LA School Report

Good news coming from Washington, according to Erika Hoffman, lobbyist for the California School Boards Association. And it comes just after California Gov. Jerry Brown proposed boosting spending on public education from the state. In a release from her group yesterday, Hoffman says Federal education funding would approach pre-sequestration levels in a two-year federal appropriations bill that’s expected...

Hundreds of LA school libraries without staff, shuttered Figures out this week show only half of L.A. Unified school libraries have even part-time staff and far fewer have a credentialed librarian. In a district of 768 schools libraries, there are only 98 librarians to teach students how to find information, select a text or coordinate...

Debate at times was intense as ever yesterday. Tamar Galatzan and Steve Zimmer still didn’t seem to agree on much, the board ignored a recommendation from the Bond Oversight Committee and nobody thought Monica Garcia had a great idea in giving the entire board responsibility for taking District 1 interests into consideration with their votes. But...

Via the Sacramento Bee | By Dan Walters Years – even decades – of intense academic and political debate over closing the stubbornly wide “achievement gap” that separates Latino and black students from their white and Asian classmates are reaching a climactic point. This week, the State Board of Education is poised to approve hotly...

LAUSD moves forward with second phase of iPad rollout Amid scrutiny over Los Angeles Unified School District’s $1 billion iPad program, board members moved Tuesday to put more devices into the hands of thousands of students. The board voted to approve the second phase of its iPad program, allowing 38 campuses to receive tablets. LA...

The LA Unified School Board made two major decisions today that will go a long way toward shaping the months ahead. The six members green-lighted Phase 2 of the iPad plan, ensuring enough tablets for standardized testing in the Spring, and they approved the appointment of a non-voting representative to serve District 1 until later...

Minutes after voting against a motion to place an interim board member in the vacant seat on the LA Unified board, Bennett Kayser changed his mind, allowing the process to go forward. As a result, he broke the 3-3 deadlock and changed it to a 4-2 vote. A committee will form under Steve Zimmer to develop the parameters of...

An effort to fill the LA Unified board’s vacancy failed today when a 3-3 vote doomed an effort to set a process leading to an appointment. As a result, unless the board takes up the matter again at another time, the seat left open by the death of Marguerite LaMotte will remain unfilled until a...

According to the law, the LA Unified School Board cannot appoint a ‘voting member’ to serve temporarily on the board. That’s according to the legal team at LA Unified which is set to make a presentation today, in response to a request from the school board. According to the document – which outlines the options...