Kids in schools pretty much everywhere love Hot Cheetos, but LAUSD is the only place I’ve seen so many of those crazy, sticky Takis in the garish purple bag. And now they have their rightful place in this rap anthem to schoolyard snacks. Via Gawker

What a strange and interesting first week back in school it’s been for LAUSD — starting three weeks before Labor Day but still a year that will be five school days shorter than last year. And we’re not even done with it yet. The first day back, Tuesday, the district wanted to focus on the...

Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom, a Democrat running for the 50th State Assembly seat against Democratic incumbent Betsy Butler, isn’t refraining from criticizing his opponent for her abstention during the committee vote on SB 1530. “I’ve never done that in 13 years of being a public official,” he told me earlier this week. “I think...

Here are some of the reported posts that Hillel Aron has written while we were still in “soft launch” mode the past couple of weeks: Update: API Delayed Until October [yep — October] How Prop. 32 Could Affect LAUSD [Gloria Romero won’t back down- get it?] Charter & District School Alternatives [infographic on 8 different school models in...

Today I am pleased to announce the official launch of LA School Report. My goal is to provide meaningful coverage on issues related to the Los Angeles public schools and to shine a light on a system that receives little attention despite its enormous importance. As the second largest school system in the country and one that commands...

Starting in 1997, Los Angeles began passing a series of bond measures to fund construction of new schools. Since then, the city borrowed a total of $19.5 billion to build 131 schools– some with large, beautifully designed (and expensive) campuses like the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools and the High School for the Visual and...

California appears to be the only state in the nation that has applied for — but not yet received — a so-called “waiver” from NCLB but doesn’t already have a one-year freeze on NCLB’s ever-escalating proficiency requirements in its back pocket.  That means California schools will be among the only ones in the nation operating under...

While the legal status of the Reed v. California settlement was thrown into limbo with Friday’s court ruling, we thought this might be a good time to look at the three recent court cases which, taken together, represent a new front in the education reform battles of California. Frustrated by the State Legislature’s inability to enact...

• Be More Like New Jersey: An LA Times editorial argues that California follow in New Jersey’s footsteps, which just reformed its teacher tenure rules, lengthening the probationary period to four years (it had been three; in California it is 18 months), and limiting the arbitration period for firing a tenured teacher to three months, at...

In his annual address to school administrators, Superintendent John Deasy proposed giving every single educator and student a tablet computer within 15 months. As the Daily News noted over the weekend, Deasy has been lobbying tech companies to donate the tablets. Deasy’s 40-minute speech also touted some of the districts recent successes, such as cutting disciplinary suspensions...