In her latest OC Register column, California Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) President Gloria Romero (pictured) wonders if voters are finally “awakening to the adverse electoral influence of special-interest power and money.” “The outgoing Mayor unabashedly raised millions to elect his former political aide and keep control of the School Board,” she writes. “But an...

Walking around the streets of the east San Fernando Valley on Friday, it was hard to find any visual reminders of the just-completed campaign to elect Antonio Sanchez to the seven-member LAUSD School Board. “We didn’t do lawn signs, “ said Sanchez, who was tending his tomato plants the other day and trying to understand...

The latest LA Times piece on the parent trigger process at Weigand Elementary focuses its attention on the principal being pushed out (and the teachers who may go with her) rather than on the dismal results under her leadership and the frustrated low-income parents who petitioned for her removal. The debate over the merits of the Weigand...

There are two more Board meetings between now and when the “new” Board begins in July — the first one focused on budget issues June 4 and the second one a regular monthly Board meeting on June 18. There’s also a UTLA-sponsored June 2 meeting downtown for chapter chairs at schools where parents are gathering...

The chart above, courtesy of EdSource, shows how the group of nine California school districts including LAUSD propose to create their own accountability system, based on a broader range of measures than allowed under current federal law. “Standardized test scores, now the sole factor in current state API system, would now be one of three...

There’s a great interactive map on KPCC’s website showing citywide voter turnout for every single precinct. Meant to shine a light on the Mayor’s race, the map is also pretty useful in trying to figure out what happened in the District 6 School Board race. In essence, the map seems to indicate that precinct-level turnout...

Last week’s visit from Governor Jerry Brown in support of his proposed new funding formula garnered lots of media attention and the enthusiastic support of LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy (who’s depending on the $188 million bump in funding for LAUSD that would come from the Brown overhaul). But Brown hasn’t yet persuaded lawmakers in Sacramento...

Last Wednesday, mere hours after Antonio Sanchez conceded to her, School Board member-elect Monica Ratliff showed up at a UTLA House of Representatives meeting to thank all the teachers who volunteered for and donated to her campaign. Though the video above (shot on UTLA spokesperson Suzanne Spurgeon’s iPad) is incomplete, it shows Ratliff specifically thanking Jose...

A recent LA Times piece looks at Amy Wakeland, wife of newly elected Mayor Eric Garcetti, calling her “a powerful player in [Garcetti’s] political life” and noting that in the past she has worked for unnamed L.A. Unified School District board candidates. A helpful tipster pointed out to us that in 2003, Wakeland served as spokesperson for former...