The LA Unified school board last night took the first step in making ethnic studies a required course for graduation by 2019, making it the second district in the country to adopt such a measure. The resolution, proposed by board members Bennett Kayser, George McKenna and Steve Zimmer passed with Tamar Galatzan casting the only vote against...

L.A. Unified discusses possible settlement in Miramonte case The LA Unified board discussed a possible settlement offer Tuesday involving a former Miramonte Elementary teacher accused of abusing students. Los Angeles Times LAUSD head Cortines to ask for $53 million in bonds to repair MiSiS LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines said he plans to ask the school...

LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines told the school board today that the beleaguered MiSiS program will need at least another year of remediation before it functions properly. “The MiSiS project isn’t going to be a quick fix,” he said, as if that came as much of a surprise. “It’s estimated that it will take a...

The California Department of Education released its annual list of 1,000 underperforming schools earlier this month. The list includes 95 from LA Unified, and students attending them can now apply for an open enrollment transfer to any other public school in California for the next academic year. The list is compiled each year as a result...

Board member Monica Ratliff’s effort to quantify how much LA Unified spends on legal defenses to redirect the funds toward student safety improvement programs, ran into a barrage of opposition this morning as the district board began a long day of meetings. Ratliff introduced two resolutions in an open session meeting. One seeks to add an...

The Los Angeles region has seen the largest increases in the state in new charter schools this academic year, with 33 new charters opening, according to data released today by the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA). With the growth in LA and elsewhere, California remains the state with the most charter schools and students in the nation....

Today, available by LIVESTREAM, the seven members of the LA Unified school board will gather for a triple-header meeting beginning at 10 a.m. that will include a closed session and two open sessions.  At 10 a.m., the board is set to address two resolutions from Board Member Monica Ratliff seeking to increase student safety by reducing the cost of litigation....

LA Unified said today it has altered its salary offer to teachers by eliminating any contingency on a package that includes raises of 2 percent for this year, 2 percent for next year and 2.5 percent for the year after that. The district’s previous offer to the union, UTLA, had been with the same percentage...

As President Obama considers an executive order on immigration that would allow millions of undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S., LA Unified board member Steve Zimmer is calling on Obama to bring “relief” to undocumented immigrants. “[Obama] must do what’s best for our children — native born and immigrant alike — by ensuring that their parents can...

Board Member Steve Zimmer has food on his mind. When the LA Unified school board gathers again tomorrow, Zimmer will be seeking a detailed and comprehensive look at how the district spends more than a $100 million to buy food and deliver meals to students throughout the district. He is proposing a wide ranging resolution to...