LA School Report

L.A. Unified will investigate food-service contracts at PUC charters The findings of a state investigation into PUC Schools showed an alleged conflict of interest in the awarding of millions of dollars in food contracts. Los Angeles Times Commentary: LA Unified must recommit to goal of college for all The goal of college access for all at...

LA Unified school board members will be busy this week in a series of committee meetings as a prelude to the board’s monthly meeting next week. The Successful School Climate Committee, chaired by Monica Garcia, will be gathering tomorrow to discuss the implementation of the Student Bill of Rights. The district passed the new set...

LA Unified is on the brink of cutting a highly-successful preschool program for some of the district’s poorest children at the same time that members of the California state assembly are trying to expand early education programs for all low-income pre-Kindergarten students. The district’s School Readiness Language Development Program (SRLDP) is just one of a...

By Patricia Levesque and Kevin Welner | New York Times It is much easier to correctly identify a problem than to come up with a workable solution. When No Child Left Behind was signed into law in 2002, the United States did indeed have a problem — one that was identified, at least partially, by...

LAUSD charter group gave food contract to an employee’s firm The probe involved Jacqueline Duvivier Castillo, who works for PUC Schools and is a part-owner in Better 4 You Meals. Los Angeles Times Democrat’s teacher tenure law gets killed The legislature is faced with changing longstanding California laws for evaluating, firing and laying off teachers....

A few hours on a Saturday afternoon at a Special Olympics event over 30 years ago changed the course of Teri Hayden’s life, and now it looks as if those few hours have changed the lives of hundreds of disabled student athletes at LA Unified. After several years of pitches and proposals from Hayden —...

* UPDATED The state’s two teachers unions — the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers — filed their appeal today in the landmark education case they lost last year, Vergara v. California. The lower court ruling declared unconstitutional state laws that govern teacher seniority, dismissal and layoffs. The unions called the lawsuit...

Andrew Thomas, who finished third behind Ref Rodriguez and Bennett Kayser in the District 5 school board primary election, has complained to Kayser that an invitation to a Kayser fundraiser this afternoon incorrectly says Thomas is supporting him in the May 19 runoff. An email from Kayser’s campaign circulated yesterday describes Kayser as “The choice...

By Leila Meyer | The Journal This year 91 percent of teachers used some of their own money to pay for school supplies, and 38 percent used only their own money, according to a new report from The NPD Group. The report, “Today’s Teachers: School Supply Purchasing Dynamics and Behaviors,” surveyed almost 1,000 K-12 public and...

Popular LA pre-school language program is targeted once again A popular and well-regarded preschool program in Los Angeles would be shut down over the next two years under a district proposal to cut costs. Ed Source AB 47 passes with bipartisan support out of Assembly education committee Assembly Education Committee members, advocates, superintendents, and faith...