LA School Report

Leland Yee, the former state senator from central California who was arrested last month on federal bribery and corruption charges, was a Sacramento favorite of COPE, the political arm of the California Federation of Teachers. The union was one of the biggest contributors to Yee’s campaign for California Secretary of State. His arrest prompted him...

Funding gap threatens retirement for California teachers The pension fund for public school teachers in California faces a long-term shortfall of $74 billion, threatening its ability to pay for the retirement of nearly 1 million teachers and administrators in the nation’s most populous state, officials said on Thursday. The gap is growing by about $15...

The battle over the new money coming into LA Unified from the state’s new Local Control Funding Formula starts in earnest tomorrow when Superintendent John Deasy lays out his plan for the 2014-15 budget. Deasy is meeting with reporters to unveil his spending priorities plan for an estimated $390 million the district will receive in...

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson was in town today visiting the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (LACES) as part of his week-long “AP Excellence Tour.” Torlakson said the visits to high schools with innovative Advanced Placement courses are a “celebration” of a 10-year report from The College Board, showing impressive growth in enrollment statewide,...

LAUSD School Board Member Steve Zimmer’s recent commentary “Standing with Beatriz” hit the nail on the head on one key issue: for our children, the stakes are high. Let me acknowledge first that Mr. Zimmer is a good person who is doing what he feels is best for the children of LAUSD. On this issue,...

How California schools spent $13 billion generated by Prop 30 The California State Controller’s Office launched a website Wednesday tracking how money from Prop 30 is being spent by charter schools, school districts and community colleges. The measure was approved in November of 2012 and has since pulled in $13.1 billion for teachers, textbooks and general operations, according to the...

After more than 30 years, the West Valley may be closer to having four more schools. What kind of schools remains to be seen. Community members are invited tomorrow night to a meeting at Woodlake Elementary School to learn more about the the future of the elementary schools — Oso, Collins, Highlander and Platt Ranch...

Via Education Week | By Catherine Gewertz  Today’s post marks a turning point in our coverage of the common standards: the revision of our widely followed map of state adoptions. Indiana made us do it. As you probably already know, because my intrepid colleague Andrew Ujifusa reported it last week, Indiana has become the first...

In keeping with the start of the baseball season this week, let’s use a baseball analogy: Rachel Johnson has a Hall of Fame batting average in running for office. Since 2001 when she was first elected as the City Clerk of Gardena, Johnson has run four successful campaigns for elected office — a second term for...

Solutions sought to reduce food waste at schools And so it goes on hundreds of campuses in Los Angeles Unified, the nation’s second-largest school system, which serves 650,000 meals a day. Students throw out at least $100,000 worth of food a day — and probably far more, according to estimates by David Binkle, the district’s...