Campaign questionnaires don’t always yield reflective or candid responses from candidates, but a majority of LAUSD Board candidates have now responded to a questionnaire on the League of Women Voters’ Smart Voter website and their answers shed some light on what they think are the biggest issues facing LAUSD — as well as what’s needed to improve...

Antonio Villaraigosa Led The Way on Education Reform, but His Potential Successors Are Reluctant to Pick up the Torch For the last eight years, education reformers have had a staunch ally in the L.A. mayor’s office. But in a few months, Villaraigosa will be gone. LA Weekly See also:  USC Annenberg, LA School Report LAUSD...

LA Election Fundraising Tops $18M In races for the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, incumbents easily outpace challengers. LA Daily News L.A. Unified’s College-Prep Push Is Based on False Data San Jose’s school district, which requires all students to pass the classes necessary to apply to California universities, initially reported strong results....

It’s Reform vs. the Union in LAUSD Race The future of Los Angeles’ public-education reform is at stake on March 5. That’s not hyperbole; that’s the truth about what could happen next election day. LA Daily News Editorial See also: LA School Report LAUSD Principal Failed to Report Alleged Molestation by Teacher A now-retired principal...

Garcia Leads in Fundraising for L.A. School Board Financial data released Thursday show that Monica Garcia raised $174,288 last year, far outdistancing the combined total of four challengers vying to unseat her. LA Times Southern California Schools to Benefit From Gov. Jerry Brown’s Budget California’s public schools are the big winners in Gov. Jerry Brown’s...

State Schools Chief Urges Cut in Number of Tests Next Year Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson says second-graders would not be tested in math and English, and most high school tests would be dropped. L.A. Unified chief expresses reservations. LA Times See also: KPCC, LA Daily News Student Test Scores Can Identify Effective Teachers,...

The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission has a handy, one-page document that gives an overview of the rules covering independent expenditures (IE) made to support or oppose LAUSD Board candidates. The rules are straightforward, at least in theory. But as LA School Report has shown in previous reporting, finding out exactly who’s giving to IEs can be tricky if...

Conventional wisdom is that voter turnout is always relatively low for local elections—especially so for school board races. And this is often true.  In off-year election cycles, when the only offices up for vote are City Council or Board seats, turnout can be as low as 11 percent.  Relatively small numbers of voters can sway...

Man Arrested After Threatening to Shoot up L.A. Schools, Police Say A Los Angeles man was arrested Sunday in connection with a Facebook post that threatened to conduct shootings at multiple area elementary schools, people familiar with the investigation said. LA Times LAPD to Beef up Security at K-8 Schools LAPD Chief Charlie Beck announces...

The Los Angeles City Clerk’s office released the final lineup of qualifying LAUSD Board candidates on Friday, December 14. Here it is: To see the Clerk’s office’s full press release, click here.