By Nicholas Kristof | The New York Times For the last dozen years, waves of idealistic Americans have campaigned to reform and improve K-12 education. Armies of college graduates joined Teach for America. Zillionaires invested in charter schools. Liberals and conservatives, holding their noses and agreeing on nothing else, cooperated to proclaim education the civil rights...

LA Unified’s ability to pay for a new teacher contract that gives the union’s 35,000 members a 10.4 percent raise — their first in eight years — relies on two factors: One, a stronger than expected boost in tax revenues from the state. And two, a solution to the systemic problem of declining enrollment. That,...

The non-profit group behind the Vergara lawsuit, Students Matter, went on the offensive today against three bills introduced recently in the California legislature that the group says are “anti-Vergara” as well as unconstitutional. The bills, AB 753, AB 575, and SB 499, all work in direct opposition to the landmark Vergara v. California decision, Ben Austin, who leads policy development and advocacy...

By Steve Lopez | The Los Angeles Times A rare event took place recently on a family trek across Los Angeles, when my wife and I noticed an unusual sound coming from the back seat. Our daughter was talking to us. It was like being in a time warp. Free, unsolicited conversation has pretty much...

* UPDATED The 10.4 percent salary increases LA Unified has agreed to in its deal with United Teachers Los Angeles will cost the district $607 million over three years, according to an analysis Superintendent Ramon Cortines circulated to board members today. Later, the board voted unanimously, 7-0, to approve the deal. The final salary figure...

Readers of LA School Report may notice that we are no longer providing an option for posting comments, following in the footsteps of other news outlets recently. While our comment section sometimes served as a lively place for informed debate with differing opinions on education issues in Los Angeles, it has increasingly become a repository for...

Views of an agreement: The salary raises agreed upon in the deal between LA Unified and the teachers union, UTLA, is a win for both sides. Of, course, each side can spin the results in a different way. For the teachers, they can legitimately say they got a double-digit boost, 10 percent over two years....

Supporters of a state bill aimed at making classified school employees eligible for unemployment benefits over the summer are touting a new report that found an overall economic benefit, should it become law. Introduced by Assembly Member Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, Assembly Bill 399 would make over 248,000 classified workers eligible for benefits over the summer months when they...

By Sandy Banks | The Los Angeles Times Three years ago, adult education was on the chopping block at Los Angeles Unified. Money was tight and the classes were considered a luxury the district could no longer afford. This time around, the system’s smallest students are being asked to sacrifice: To save $16 million, the...

Despite hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on the race by supporters, voter turnout in the District 5 LA Unified school board primary in March was pretty dreadful, with only 12 percent of registered voters coming to the polls. But now a nonprofit dedicated to getting more Latinos to the polls seems to think a...