LA School Report

Firing bad teachers: A superintendent and a union official debate Commentary: Dr. John E. Deasy, Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, supports the California lawsuit against the state’s tenure, layoff and termination rules. He believes that the current system has a disparate impact on the quality of education offered to poor students and...

Via Sacramento Bee | By Jim Miller A multibillion dollar water bond isn’t the only borrowing measure that could show up on voters’ ballots this fall. This week, legislation that would place a state school bond before voters Nov. 4 cleared another legislative committee with support from both sides of the aisle. Yet there remain...

The plan to expand arts access for students across LA Unified and restore nearly $16 million in arts funding will include data gathered in a new Arts Equity Index, a tool to identify schools in greatest need of arts instruction. School board member Steve Zimmer, who proposed the idea at the board meeting Tuesday, called...

Obama alums join anti teachers union case Teachers unions are girding for a tough fight to defend tenure laws against a coming blitz of lawsuits — and an all-out public relations campaign led by former aides to President Barack Obama. The Incite Agency, founded by former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs and former Obama campaign...

A new poll shows that two-thirds of California voters agree that the state should get rid of “Last in, First Out,” a teacher tenure policy that requires the newest K-12 teachers be laid off first, regardless of merit. Just 17 percent said layoffs by reverse seniority should continue. The poll was conducted by the USC Rossier School...

In the coming school year, LA Unified plans to launch the Parent Access Support System Portal (PASSport), an interactive online tool to make it easier for parents to get more involved in their children’s education. As a one-stop portal, it’s designed to give parents access to real time student information and district resources as well as...

California special ed to get federal intervention The U.S. Department of Education said Tuesday that California special education programs need federal intervention, citing the lack of significant academic progress for students with special needs. California is one of three states, along with Texas and Delaware, designated for a one-year program of intervention. EdSource Lawmakers: Students...

Via Reuters | By Sharon Bernstein California Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed a law adding “egregious misconduct” to the list of fireable offenses for public school teachers, weeks after a judge said it was too hard to fire incompetent teachers in the most populous U.S. state. Both houses of the legislature unanimously passed the...