vargas has learned while volunteering at her daughter’s school, what concerns her the most is how big an impact students’...

LA Unified kicks off a new school year Tuesday, with a new superintendent looking to lead in a new way. Here are some reasons why Superintendent Austin Beutner says change is needed in the district: Of every 100 students who enter LA Unified high schools, 12 will drop out. Of every 100 students, 77 will...

There’s been heightened awareness and activism in recent years surrounding the discipline gap, or the occurrence that minorities — black males in particular — are disproportionately suspended or expelled relative to other racial and gender subgroups. But what’s received less attention are some of the other surprising trends embedded deep in data out of California....