LA School Report

With expectations of a windfall from the state when Gov. Jerry Brown announces his updated budget tomorrow, various interests in LA Unified are eager to learn if the added dollars will reach them. It’s not likely. Despite the possibility that the district’s cut of the added revenues could reach $300 million or more, Superintendent Ramon...

* UPDATED Superintendent Ramon Cortines is putting off retirement for another year. The LA Unified school board yesterday voted unanimously to extend Cortines’s contract through the end of the 2015-16 school year. Terms of the deal are still under review, “but nothing, including salary, was expected to change from the previous pact,” district officials said...

By Rob Bonta and Jeff Bridges It’s hard being a kid. There’s class work, homework and, in some cases, part-time work. It’s even harder being a hungry kid. Imagine trying to focus on an important lesson with an empty stomach. How well would you perform? Now multiply that feeling by 4.3 million. That’s the number...

CA teachers, community colleges know what to do with extra state funds On Thursday morning, Gov. Jerry Brown is set to unveil an updated budget proposal for the next fiscal year. KPCC In L.A. Unified races, both union and charter school backers target iPads Charter-school backers and the teachers union are on opposite sides in...

In a surprise move today, the LA Unified School Board postponed a vote on a resolution to fix the implementation of college prep graduation requirements, called A through G. The resolution co-sponsored by board members Mónica García and Steve Zimmer was delayed after members complained that they didn’t have enough understanding of the latest amended version...

The LA Unified school board is scheduled to meet today at 1 p.m. Among the agenda items of interest is a vote on a new contract with UTLA, as well as discussion on the district’s A through G graduation requirements. Also included is the “Seek Greater Opportunities for Four Year Olds,” a plan to expand Transitional Kindergarten to...

As the LA Unified school board today prepares to debate fixes to its implementation of college prep graduation requirements, hundreds of people are expected to rally outside the district’s downtown headquarters in favor of the proposal. The rally is scheduled for 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., roughly the same time the board is expected to...

Just as LA Unified is planning big cuts to a preschool program, a new report that says California is lagging behind other states in the quality of its early education programs. The annual report, The State of Preschool 2014, was prepared by the National Institute for Early Education Research and focuses on 10 quality preschool standards...

By Chris Megerian  As California staggered through years of budget crises, the state law intended to safeguard funds for public education was no defense against a flood of recessionary red ink. School budgets were cut by billions of dollars, and thousands of teachers were laid off. So it’s an incredible reversal of fortune that the...

How low voter turnout impacts LAUSD schools Over the last 50 years, local election turnout plummeted from a about 50 percent to less than 10 percent of eligible voters. KPCC LAUSD board seat election could determine the fate of charter schools The spending on both sides has turned the tussle in District 5 into a...