LA School Report

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...

Here’s the cover for Michelle Rhee’s new book, coming out in January. It’s called “RADICAL: Fighting to Put Students First.”  Read a few more details here. Why should you care about Rhee? Her Sacramento-based organization, StudentsFirst, was involved in Ian Calderon’s successful state assembly primary race and Brian Johnson’s unsuccessful one, as well as various...

A call around to some education insiders suggests that the likelihood of parents targeting an LAUSD school for the so-called “parent trigger” aren’t clear — at least in the short term. That hasn’t stopped LAUSD parents from starting parent unions, however — the precursor to a possible trigger.  

• The Marine Corps is reaching out to Los Angeles educators in an effort to improve the Corps’ access to students on high school campuses. LA Times • Villaraigosa says he might want to run for Governor when his term is up — a good reminder that there’s going to be a new Mayor next year. LA Times...

School Board Member Nury Martinez has long been rumored to be planning a run for Tony Cardenas’ City Council District 6 seat, which will become vacant when Cardenas gets elected to U.S. Congress, which he is expected to do in a walk. This would set the stage for a fight for Martinez’s school board seat, and...

Ever wonder just how many TFA (Teach For America) teachers there are in LAUSD?  Sometimes it can seem like they (and their alumni) are everywhere.  Other times, they can be hard to find. Here are the latest numbers, via David Stanley, TFA LA executive director: Last year there were 260 first- and second-year teachers (about...