LA School Report

By Dan Gordon As the superintendent of Coachella Valley Unified School District (CA), where 80 percent of the children live in poverty and 70 percent are English language learners, Darryl Adams spearheaded a successful bond measure that funded a 1-to-1 iPad initiative for Coachella Valley Unified’s 20,000 students. The district then began putting WiFi routers on idle...

2015-16 state education budget by the numbers The $115.4 billion state budget is full of numbers – big ones when it comes to record high spending for K-12 schools and community colleges. Ed Source Music Center cuts back its arts education at schools After decades of sending artists to work with students in LA County...

Two members of the LA Unified school board, losers in last month’s elections, joined their colleagues for the final time today, as Bennett Kayser got a 90-minute heartfelt and emotional sendoff and Tamar Galatzan walked away without so much as a goodbye or thank you from any of the remaining five members, including the out-going president,...

If opponents of LA Unified’s controversial disciplinary process known as “teacher jail” were looking for an ideal case to fight it, both in a court of law and in the court of public opinion, they may get it. High-profile attorney Mark Geragos, representing one of the most famous active teachers in the country, Rafe Esquith,...

A small coalition of community organizations rallied at LA Unified headquarters today, urging district leaders to invest in more restorative justice programs and alternative schools. The Dignity in Schools Campaign joined with leaders of the parent group, CADRE, Public Counsel and the teachers union, UTLA, to celebrate, what they called “a minor victory.” Beginning next...

* UPDATED In a move that the California Center for Parent Empowerment (CCPE) is calling a first, a majority of teachers and staff at an LA Unified elementary school are publicly supporting a group of parents in a “parent trigger” campaign against the school’s principal. Over 30 teachers and staff at Fishburn Avenue Elementary School signed a...

By Motoko Rich The new academic standards known as the Common Core emphasize critical thinking, complex problem-solving and writing skills, and put less stock in rote learning and memorization. So the standardized tests given in most states this year required fewer multiple choice questions and far more writing on topics like this one posed to...

New initiative for teacher development School boards must prepare plans for how they will spend their share of a $500 million block grant aimed at boosting teacher competency. SI&A Cabinet Report Court upholds LAUSD decision to offer Crenshaw facilities to charter school LAUSD did not violate the state’s charter school law by offering school facilities...

Despite assertions by Superintendent Ramon Cortines that the 2015-16 balanced budget — up for approval tomorrow by the LA Unified school board — included more than 600 job cuts, it appears that district officials are rescinding some of those layoffs. In March, the board passed a fiscal stabilization plan that triggered 609 Reduction in Force notices to...

By Araceli Morfín and Raúl Ruíz Tomorrow, the LAUSD school board will ratify the 2015-16 budget, along with the district’s Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), increasing an investment in restorative justice to $7.2 million from $4.2 million. This increase is timely, as the work of restorative justice has been immensely impactful in our LAUSD schools at...