LA School Report

Teachers’ union leader blasts U.S. Education secretary over comments American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten sharply criticized U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan last week for his praise of a ruling by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge deeming certain job protections for teachers in California as unconstitutional. The ruling represents a major...

The LA Unified board meeting on June 17 might be more crowded than usual. UTLA, the teachers union, is planning a noon press conference outside the district’s downtown headquarters and handing out leaflets to call attention to the board’s demand for “a fair pay raise” for the coming years. The union’s activities come at a...

Via Edsource | By John Fensterwald A joke around Sacramento is that it takes a Ph.D. in Proposition 98 to understand how California schools are funded and governed. The truth is that agood short course is probably all that’s needed for the basics of California’s complex education policies. And now there is one – Ed100.org. Created by...

The long, bitter saga of a westside charter’s move to a new home after an unpleasant year at Stoner Elementary School has finally ended. Officials representing Citizens of the World Mar Vista said yesterday they have accepted an offer from LA Unified to relocate on the campuses of two Westchester elementary schools about 1.4 miles...

Via The New York Times | By Jesse Rothstein BERKELEY, Calif. — In his decision on Tuesday to strike down California’s teacher-tenure system, Judge Rolf M. Treu of Los Angeles Superior Court ruled that laws protecting teachers from dismissal violated the state’s constitutional commitment to provide “a basically equal opportunity to achieve a quality education”...

California teacher firing bill headed to Gov. Jerry Brown Against the backdrop of a ruling declaring California’s teacher dismissal rules unconstitutional, the Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed and sent to Gov. Jerry Brown legislation speeding the teacher firing process. Sacbee CA budget agreement is biggest expansion to early education in a decade Some of California’s...

Ever wonder how much money your local LAUSD school gets? Here’s a way to find out. Click here, and what you see is LA Unified’s $4.58 billion school-by-school spending plan for the 2014-2015 academic year. Each line item reflects a category and shows whether its funding is restricted, which means the money can only be...

A successful program aimed at providing free classroom breakfast to low-income students in Los Angeles Unified has quietly made a change: it will now allow schools with more affluent populations to use alternative approaches to feeding kids in the morning. Part of a national school breakfast program, LAUSD’s “Breakfast in the Classroom” (BIC) is funded...

Just in case parents around the country missed the decision in Vergara v. California, a union-watch group in Washington is spreading the word. The Center for Union Facts, a nonprofit, ran an ad in today’s USA Today that urges parents and school reform advocates to to follow Vergara’s lead and sue when teacher unions block reform efforts. Judge Rolf...

Tom Waldman is moving on, although he’s not going far. The Director of Communications for LA Unified is stepping into a new role with the district: the newly created post as Executive Director of Board Communications. Taking on the role, which was Superintendent John Deasy’s idea, means Waldman will work with the school board, exclusively....