You might be surprised to learn that Los Angeles isn’t one of the top five districts when it comes to the percentage of kids who attend charter schools. The top five according to a new report from the National Association of Public Charter Schools are New Orleans, Detroit, Washington D.C., Kansas City (Missouri), Flint, Gary, and St. Louis. But...

Today, members from the Bond Oversight Committee blocked Phase I of Superintendent John Deasy’s plan to provide tablet computers for all students and faculty by the end of 2013. The first phase of Deasy’s plan called for spending $17.4 million on tablets for 14 secondary schools. The Bond Oversight Committee voted 7-3 to approve the...

Board Members Tamar Galatzan, Monica Garcia, Nury Martinez, and Richard Vladovic voted “no”; Bennett Kayser and Steve Zimmer voted “yes.” Marguerite LaMotte left the room, so her vote was counted as “absent.”

Nobody seems to know just how deeply involved in fundraising for Board candidates or other measures to preserve his education legacy Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is going to be during the upcoming months. So it’s interesting to see his byline on a recent oped touting the importance of education in general and in particular the controversial “parent trigger”...

NBC News: Budget cuts can’t stop music at LA school

Inside the meeting room at Tuesday’s LAUSD school board meeting, four television camera crews were present to watch the board vote unanimously to rescind 10 furlough days (five of which are instructional), thanks to the passage of Proposition 30. The board also voted to adopt a “Good Food Purchasing Policy.” But the healthy food vote and...

They don’t usually get much attention but here and there in LA and elsewhere, parents and teachers frustrated with the existing options are creating their own new, different kind of charter schools that try to balance learning with accountability and mix kids from a wide variety of backgrounds. (In Los Angeles, Citizens of the World...

Here’s the agenda for today’s Board meeting. You can also follow the action at @laschoolreport for live updates along the way.LAUSD Board Meeting Agenda 11-13-12

Board member Bennett Kayser’s recently announced proposal to have Board members recuse themselves from certain votes is brief – only 85 words — and appealingly vague. Board members would “automatically recuse themselves from voting on a charter contract if they have received campaign contributions six months prior to the vote.” But already it has generated some...

The final list of declared candidates for LAUSD school board is in, and the campaigns for Districts 2, 4, and 6 — three spots currently held by those with ties to Superintendent Deasy and his “reform” agenda — will likely eclipse 2011’s races in terms of spending and nastiness. But who are the key challengers...