LA School Report

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juYyaUqKDxo] Republicans in Washington will spend Wednesday charging full bore into the start of the new administration. President-elect Donald Trump is slated to give his first press conference since the election. The Senate will hold an hours-long series of votes related to repealing Obamacare. And at least three Cabinet nominees will face their confirmation...

As LA Unified students return to school on Monday, here’s a look ahead at what will be happening in education in Los Angeles in 2017. BUDGET “We are spending more money than we are taking in,” the superintendent of the nation’s second-largest school district, Michelle King, said at her first “State of the District” address...

A telephone opinion survey being conducted in LA Unified’s School Board District 4 that repeatedly links child molestation and sexual abuse cases in the district with incumbent Steve Zimmer is being roundly criticized by Zimmer and contender Nick Melvoin. Presented as a nonpartisan and unbiased poll, the survey focuses almost exclusively on Zimmer and Melvoin,...

Only one month’s worth of data is in, but if it holds true, bringing flavored milk back to the schools could offset some of LA Unified’s budget deficit. At Tuesday’s Budget, Audit and Facilities meeting — the first official LA Unified committee meeting of 2017 — new Food Services Director Joseph Vaughn discussed the preliminary numbers collected...

Steve Barr showed up at the city Election Division office downtown just before 5 p.m. on Dec. 7, the deadline to turn in signatures to qualify for the 2017 municipal ballot, with 878 signatures and a $300 check in his hands. “I had been thinking about it all day,” he said in his only interview...

By Rafael Alvarez There are approximately 1 million undocumented youth currently living in America who were brought here as children. Practically speaking, this is the only country they have ever known, and they speak English fluently. They want to work hard and contribute to society and yet, up until four years ago, they were mostly...

A 15-page report that details the dramatic 24 hours of the largest one-day shutdown of a school district in U.S. history shows some serious need for equipment and communications upgrades. The report released late Friday afternoon by LA Unified shows how agencies coordinated well during the safety threat, but also revealed a need for updated computer systems and...

Fear and anxiety of what lies ahead with a new Donald Trump administration, particularly for DACA students, led LA school officials to pass two new resolutions this week. A sweeping resolution calling for “safe zones” last month wasn’t enough. Two more resolutions specifically mentioning the new regime were passed this week. Also, the teachers union is...

By the end of Thursday, LA Unified will be letting the state and county governments know that the district may not be able to meet its financial obligations in upcoming years because it faces a cumulative deficit of $1.46 billion through the 2018-2019 school year. Chief Financial Officer Megan Reilly gave the unsettling news to...

One year ago today, the second-largest school district in the country made a decision to shut down all its schools. At 6:25 a.m. the call went out after LA Unified school board President Steve Zimmer received an email that threatened students and staff with weapons and bombs. The district was between superintendents. Ramon Cortines had actually...