The state of California faired poorly in a new report from the Education Law Center that grades states on how fair their educational funding system is in regard to providing extra funding for low-income districts. However, the report is based on data from 2012, before the state enacted the groundbreaking Local Control Funding Formula and...

School may be out for students and teachers but LA Unified School board members still have a lot of work ahead of them at tomorrow’s board meeting with several proposals intended to boost (or at least maintain) districtwide graduation rates. At the top of the list is a resolution to ease rigorous graduation requirements and...

By Elissa Nadworny  The national graduation rate is at an all-time high — 81 percent. It was such big news, President Obama touted it in this year’s State of the Union address. That got us thinking: What’s the story behind that 81 percent? Working with a team of reporters in 14 states, we set off...

Shuttling teachers between two campuses requires impeccable organization and skillful time management, and Guillermina Jauregui can’t wait for the day when she won’t have to do either anymore. That day could come at some point in 2019 if the LA Unified School Board decides next week to approve a new construction project to expand the...

School may be out for the summer, but things are not cooling down for the LA Unified school board as no less than three organizations are planing rallies or protests at Tuesday’s scheduled board meeting. The LA teachers union, UTLA, the Ethnic Studies Now Coalition and a conglomerate of organizations in favor of the district...

By Michele Siqueiros How does the daughter of a seamstress with a sixth grade education get to college?  For me, it was luck. As a good student I worked hard in school, but had I not been lucky in high school to be assigned the A-G high school courses required for consideration to the University of...

By David Whiting A combination of handed-down smartphones, summer break and a new wave of shadowy apps makes the next three months especially dangerous for children, warns a nationally recognized cybercop. Understand, it’s not just pedophiles and pimps preying on children. It’s children preying on children. Despite parental controls, says Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Clay...

With Superintendent Ramon Cortines voicing opposition to the idea, the future of LA Unified’s plan to make the district the second in the state to require an ethnic studies course as a high school graduation requirement appears to be in doubt. In a May 8 letter obtained by LA School Report addressed to the Ethnic Studies Advisory...

D is for diploma! In a major reversal, LA Unified school board members are proposing to change graduation requirements that compel students to pass college prep courses with a “C” or better, making a “D” an acceptable grade to earn their high school diplomas. If passed, the resolution by board members Monica Garcia, Steve Zimmer...

Today is the last day of spring semester classes for LA Unified, and for thousands of students it means summer is finally here. For teachers, it also is the start of vacation, and tomorrow they will get their first fat paycheck including a long-awaited raise and backpay that is due as the result of their new contract....