LA School Report

• State schools suspend students at higher rates than rest of nation: A new report from UCLA says states and districts differ greatly in how frequently they suspend students.  LAUSD ranks 63rd out of nation’s biggest school districts. San Bernardino ranked 15th. LAT • Do Anti-Bullying Laws Help? California lawmakers will ask for a state audit on...

For those of you wondering when the California Department of Education (CDE) will release its much-maligned Academic Performance Index (API) for 2012, don’t hold your breath. The API Index is the single number used to reflect a school’s progress, based on statewide testing. Traditionally timed to coincide with the start of the school year, the API release has...

• Summer Ends Early For LAUSD Students: School starts in exactly one week! That’s three weeks earlier than it used to start for LAUSD. That’s because the district just moved to an “early-start” calendar, with the first semester ending at winter break, giving kids three weeks off around Christmas. Daily News • Cal State Cuts Transfers: California State...

Campaign disclosure statements for the first half of 2012 are now online, providing information on contributions for the two LAUSD board members next up for re-election.  Steve Zimmer‘s fundraising appears not to have really begun in earnest (he’s raised less than $10,000. However, Board President Monica Garcia (pictured) has raised a hefty $100,000, about half of which comes...

• LAUSD to Begin Phasing In Common Core Curriculum Standards: The standards, the first ever national standards for public school curriculum, have been adopted by all but five states. Lots of changes are coming, including: basic algebra and geometry starting in kindergarden (!), less literature and more informational reading, and more integration of math and english....

Federal Money For Low-Income Students’ AP Tests:  California will receive $7.6 million from the federal government to pay for Advanced Placement tests for low income students. LA Times PTA Endorses Munger, Not Brown: The California Parent Teacher Association has endorsed Proposition 38, Molly Munger’s ballot measure to raise taxes to pay for education, which it helped write....

The hyper-cute daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes is going to enroll at Avenues, an entirely new K-12 private (for-profit!) school being opened this fall in the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC (right near the High Line, if you want to impress your friends). All this via the NY Post: Suri Cruise to attend new Chelsea school....

• John Myers tweets that Molly Munger has sunk another $5 million into her Proposition 38 campaign, which would raise taxes to boost education funding in California. She has now given a total of $13.7 million. The Democratic Party and the teachers unions are backing Jerry Brown’s more moderate proposal, Proposition 30. • Local blogger...

A shocking (and graphic) Courthouse News Service story from last week details many of the allegations made by Scot Graham against former LAUSD superintendent Ramon Cortines, including, perhaps most damning to the district, that his claims were never investigated “due to the district’s “culture of sexual abuse, stealth and secrecy.” Graham also claims that Cortines “had targeted other...

There was a time when Green Dot Public Schools founder Steve Barr — the man responsible for the 2008 hostile takeover of Locke High School and a frequent critic of the teachers union and the Board — was seen by many as the barbarian at the gate. Now, Barr has a daughter in 2nd grade at Ivanhoe...