The helpful blog Hope Change Choices reminds parents and others not to forget that November 16 is the deadline to apply to magnet schools. That might seem like it’s a long way off, but it’s really just three weeks from tomorrow.  They’ve got a “one stop” set of links and calendars to help you go...

The deadline for the fourth round of school proposals for Public School Choice (PSC) is due next week, on October 31. LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy has identified 13 low-performing schools to participate in what is called PSC 4.0.  This is a decrease from the previous year, when 33 schools were part of the process. Only...

In a Friday memo to the school board, Superintendent John Deasy has outlined the “devastating” financial impacts on LAUSD should Proposition 30 (Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed tax measure) not pass. Deasy says that the only way the district could deal with such drastic cuts is by ending the school year “shortly after April.” The district would...

LAUSD school board member Bennett Kayser will host a town hall on Wednesday night, October 24, at 6 PM to talk about Propositions 30 and 38. Kayser introduced a non-binding resolution at the August 21 board meeting to endorse both tax measures (see School Board To California Voters: Send Money). Read the press release here.

Mediator Don Raska has been appointed to try to help resolve the teacher evaluation negotiations between LAUSD and the teachers union (UTLA), according to a UTLA newsletter. The October 19th issue of the United Teacher states that, “the union continues to push back against LAUSD’s proposal to link a percentage of a teacher’s evaluation to...

LA School Report has learned that Jeneen Robinson (pictured) plans on running for LAUSD Board member in District 4 against incumbent Steve Zimmer, though she has yet to file official paperwork. Robinson, 40, grew up in Virginia and moved to Los Angeles about 10 years ago. She lives in Westchester and has a son attending a...

Here’s a chart from the folks at UCLA IDEA that tells a familiar story in a particularly stark visual way: See: The Education Battle that All Sides Could Lose

On Friday, LAUSD Board Member Steve Zimmer told LA School Report that his charter school oversight proposal would be revised and reintroduced yet again at the next Board meeting on November 13 in a version that is “a better representation of what my overall purpose is.”  As described, the latest version is nonbinding and asks charter...

In early October, LAUSD board member Tamar Galatzan told us about “middle-class schools that don’t qualify for Title I anti-poverty dollars,” and that a lot of them “are becoming affiliated charters in order to get access to additional funds.”  (See: Board Member Galatzan Tells (Almost) All.) There are 42 “affiliated charters”, schools which operate within the UTLA contract, but...

One of the lowest-performing schools in LAUSD, Samuel Gompers Middle School, opened two new learning gardens this week. The gardens were installed with a grant from a non-profit called Kitchen Community and are intended to help fight childhood obesity and diabetes. LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, who is strong proponent of linking nutrition and education, was...