Six months after taking over as LA Unified’s superintendent and vowing to bring change, Austin Beutner is weeks away from unveiling his strategic plan for the nation’s second-largest school district. Beutner shared some of his plan’s goals after a parent summit last week at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels downtown, one of...

Education reform, at least its most contentious elements, didn’t have a great night Tuesday. In Arizona, nearly two-thirds of voters rejected a bid by lawmakers to provide education savings accounts to all students. In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker, a villain of teachers unions, lost his bid for a third term to state Superintendent Tony Evers, who wants...

*Updated Nov. 9 LA Unified’s budget has been approved for now by its county overseers, but they gave the district a new deadline for it to address its structural deficit or face a takeover. In a letter delivered late Thursday, the Los Angeles County Office of Education said the district’s continued use of deficit spending —...

In the months that followed February’s mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, student survivors launched a large-scale campaign to encourage youth voter turnout — and to knock pro-gun lawmakers out of power. The success of those young people on Election Day, however, is open to debate. While Parkland activists played a role in encouraging a...

Gavin Newsom accepted his victory in California’s race for governor with a speech focused on immigrants, children and keeping families together. Newsom, 51, will be the first governor in decades to hold office while raising young children. He has four children, ages 2 to 9, which, he has said, makes him “more righteous about public...

*Updated Nov. 19 — Marshall Tuck conceded Nov. 17,  and Tony Thurmond will be the next state superintendent. See new article here.  After the costliest race ever for a state schools chief, education reformer Marshall Tuck appears to have narrowly won his second bid for California’s superintendent of public instruction, according to unofficial results from the...

*Updated Nov. 7 with new poll results Gavin Newsom easily defeated John Cox to become governor of California in a race that in effect was a referendum on President Donald Trump and his policies. “Too many Californians are priced out of housing, healthcare and higher education. Too many children are growing up in poverty and...

From California to New York, we’ve been liveblogging the midterm elections and offering rolling results, insights and analysis of 56 key votes that could drive education policy beyond 2020. Follow along live in the window below; you can also join the conversation by clicking the “Comment” button beneath any post. To get in-depth coverage of...