LA School Report

Starting Monday, November 5, LAUSD Board candidates for the District 2, 4, and 6 seats can take the next necessary steps towards running for office by filing a “Declaration of Intention to Become a Candidate” with the City Clerk’s office. Official announcement here. Official candidate and election information here. But they shouldn’t wait too long.  Prospective candidates have less than a...

Big Districts Divided Over Cutting School Year if Prop. 30 Fails Slightly more than a third report that they do not plan any more furlough days, and the rest say that a shorter school year remains an option that they plan to raise with their unions. Ed Source L.A. Unified Competes For U.S. Funds Without Key...

Not too far removed from the seven-day strike that captured the nation’s attention in September, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has signed off on the district’s Race to the Top application. “Chicago — one of the most militant teachers unions in country — sees the light of day, and UTLA is still hiding under a...

LAUSD has just announced that it was sending in its $40 million Race to the Top Application today, despite the fact that UTLA refused to sign off on it. “Although UTLA refused to be a partner in this critically important grant,” said Deasy in a press release, “I will advocate for it on behalf of...

Former Democratic state legislator Gloria Romero isn’t the only education reformer who’s taken a position that’s being described as anti-labor. (See: Proposition 32 Divides California’s Education Reformers Huffington Post.)  Sacramento-based StudentsFirst (headed by Michelle Rhee) has given $500,000 to oppose Proposal 2, a Michigan state constitutional amendment codifying collective bargaining rights that has been backed by labor groups,...

In a piece today in the Daily News, Barbara Jones writes that if Proposition 30 doesn’t pass, LAUSD says it would shorten the 2012-2013 school year by as many as 15 days, and the following school year by as many as 15 additional days. But on Monday, Superintendent John Deasy told LA School Report that other cuts...

LAUSD Bracing for Severe Cuts if Prop. 30 Loses To offset the cuts, the state is allowing districts to shave 15 days off their 175-day school calendars this year – and up to 15 additional days next year – a move that LAUSD officials fear could jeopardize students’ hard-won academic gains and hinder efforts to...

Not many people would recognize David Holmquist, general counsel for the LA Unified School District (pictured below). But Holmquist serves as an important role, overseeing all labor negotiations, and representing the district in over 1,000 lawsuits  – including attempts by LAUSD to recover overpayment from 600 employees and dismiss more than 120 teachers. We spoke last...

There’s not really that much new to say about UTLA’s decision to scuttle LAUSD’s application for a federal Race to the Top grant (ostensibly over cost concerns) but news outlets are having a grand time dissecting it and LAUSD superintendent John Deasy seems more than willing to express his disappointment over that decision. This Daily News story (LAUSD,...

Parents Criticize Officials After Cheating Allegations Roil School Leaders of a parent organization at Short Avenue Elementary on Tuesday criticized the school’s former principal and the Los Angeles Unified School District in the wake of alleged cheating and mistakes in administering state standardized tests by teachers. LA Times Dan Walters: What to Do if Proposition...