The Washington Post’s national education blog, which is called The Answer Sheet, recently highlighted our recent interview with Board member Steve Zimmer (Ex-Teach For America member changes his mind).

L.A. Schools Improve by State Standards, Not Enough by U.S. Yardstick Just like across California, campuses are at their highest-achieving level yet, but they aren’t keeping pace with rapidly rising federal targets. LA Times Also see stories from the Daily News, Ed Source, City News Service, SI&A Cabinet Report The Times also reports that two L.A. schools this...

The long-delayed Academic Performance Index (API) was released today, showing double-digit gains for LAUSD. The API is a yearly number that charts the progress of public school students in California and is used to measure individual school and district performance statewide. The 16-point gain for LAUSD was its fifth double-digit improvement in a row, and...

Yesterday we explained the unfortunate rift between ideological allies Jerry Brown and Molly Munger over Propositions 30 and 38, ballot initiatives that would increase education funding (Competing Ballot Initiatives Split Ideological Allies). Today’s news is that the conflict continues to heat up — and may only get worse between now and Election Day. Late yesterday afternoon,...

As we told you yesterday, the quarterly fundraising reports for city elections including LAUSD board members just came in. Monica Garcia, the sitting Board president, raised just over $75,000 in the last three months, bringing her fundraising total to $174,288. Of that, she’s spent $43,959, over half of which went to her campaign consultant, Charlotte Dobbs....

The rise of outside money in LAUSD board elections has coincided with a spate of negative campaign advertising in recent elections. It’s a tactic that nobody claims to enjoy, but it seems to work. So it’s likely the upcoming campaigns leading to the March LAUSD election will continue the trend. “Welcome to the brave new...

In recent weeks, Superintendent John Deasy has been warning about the dire circumstances confronting LAUSD if voters don’t approve one of the two measures to raise money for public education on the ballot in November.   However, even if Governor Jerry Brown’s Prop. 30 and Molly Munger’s Prop. 38 both pass, only the top vote-getter...

Today is the latest deadline for Board candidates to file campaign finance documents with the City Ethics Commission.  The quarterly reports will tell us how much money candidates for city offices raised between July 1 and September 30. As you may recall, there are three spots being contested — currently held by Board members Steve...

It was a slightly less crowded, slightly less emotionally charged LAUSD school board meeting Tuesday — at least compared to the last few, thanks largely to board member Steve Zimmer’s postponed resolutions rejecting the use of student achievement in teacher evaluations and scaling back charter school growth. That didn’t stop the meeting from lasting more...

Superintendent John Deasy delivered his “State of the District” speech Monday night at the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools. He highlighted gains made by the district in recent years, including rising test scores and the highest-ever district-wide graduation rate. He then pivoted, somewhat jarringly, to a dire warning of what would happen to the LAUSD...