LA School Report

Garcia Leads in Fundraising for L.A. School Board Financial data released Thursday show that Monica Garcia raised $174,288 last year, far outdistancing the combined total of four challengers vying to unseat her. LA Times Southern California Schools to Benefit From Gov. Jerry Brown’s Budget California’s public schools are the big winners in Gov. Jerry Brown’s...

One of the biggest problems with the student transfer provision under the federal No Child Behind (NCLB) Act is has been that it relies on the school system both to inform parents of their right to transfer their child out of a failing school and to pick the schools they can transfer to. California’s 2010 Open...

LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy praised the budget proposal California Gov. Jerry Brown released today, saying in a press release, “the changes announced today are quite positive for our students in the Los Angeles Unified School District.” In his proposal, Governor Brown would fund school districts based on the number of its students and the level...

What would a monthly school board meeting be without at least one shot across the bow from one board member to another? According to the just-released morning agenda for the Tuesday January 15 meeting (see here), board member Marguerite LaMotte will introduce a resolution limiting the School board President’s term to two consecutive years. Currently, the position of president...

“When you were a kid you imagined that your teachers lived in closets and subsisted on coffee grinds and eraser gum,” notes this LA Weekly item (Cassandra McGrath’s Stories to Make You Cry).  Instead, the 28 year-old teacher has published an anthology of stories called “Rising From The Ashes,” featuring the work of former Belmont High School...

United Teachers Los Angeles announced in the latest edition of its weekly newsletter that it plans to push back harder against LAUSD’s so-called “teacher jails,” where teachers accused of misconduct are sent to wait while the district investigates their cases. As LA School Report contributor Hillel Aron wrote in a recent LA Weekly report, teachers sent to “jail” are usually...

L.A. County Democratic Party Endorses LAUSD Board Candidates The Los Angeles County Democratic Party voted late Tuesday to endorse incumbent Steve Zimmer and newcomer Antonio Sanchez for the LAUSD board but declined to support board President Monica Garcia or any of the four rivals for her Eastside seat. LA Daily News New Silver Lake Principal...

A study released Tuesday by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation showed that the controversial method of measuring teachers’ effectiveness with students’ test scores can be useful, but only when balanced with other factors, such as student feedback and classroom observation. Teachers unions, including UTLA, have long insisted that grading teachers based on their student...

The Los Angeles Fund for Public Education, a philanthropy dedicated among other things to bringing arts integration programs to LA area schools, launched the second part of a $4 million public art and arts education fundraising campaign called “Arts Matter” on Tuesday. Twelve city buses, 175 billboards, and 271 additional spaces across Los Angeles will...

Last night, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party voted to endorse Steve Zimmer and Antonio Sanchez for LAUSD school board. However, the question of whether or not to endorse Monica Garcia for East LA’s District 2 became the subject of a brief but spirited floor fight. “It hurts me to speak against her,” said former City...