LA School Report

L.A. schools could lose $782 million under federal bill Republican-led effort to revise a federal education law could slash $782 million for disadvantaged students in Los Angeles Unified over six years. Los Angeles Times Jeff Bridges encourages eating breakfast at local schools Elementary School students in Winnetka got a visit from Academy Award-winner Jeff Bridges....

One of Tamar Galatzan’s challengers in the LA Unified District 3 board race said today he has filed a complaint against her with the City Ethics Commission, charging that she improperly used her board office as part of her campaign. Filiberto Gonzalez, a former Los Angeles City planning commissioner, cited two specific instances: the use of...

LA Unified’s school board District 5, runs a tortured, ear-muff-shaped path from Los Feliz in the north, following a narrow band south, and expanding in the south to Lynwood. Along the way it reaches parts of Echo Park, Vernon, Maywood, Huntington Park, Bell and South Gate. With an Hispanic population of 74 percent, District 5...

By The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board The idea of equipping every Los Angeles Unified student and teacher with a computer suffered its final blow with the announcement last week that the school district simply couldn’t afford to buy some 700,000 of them. If ever a proposal was half-baked, it was the iPad project, which...

Commentary: NCLB and testing help hold schools accountable Even if the NCLB bathwater needs changing, our kids are not likely to learn more if schools and teachers are not held accountable. Los Angeles Times New online training aims to ferret out child abuse cases Public school employees can take their required annual training to spot...

If you thought LA Unified’s practice-run of the Smarter Balanced test last week would go smoothly, think again. But district officials insist the blame is not entirely the district’s fault. The state “Readiness Test” site, which was specifically designed for students to access the practice exam, crashed Thursday when state personnel tried logging into the system....

*UPDATED School board District 3 covers most of the western San Fernando valley from the Ventura county line to the 405 on its eastern boarder, with a cutout to include some of the tonier neighborhoods in the east valley. The district includes Chatsworth, parts of Woodland Hills, Northridge, Granda Hills, parts of Van Nuys and...

By The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board When U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said last year that the incessant focus on testing was “sucking the oxygen” out of public school classrooms, his statement seemed like a pointed criticism of the federal No Child Left Behind Act and of his own long-standing policies. For the last...

“Most of our early escalation tactics are about building solidarity among members, because a 35,000 member union can’t win a fight against the corporate education ‘reformers’ lined up against us with anything less than 35,000 members active in the fight.” That’s what it says on the UTLA website, which makes this a critical week for...

Sweeping change set for special education services A blue ribbon panel shared 44 specific recommendations aimed ultimately at improving academic outcomes for students with disabilities. SI&A Cabinet Report Critics say EPA played dual role in recycled tire controversy The EPA has terminated its longtime campaign to promote the use of recycled tires on artificial turf...