LA School Report

Tonight’s District 2 School Board debate in El Sereno (see flyer here) is not one of the candidate forums that have been organized by United Way and sponsored by numerous nonprofits, but the Monday night event may be one of the first and only times incumbent School Board President Monica Garcia will appear on the...

The Coalition for School Reform has unveiled a somewhat curious new 30-second TV ad for District 4 School Board challenger Kate Anderson. Titled “Talking Benches,” most of it is devoted to blasting incumbent Steve Zimmer.  “Zimmer voted to fire 5,000 teachers,” says an incredulous narrator, “and cut basics like art and PE, while supporting the costliest building project in America...

United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) has suspended its plan to send union members a survey asking them to rate LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy’s performance, according to a recent union newsletter. The UTLA Board of Directors voted to suspend the survey, which had been set to go to members early this month. UTLA has not yet...

At its Tuesday, February 12 meeting, the LAUSD School Board will vote on whether or not approve phase one of Superintendent John Deasy’s plan to equip every student and teacher with a tablet computer by the end of 2014. As you may recall, the Bond Oversight Committee recently voted to recommend that the Board approve...

Outside Groups Trying to Influence L.A. School Board Races Outside groups are mounting campaigns to influence the outcome of three races for seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education. LA Times See also: LA School Report L.A. Schools Need Technology, but Can We Afford It? On Tuesday, the Los Angeles School Board will consider...

LA School Report has learned that the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission is at fault in an election disclosure discrepancy reported here earlier today. According to the Commission, due to human error, the City Ethics site did not make public independent expenditures (IEs) made by the teachers union political arm, UTLA-PACE, for LAUSD school board...

After a slow start, the District 4 (Hollywood and Westside) race between School Board Member Steve Zimmer and challenger Kate Anderson is heating up. On Tuesday, Anderson unveiled her first campaign ad on YouTube. Zimmer’s campaign manager, Ari Ruiz, said his campaign team also plans to launch ads supporting Zimmer on YouTube this Saturday. Zimmer...

There is, arguably, just one School Board candidate running a truly grassroots campaign built on dozens of volunteers and more than a hundred* small contributions of as little as $5 — and little else by way of outside support. His name is Robert Skeels. Skeels is one of several candidates running for the Eastside District...

LA School Report has learned that the teachers union’s political arm, UTLA-PACE, has sent a direct mail piece on behalf of a Westside District 4 candidate, Steve Zimmer, in what appears to be its first election expenditure. The mailer is notable because UTLA-PACE is expected to spend big on behalf of UTLA-backed school board candidates, but...

At a candidate forum in Northridge yesterday, Mayoral hopeful Eric Garcetti did some serious dodging when asked if he would vote for School Board President Monica Garcia, who is running for re-election in East Long Angeles’ District 2: “I admire Monica Garcia a lot,” said Garcetti, who has complained about teacher-bashing and recently received an endorsement...