The Supreme Court announced today it will hear a case that could deal a major blow to the financial power of public sector unions. The case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, involves 10 California teachers who say their being forced to pay union dues violates their right to free speech. The teachers are asking the...

By Robin Abcarian  Despite all the noise around mandating vaccinations for schoolchildren, most California adults — some 67 percent, according to a recent poll — think it’s a good idea. We will soon know whether Gov. Jerry Brown agrees. On Monday, the Legislature sent him a bill that would end the personal belief exemption, a routinely abused loophole that has seriously...

* UPDATED LA Unified elementary school teacher David Goldberg has been elected as secretary-treasurer of the California Teachers Association. Goldberg, 43, spent most of his 19 years at Murchison Elementary, where he is a bilingual teacher who is fluent in Spanish and American Sign Language. He was one of dozens of educators who spent a night in...

Los Angeles’ schools are alive with the sound of music, or at least, they will be come fall when LA Unified’s new-and-improved arts budget is put into practice. Last week, the school board approved the district’s 2015-2016 spending plan, which allocates $26.5 million to arts education, said Rory Pullens, executive director of arts education for the...

By The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board Despite broad bipartisan support, legislation to repeal an onerous cap on school district reserve funds didn’t have much of a chance in the Democrat-controlled California Legislature. The bill by Assemblywoman Catharine Baker (R-San Ramon) died in the Assembly Education Committee faster than you can say “opposed by the...

OK, so let’s play this out. One of the Mónicas — Ratliff or García, or maybe both — offers a resolution next week waiving the rule that sets term limits at two, enabling Richard Vladovic to serve a third one-year term as the LA Unified board president. The effort needs four votes to pass. How do...

The investigation by LA Unified officials into acclaimed elementary school teacher Rafe Esquith includes allegations that he sexually abused a child 40 years ago. Esquith, a best selling author who has also received national awards and media attention for his work at Hobart Avenue Elementary School, was removed from the classroom in April in response...

By Jane Meredith Adams In the pockets of California where hundreds and even thousands of kindergartners are not fully vaccinated, school districts are starting to think seriously about how a proposed law requiring vaccinations – which the Legislature approved Thursday –  could affect their enrollment and in turn, their funding. The proposed law, Senate Bill 277,...

If Ref Rodriguez and Scott Schemerelson had any hope of a slow and easy introduction to LA Unified board politics, they’re in for a jolt. Shortly after they’re sworn in as the board’s newest members next week, they might be asked to cast votes on a rule that determines who can or can’t be board...

Earl R. Perkins, LA Unified’s assistant superintendent for school operations, was recently honored by the  Los Angeles chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Perkins was one of eight given the Youth Council Men of Valor Award at a ceremony at the Double Tree Hilton in Torrance on Saturday. According to...