LA School Report

On Friday, former LAUSD Board Members Yolie Flores and Marlene Canter weighed in with an oped in the LA Daily News:  “When people with no vested, personal interest in the outcome try to help elect reform-minded candidates, they are branded as “outsiders” who are trying to “buy elections.”… Yet, when “insiders” who do have a...

National Attention and Cash in Los Angeles School Vote Much of the attention will also be on the three races for the school board, a battle that involves the mayor, the teachers’ union and a host of advocates from across the country — including New York City’s billionaire mayor — who have poured millions of...

With only three days to go before the March 5 election, School Board candidates are hitting the pavement all over Los Angeles this weekend, hunting for votes. But judging from their campaign websites, some are more active than others. In downtown’s District 2, School Board President Monica Garcia is asking volunteers to sign up for...

Take a breather from all the campaign coverage to check out this much-discussed video from this week’s TED talks down in Long Beach: There’s also a a post about it from The Atlantic (Do Kids Really Need Teachers?).

Mailers, television ads, and phone banking have become increasingly negative the closer it’s gotten to the March 5 primary day. Click through the gallery below for a roundup of some of the lowest blows against the candidates in these contentious races:

How quickly we forget. For all the spending on this year’s School Board races —  which have already hit a record $3.8 million in outside expenditures — spending on the 2007 race was even higher at this point. Six years ago — the last time there was a showdown between UTLA and allies of Mayor...

Click here to listen to a half-hour discussion with District 4 competitors Steve Sanchez and Kate Anderson on KPCC yesterday afternoon. Towards the end of the discussion, Zimmer makes the case that School Board seats shouldn’t be bought by outside interests, and Anderson points out that she’s done a ton of her own independent fundraising.

Predicting the outcome of any political campaign is notoriously difficult — and predicting closely contested School Board races may be especially so. The turnout is generally low, and the polling is weak.  The majority of voters tend to make up their mind while they’re looking at the ballot, and forget who they’ve voted for 10...

Races for LA Unified’s School Board Attract Millions; Will They Also Attract Voters? Based on the media coverage and celebrity endorsements this LAUSD school board election has received, you’d think sitting on the seven-member panel was one of the most glamorous jobs in LA. KPCC How Outside Spending Is Changing the Race to Represent Northeast...

The Coalition for School Reform may have raised and spent a lot of money on the School Board race, including a newfangled field operation that’s already cost $330,000. But it apparently hasn’t had much time or interest in working any social media magic.  @ReformLAUSD, the Twitter handle linked to the Coalition website, last tweeted in June...