Today I am pleased to announce the official launch of LA School Report. My goal is to provide meaningful coverage on issues related to the Los Angeles public schools and to shine a light on a system that receives little attention despite its enormous importance. As the second largest school system in the country and one that commands...

Starting in 1997, Los Angeles began passing a series of bond measures to fund construction of new schools. Since then, the city borrowed a total of $19.5 billion to build 131 schools– some with large, beautifully designed (and expensive) campuses like the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools and the High School for the Visual and...

California appears to be the only state in the nation that has applied for — but not yet received — a so-called “waiver” from NCLB but doesn’t already have a one-year freeze on NCLB’s ever-escalating proficiency requirements in its back pocket.  That means California schools will be among the only ones in the nation operating under...

While the legal status of the Reed v. California settlement was thrown into limbo with Friday’s court ruling, we thought this might be a good time to look at the three recent court cases which, taken together, represent a new front in the education reform battles of California. Frustrated by the State Legislature’s inability to enact...

• Be More Like New Jersey: An LA Times editorial argues that California follow in New Jersey’s footsteps, which just reformed its teacher tenure rules, lengthening the probationary period to four years (it had been three; in California it is 18 months), and limiting the arbitration period for firing a tenured teacher to three months, at...

In his annual address to school administrators, Superintendent John Deasy proposed giving every single educator and student a tablet computer within 15 months. As the Daily News noted over the weekend, Deasy has been lobbying tech companies to donate the tablets. Deasy’s 40-minute speech also touted some of the districts recent successes, such as cutting disciplinary suspensions...

It’s not just about 186 independent charter schools and 763 public schools in LA anymore. Nowadays, there are eight different school models, each with a different level of autonomy. Last week, we told you about Steve Barr’s interest in starting pilot schools, which are  small schools with under 500 kids that operate within the district but...

Former majority leader of the California State Senate and current head of the California chapter of Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), Romero was the first prominent Democrat to endorse Prop. 32, which would set new limits on union fundraising. See my previous post, How Prop. 32 Could Affect LAUSD, for more on the measure and Romero’s...

For those of you wondering when the California Department of Education (CDE) will release its much-maligned Academic Performance Index (API) for 2012, don’t hold your breath. The API Index is the single number used to reflect a school’s progress, based on statewide testing. Traditionally timed to coincide with the start of the school year, the API release has...

Campaign disclosure statements for the first half of 2012 are now online, providing information on contributions for the two LAUSD board members next up for re-election.  Steve Zimmer‘s fundraising appears not to have really begun in earnest (he’s raised less than $10,000. However, Board President Monica Garcia (pictured) has raised a hefty $100,000, about half of which comes...