LA School Report

Communities for Teaching Excellence, Los Angeles-Based Education Organization, Closing A Los Angeles-based education advocacy organization backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will disband next month as a crowded field of reform groups compete for limited funding, officials said Thursday. The board of Communities for Teaching Excellence voted last week to dissolve, with a target...

A slightly deeper look into last week’s campaign fundraising filings for Board President Monica Garcia reveals not more only the charter school support that we’ve reported previously but also at least two members of the Hollywood elite: David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, each of whom gave the $1,000 maximum. Over all, Garcia brought in just over $75,000 during the...

Picking up on our story from yesterday afternoon (LAUSD & UTLA: Headed To Mediation), the Daily News‘ Barbara Jones has a story out today in which UTLA President Warren Fletcher is quoted calling LAUSD’s declaration of an impasse and call for mediation “premature.” (LAUSD says talks with UTLA on teacher evaluations are at impasse). However,...

Times Sues LAUSD for Info on Teachers The Los Angeles Times claims Los Angeles Unified School District is violating public records law by refusing to release records tying teachers, by name, to the expected and actual test scores of their students. Courthouse News Service LA Schools to ‘Shake It Up’ With the Rest of California As...

LA School Report has learned that LAUSD has filed a “declaration of impasse” in their negotiations with UTLA over teacher evaluations, and as a result the negotiations have gone to mediation with the Public Employee Relations Board. The “impasse” declaration was filed more than a couple of weeks ago, according to LAUSD Chief Labor and...

Ed Source has an excellent, 8-part infographic comparing Propositions 30 and 38, the competing ballot measures that would temporarily raise taxes to fund public education in California. As you may recall, Proposition 38, sponsored by the well-to-do Molly Munger, would raise a bit more money than Prop 30, sponsored by Governor Jerry Brown, but wouldn’t avoid “trigger...

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Gov. Brown Urges UCLA Students to Support Prop. 30 Gov. Jerry Brown brought his campaign for the Proposition 30 tax measure to UCLA on Tuesday, urging students at a rally there to vote for it or risk facing a substantial tuition increase. LA Times  LAUSD Urges Students, Community Members to Vote Like public school educators...

Capping charter school growth seemed to have been a priority for LAUSD Board Member Steve Zimmer until recently, when he twice postponed, then watered down, his controversial proposal that would have banned new charter schools. The motivation behind his hedging has been something of a mystery. One answer could be he’s listening: California Charter Schools...

Earlier this week, Stanford economist Al Roth — known for having helped Boston, New York, and several other large districts create improved systems to match parent preferences with school choices — was awarded a Nobel prize. On his blog, Roth recently posted an interesting link about LAUSD’s new enrollment projection system, E-Cast, headed by chief prognosticator Valerie Edwards  (District...