LA School Report

A rift in the Democratic Party over education policy comes into sharp relief one day before California’s primary election as a record $28 million has been spent by outside groups on state races, one-third coming from groups supporting charter schools. On one side, traditional Democratic players, including the California Teachers Association, are aligning themselves with candidates who have committed...

I’m still trying to make sense of the buckshot attack on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation published by the Los Angeles Times editorial board last week. The Times shoehorned a remarkably honest letter from the foundation about the challenges of education philanthropy into a smear of Gates’ work. But it’s clear the editorial board didn’t...

El Camino High principal moonlighted as NBA scout, billed travel to school David Fehte, principal and executive director of El Camino Real Charter High School, charged his school-issued American Express card for flights, food and hotel stays that align with college basketball games associated with a second job he had as an NBA scout. By...

I have all sorts of principles for guiding my thinking about education. But my grand, unifying theory, the thing that determines how all the other stuff hangs together, basically rests on two claims: 1) there are enormous systemic inequities built into American public education, and 2) the decentralization of U.S. political institutions makes rapid policy-driven...

Cost of suspensions is high for students who drop out after discipline, report finds Putting a cold financial price tag on the impact of school discipline practices, researchers have calculated that a 10th-grade California student who drops out because of suspension could end up costing the public $755,000 in lost tax revenue and increased health...

This is part of an LA School Report series taking an in-depth look at the different categories of schools that exist within the massive LA Unified school district. (Read more on affiliated charters: A successful model on its way out? and The elementary school-turned-affiliated charter that became so popular parents fake their addresses) (Read the series on magnet...

State officials find LA Unified shortchanged students In a ruling with statewide implications and financial repercussions for the state’s largest school district, the California Department of Education has determined that Los Angeles Unified has shortchanged low-income students, English learners and foster children by hundreds of millions of dollars they should have received through the state’s...

In a series of special meetings to address looming deficits, the LA Unified school board on Tuesday reviewed potential savings of $112 million or more, but no action was taken. The all-day discussion was the third off-site meeting held by Superintendent Michelle King to address recommendations by the Independent Financial Review Panel to stave off deficits that could reach nearly half...

While discussing cost-saving measures and reducing waste in LA Unified food services, some school board members said they wanted to bring back flavored milk. Superintendent John Deasy banned chocolate and strawberry milk from the school menu five years ago after the school board voted it was too sugary for students. But now LA Unified School Board President Steve...

*UPDATED The lockdown of two LA Unified elementary schools and a middle school near the UCLA campus following a shooting there has been lifted and classes are resuming, school police reported. Warner Avenue Elementary School, Fairburn Avenue Elementary School and Emerson Middle School had been put on lockdown “as a precaution,” said Ellen Morgan, of the...