LA School Report

The state Senate bill that was at the heart of Tuesday’s heated school board debate and which some charter advocates consider dangerous to the future of charter schools was pulled for discussion Monday by its author for two years. Pro-charter parents who met with State Sen. Tony Mendoza last Friday said they believed they helped...

By Andrew Rotherham and Kaitlin Pennington It’s an education policy only TurboTax could love. Trying to find and keep teachers in California, legislators there are sponsoring the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act. The bill’s idea is straightforward: eliminate income tax for teachers. Really, who could be against that? Specifically, the bill would exempt teachers who remain...

*UPDATED A state bill that’s been labeled a charter killer could be supported by LA Unified’s lobbying capital if the school board passes a resolution on Tuesday’s agenda. School board vice president George McKenna, supported by fellow board member Scott Schmerelson, proposed the resolution that asks the school board to support the “swift passage” of...

Note: SB 304 is scheduled to be heard Tuesday, April 18.  This column originally appeared at AheadOfTheHeard.org By Hailly Korman Last month, I gave testimony before the California Senate Education Committee on SB 304, a state bill to define the required elements of an education transition plan for a student leaving a juvenile court school and returning...

Five more LA Unified high schools may divert their funding for teacher librarians this fall as principals decide to spend their budgets on other pressing needs, meaning 15 of the 84 high school libraries would not be fully staffed. The state’s Local Control Funding Formula allows more autonomy for district schools, and library staffing is among the discretionary items. But...

By Kevin Mahnken There are three middle schools in Palo Alto, each named after an important figure in local history: Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School honors the co-founder of Stanford University; David Starr Jordan Middle School is named after Stanford’s first president; and Terman Middle School memorializes the psychologist Lewis Terman and his son Frederick,...

*UPDATED A state audit released Thursday found that Alliance College-Ready Public Schools did not divert public funds intended for students on a nearly $1 million campaign to counter efforts by United Teachers Los Angeles to unionize its more than 600 teachers and counselors. The attempt to unionize the city’s largest charter management organization began more...

Great Public Schools Now will give $1.5 million in grants to LA Unified to expand enrollment at a magnet high school and a pilot high school, both in South Los Angeles, adding 1,000 new seats in three years, the nonprofit organization announced Thursday. The intent of the grants is to replicate high-performing LA Unified schools...

School board President Steve Zimmer said he has a lot of work left to do and plans to try to do it all in his next five-and-a-half-year term if reelected. It will be his last hurrah because Zimmer will be termed out and won’t be able to run for the board again. Zimmer said he...

Outgoing school board member Mónica Ratliff announced Wednesday she is endorsing Kelly Gonez to take over her Board District 6 seat in the northeast San Fernando Valley. “I greatly appreciate that Ms. Gonez seeks to be an ‘independent voice on the school board,’” Ratliff said in an email to LA School Report. She made her choice after reviewing...