LA Unified board member Mónica García, a leading voice for education reform efforts, said she is open to plans by a group of foundations that wants to expand the number of charter schools in the district well beyond the 285 that are now serving district students. “I’m open to any strategy that helps children and families. We...

No longer the newest member of the LA Unified school board, Mónica Ratliff has now had two years to immerse herself in the intricacies of district policies and politics. As a former lawyer and teacher, she has established a reputation as a stickler for detail who is not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom if it...

By PBS Newshour For the first time this school year, nonwhite children made up more than half of the country’s public school students. But the country’s schools have grown only more segregated since 1988. The most recent data shows the average white student goes to a school that is more than 70 percent white. And...

In what is likely to be his final major address as LA Unified superintendent, Ramon Cortines delivered a jocular cheerleading speech today that was absent any bold vision of new ideas or new directions for the district. Focusing on “unity” and “family” for LAUSD, he made no mention of the effort to find a new superintendent, how...

A new evaluation of LA Unified’s greening initiatives by the district’s Inspector General encourages the addition of green space and gardens as a way to fight the California drought, finding them to be a more efficient way to conserve water than covering the open spaces with asphalt. However, if the district wants to create more...

By Emma Brown Ten California teachers and the Christian Educators Association have sued the California Teachers Association in a case that could eliminate public employee unions’ right to collect fees from all workers. Many observers believe that the case, to be argued before the Supreme Court this fall, could seriously undermine public sector unions nationwide. So who are the teachers who want...

It was a bombshell of a story on Saturday, the LA Times reporting that a group of foundations is exploring plans to expand the number of charter schools within LA Unified to serve many beyond the 100,000 students who now attend charters in the district. What would that mean exactly? Unclear for the time being....

Federal officials came to LAUSD in the past few weeks to gather ideas for a national seismic safety program. “The feds wanted to see how various government agencies do their seismic evaluations and they were very impressed with the way we do them,” said Roger Finstad, the Director of Maintenance and Operations at LAUSD. “There...

By Motoko Rich In a stark about-face from just a few years ago, school districts have gone from handing out pink slips to scrambling to hire teachers. Across the country, districts are struggling with shortages of teachers, particularly in math, science and special education — a result of the layoffs of the recession years combined...

A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that fewer than one in five of the nation’s middle and high schools start the day at 8:30 a.m. or later, a time recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. In a report last year, the Academy concluded that insufficient sleep in adolescents and...