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Fate of LA Unified arts programs remain in limbo

Via The Argonaut of Santa Monica | By Gary Walker In 2012, the Los Angeles Unified School District board voted to make arts education a core subject in its curriculum. Four months ago, the board gave district officials a Dec. 3 deadline to produce a budget for the school district’s Arts Education and Creative Cultural...
By LA School Report | January 17, 2014
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A cool map shows some (ugly) truths about CA education
Any idea how California ranks in high school graduation rate? How about 8th grade math? Or education spending? A Columbus, Ohio group called Best Education Degrees has put together a handy interactive map that shows how the 50 states and the District of Columbia compare on nine different measures, using data from the U.S. Census...
By LA School Report | January 17, 2014
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Deasy on new state funding regs: ‘The right balance’

LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy yesterday offered unqualified support for the proposed regulations governing how state money for public education will reach individual school districts. Speaking at a meeting of the California Board of Education in Sacramento, he said the new Local Control Funding Formula “strikes the right balance” between districts and the communities they serve,...
By LA School Report | January 17, 2014
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Teachers union offers reasons for pay hike demand
The LA teachers union, UTLA, just released a statement, explaining a decision made last night to seek a 17.6 percent raise raise for teachers and other LA Unified employees. The release does not specify a time frame for the salary demands. What follows is the full text of the statement: “UTLA is tired of LAUSD’s...
By LA School Report | January 16, 2014
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Alex Johnson becomes latest to challenge for open District 1 seat

Alex Johnson has made his decision. Johnson, who is the Assistant Senior Deputy for Education and Public Safety to Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, confirmed to LA School Report that he is running for LA Unified’s District 1 seat in the special election this June. In a statement he said: “I’m running because the children...
By Vanessa Romo | January 16, 2014
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Want to run for the LAUSD board? Deadlines approaching

The clock is ticking on deadlines, now that the City Council has approved a June 3 special election for the LA Unified school board. The candidate fundraising window opened today, according to a press release from the LA City Ethics Commission. Anyone running must form a candidate committee and file a Statement of Economic Interests with the...
By Chase Niesner | January 16, 2014
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Teachers union set to demand salary hike of 17.6 percent

The UTLA House of Representatives last night voted to demand a significant salary hike for teachers — an increase of nearly 20 percent. Teachers last received a pay raise in early 2007; their last contract with LA Unified expired in 2011. The union says higher salaries are long overdue, especially since voters passed Prop. 30...
By Vanessa Romo | January 16, 2014
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Federal spending on education appears on the rebound

Good news coming from Washington, according to Erika Hoffman, lobbyist for the California School Boards Association. And it comes just after California Gov. Jerry Brown proposed boosting spending on public education from the state. In a release from her group yesterday, Hoffman says Federal education funding would approach pre-sequestration levels in a two-year federal appropriations bill that’s expected...
By LA School Report | January 16, 2014
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‘Rally the Valley’ hoping to give parents a voice in funding
A new San Fernando Valley organization is seeking a greater role for parents in future LA Unified funding decisions, now that parents are part of the state’s new approach to education support, known as the Local Control Funding Formula. Heather Thompson, a parent at Hesby Oaks Leadership Charter in Encino and acting spokeswoman for last...
By Chase Niesner | January 15, 2014
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Glimpses of LA Unified meeting: iPads and kumbaya*

Debate at times was intense as ever yesterday. Tamar Galatzan and Steve Zimmer still didn’t seem to agree on much, the board ignored a recommendation from the Bond Oversight Committee and nobody thought Monica Garcia had a great idea in giving the entire board responsibility for taking District 1 interests into consideration with their votes. But...
By LA School Report | January 15, 2014