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Coalition Campaign was “Half-Hearted and Incompetent,” says Rival Consultant
Referencing the recent District 4 primary between Kate Anderson and Steve Zimmer, StudentsFirst head Michelle Rhee last week boasted that the Coalition for School Reform effort she helped fund “came within three percentage points of unseating an incumbent, union-backed Board member – something that would have been unthinkable just a couple of election cycles ago.” But...
By Alexander Russo | March 18, 2013
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Teacher Dismissal Bill, Redux
SB 10, a bill aimed at streamlining the dismissal process for teachers accused of sexual misconducted, was introduced earlier this week and is now out in a full-text version. A carbon copy of SB 1530 (the previous bill seeking to address this issue) SB 10 is among a handful of proposals sure to garner attention...
By LA School Report | December 6, 2012
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Commentary: Implications of a Bloom Win
Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom seems like he’s on the verge of having won his race against Assembly member Betsy Butler. (See: KPCC, LA Observed, LA Weekly). If this happens, Bloom will have won despite being outspent by a wide margin, lacking key Democratic endorsements, and even having the state Democratic party circulate flyers against him. And his victory...
By Alexander Russo | November 30, 2012
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Dems Joined Attack On Bloom
There were 28 state legislative contests pitting two Democrats against each other this year, according to this October 17 LA Times article. But the still-unresolved contest between incumbent Betsy Butler and challenger Richard Bloom for California State Assembly District 50 may be one of the only situations in which the state Democratic Party not only endorsed the incumbent Democrat but also...
By Alexander Russo | November 9, 2012
Investigation: Nearly 1,000 Native Children Died in Federal Boarding Schools
Podcast: What a Mentorship Mindset Can Do for Student Motivation
Black and Hispanic Voters Say Democrats Aren’t Focused Enough on K-12 Education
Teen Activist Rhea Maniar on the Power of Abortion to Turn Out Young Voters
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Betsy Butler: Teachers Union Help Not Enough?
In a race that is still considered too close to call, Assemblywoman Betsy Butler is trailing her upstart opponent, Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom, by just over 200 votes in Assembly District 50, which covers one of the wealthiest areas of the city from Beverly Hills to the ocean. In the end, the narrow margin...
By LA School Report | November 8, 2012
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Lawmakers Won’t Comment On Sex Abuse Vote
You might enjoy (or be appalled by) this Thursday night segment from the CNN Show Anderson Cooper 360 including footage of reporter Kyung Lah chasing the four SB1530 abstainers around the statehouse. It’s a little heavy-handed, but three of the four legislators play right into CNN’s hands by ducking interviews and issuing terse “no comments”...
By Alexander Russo | August 25, 2012
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Richard Bloom Criticizes Betsy Butler For SB 1530 Vote
Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom, a Democrat running for the 50th State Assembly seat against Democratic incumbent Betsy Butler, isn’t refraining from criticizing his opponent for her abstention during the committee vote on SB 1530. “I’ve never done that in 13 years of being a public official,” he told me earlier this week. “I think...
By Hillel Aron | August 16, 2012