The LA teachers union, UTLA, has had a busy, visible 2014-15 school year, staging numerous rallies, boycotts and strike threats on the way to securing a new three-year contract and 10.4 percent raise. But before the school year is out — or technically, just after, as the last day of class for LA Unifed is...

Richard Vladovic, who is completing his second and final term as LA Unified board president, won by the widest margin of the three board elections last week, according to a final accounting by the Los Angeles City Clerk, released today. His margin of victory over his District 7 challenger, Lydia Gutierrez, was 12.57 percent. In...

Few topics in California education are as polarizing as the Vergara case, one of the most prominent battlegrounds for the reform vs. status quo wars. The ruling by a California Superior Court Judge last year wiped out job protection laws for teachers when it comes to layoffs, tenure and dismissals, but a new report and...

By The Times Editorial Board It’s all too typical at the Los Angeles Unified School District: Leaders want to make a change to help the district’s students, but instead of investigating costs, options and whether the change is even achievable or desirable, the board forges ahead. Only after it has committed itself do the very...

Dozens of teachers, parents and students protested today at a UTLA rally against LA Unified’s plans to reconstitute one of the district’s most troubled schools. Barack Obama Global Preparation Academy in south LA is one of the district’s few Pilot Schools as well as one of 37 “Reed Investment Schools,” those involved in a legal...

*UPDATED A bitter war of words between the management of  Alliance College-Ready Public Schools and UTLA, the union trying to organize its teachers, got nastier today. UTLA accused Alliance management and the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) of “anti-teacher activity” by paying alumni to call parents of students to sway their opinion against union efforts to draw the...

Where’s Don Draper when LA Unified needs him? After more than a decade of declining enrollment, the impact of which is costing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue losses, the district has a plan to stop, or at least slow down, the exodus: Marketing! Now, officials just need to decide on a plan. Each year...

By Maya Kosoff Elon Musk didn’t like his kids’ school, so he started his own, the inventor and entrepreneur said in an interview on Beijing Television. The school is called Ad Astra — which means “To the stars” — and is small and relatively secretive. It doesn’t have its own website or a social media presence. Christina...

*Updated After forging ahead with a massive overhaul of LA Unified’s Education Service Centers by Superintendent Ramon Cortines in March, the school board today approved contracts for three new local area superintendents and renewed contracts for another three. Among the new hires is Vivian Ekchian, who will head the newly created Northwest region. As the district’s chief...