Superintendent John Deasy submitted the district’s Race to the Top application to Washington yesterday without the support of UTLA — and without any real chance of wining approval — largely to score political points against the teachers union, according to Board-watchers. “I think both sides are ready to fight each other full steam on Tuesday [after the...

Two of the 23 schools recently stripped of their API rankings by the state for testing irregularities were elementary schools located in LAUSD, and three more were located within LA County.  You can read the irregularity reports for the two LAUSD schools (Capistrano Avenue and Short Avenue) posted by the LA Times here, or read the...

Starting Monday, November 5, LAUSD Board candidates for the District 2, 4, and 6 seats can take the next necessary steps towards running for office by filing a “Declaration of Intention to Become a Candidate” with the City Clerk’s office. Official announcement here. Official candidate and election information here. But they shouldn’t wait too long.  Prospective candidates have less than a...

Not too far removed from the seven-day strike that captured the nation’s attention in September, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has signed off on the district’s Race to the Top application. “Chicago — one of the most militant teachers unions in country — sees the light of day, and UTLA is still hiding under a...

LAUSD has just announced that it was sending in its $40 million Race to the Top Application today, despite the fact that UTLA refused to sign off on it. “Although UTLA refused to be a partner in this critically important grant,” said Deasy in a press release, “I will advocate for it on behalf of...

Former Democratic state legislator Gloria Romero isn’t the only education reformer who’s taken a position that’s being described as anti-labor. (See: Proposition 32 Divides California’s Education Reformers Huffington Post.)  Sacramento-based StudentsFirst (headed by Michelle Rhee) has given $500,000 to oppose Proposal 2, a Michigan state constitutional amendment codifying collective bargaining rights that has been backed by labor groups,...

In a piece today in the Daily News, Barbara Jones writes that if Proposition 30 doesn’t pass, LAUSD says it would shorten the 2012-2013 school year by as many as 15 days, and the following school year by as many as 15 additional days. But on Monday, Superintendent John Deasy told LA School Report that other cuts...

Not many people would recognize David Holmquist, general counsel for the LA Unified School District (pictured below). But Holmquist serves as an important role, overseeing all labor negotiations, and representing the district in over 1,000 lawsuits  – including attempts by LAUSD to recover overpayment from 600 employees and dismiss more than 120 teachers. We spoke last...

The California Teachers Association is the 6th most powerful state teachers union in the nation, according to a new report from a pair of East Coast nonprofits. California teachers are #1 in terms of scope of bargaining and perceived influence, according to the state profile (PDF here), and #18 and #20 in its level of political...

It was intriguing to see UTLA president Warren Fletcher sitting at the table with Jordan Henry, co-founder of NewTLA, at last night’s Los Angeles Education Partnership roundtable event titled “Do Unions Drive or Restrain Student Success?” A caucus of teachers frequently at odds with UTLA leadership, NewTLA is currently encouraging members to nominate themselves for union leadership positions at their schools....