Sometimes, it seems, the hits never stop coming for LA Unified. The latest blow comes from the financial website Nerdwallet and its article, “Best School Districts for Your Buck in California.” The story ranked all the state’s districts based on the criteria of affordability to live there, standardized test scores, college readiness and class size. So...

By Patrick McGreevy | The Los Angeles Times A proposal that would require more children to be vaccinated in California ran into trouble Wednesday amid objections that it would force thousands of non-immunized students out of public schools. The measure’s author, Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), agreed to delay a vote on it after being warned...

In the latest chapter of the bungled  iPads-for-all program, LA Unified has informed Apple, Inc. that it will not pay for any future deliveries of iPads that have Pearson educational software on them and will also be looking to recoup the cost of any devices that did not work properly. In a memo to Apple,...

One of the last top tier LA Unified executives who was instrumental in launching the disastrous iPad and MISIS programs, is one step away from getting a new job. Matt Hill, the district’s Chief Strategy Officer, is believed to be the favorite among two finalists for the superintendent position at Burbank Unified School District, a...

LA Unified school board President Richard Vladovic has received a boost to his reelection efforts with an endorsement from a primary opponent, Euna Anderson. Anderson, an early education principal with LA Unified, finished third in the three-way District 7 election on March 3 but still garnered close to 20 percent of the vote. Vladovic finished with 42.61 percent...

LA Unified board President Richard Vladovic appears to be in the political fight of his life. A recent internal poll of District 7 voters by the California Charter Schools Association Advocates and Great Public Schools: Los Angeles, which the groups shared with LA School Report, showed his challenger, Lydia Gutierrez, leading by 37 percent to 34 percent,...

The LA Unified school board yesterday approved a health care package of benefits for its unions that will increase the district’s contributions to the plan to $1.23 billion over the next three years. without requiring an analysis of the long-term effects of additional costs, including the possibility of bankruptcy. Board member Monica Ratliff tried to...

By Rina Marie Garcia | The International Business Times A study consisting of 25 co-authors and led by Yulia Kovas, a professor of psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, say that a genetic predisposition may be behind why some children are not motivated to go to school. The research, which was partially supported by a grant...

By Kyle Spencer | The New York Times This past winter, Nicholas Gottlieb, the father of a third grader and a sixth grader in Manhattan, helped organize a citywide forum against standardized testing during which more than 200 parents and teachers talked about ways to “attack the issue from different angles.” Just last month, he...

Despite spending billions of dollars since 2003 to build new campuses, LA Unified still uses thousands of “portable” or temporary classrooms, and a recent presentation by the district’s Chief Facilities Executive Mark Hovatter made it clear they have become a permanent headache for the district. Despite recent reduction efforts, the district still uses roughly 8,300 portables,...