Plaintiffs today in Vergara v. California, a case challenging state teacher laws, submitted their opposition to the defendants’ motion for judgment, which was filed with the California Superior Court last week. Defendants are asking the court to throw out the case for a lack of evidence. The plaintiffs’ response emphasizes the “compelling and overwhelming evidence” that...

LA Unified took another step today toward completing the roster of parents who will serve on an advisory panel charged with helping set spending goals for new state money coming into the district through the Local Control Funding Formula. In recent days, meetings of parents and guardians at the district’s five Educational Service Center areas...

The teachers union is taking its demands to the school yard. On Feb. 28, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) is staging a coordinated leafleting campaign, directed at parents during drop-off, to fight for more pay and increased hiring. Dubbed, “Time for Kids” the campaign is set to take place before the first bell on Friday....

George McKenna, a former LA Unified administrator, has become the first of thirteen school board candidates vying in the special election for the District 1 seat to submit a nominating petition. The Los Angeles City Clerk’s office requires at least 500 signatures to qualify for a position on the ballot. The filing period, which began...

The LA Unified school board holds a committee meeting today, chaired by LAUSD trustee Monica Ratliff. Among other items, the Curriculum Instruction and Assessment Committee is set to discuss the new ‘smarter balanced‘ assessments which will be administered this year on computers and tablets, taking the place of traditional standardized tests. 1:00 p.m.: Curriculum, Instruction...

LA Unified has released a preliminary list of charter school co-location proposals, showing that the district is offering more traditional school sites for co-locations for 2014-15 than in either of the previous two school years. According to Lorena Padilla-Melendez, director of Community Relations for LAUSD’s Facilities Services Division, 80 traditional school sites were recently approved...

With Vergara v California at the halfway point, and court in recess until next week, it’s a good time to see where things stand and where they might be going, if they’re going anywhere at all. The trial has enormous consequences for the state, and maybe beyond, calling into account five California laws that govern...

Home of the National Academic Decathlon champions for 8 of the last 10 years, LAUSD is no stranger to success in the annual academic competition for high school students. And neither is this year’s district winner, John Marshall High School. The Los Feliz school will represent LAUSD at the state level in March alongside a...

Former mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has thrown himself into the District 1 special election race by endorsing Genethia Hudley-Hayes, one of 13 candidates running to join the LA Unified School Board. Hudley-Hayes, who served as school board president until she lost her seat to the late Marguerite LaMotte in 2003, released a list of endorsers this...

Via the Washington Post | By Sarah Blaine Commentary: We all know what teachers do, right? After all, we were all students. Each one of us, each product of public education, we each sat through class after class for thirteen years. We encountered dozens of teachers. We had our kindergarten teachers and our first grade...