The deadline for the fourth round of school proposals for Public School Choice (PSC) is due next week, on October 31. LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy has identified 13 low-performing schools to participate in what is called PSC 4.0.  This is a decrease from the previous year, when 33 schools were part of the process. Only...

Support Plunges for Prop. 30, Gov. Jerry Brown’s Tax Initiative Only 46% of registered voters now support Prop. 30, a drop of 9 percentage points over the last month, and 42% oppose it. LA Times See also Ed Source Molly Munger’s Prop. 38 Is Spoiling Jerry Brown’s Prop. 30. She’s Not Sorry. Both proposals could...

Lessons From Los Angeles Unlike New York City–where philanthropic funding supported a top-down approach to reform, a fairly similar set of reform ideas (school level autonomy, choice, and accountability) have spread more slowly and organically in Los Angeles. Education Week (commentary) Education Prize Eludes Corona-Norco District The Corona-Norco Unified School District is a finalist for...

Schools Face Test From Voters [This] is the largest number of education-tax initiatives to appear on state election ballots in two decades, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Wall St. Journal (subscription required; via KPCC) Fact Check: Obama Supports Smaller Classes in Public Schools The president has publicly supported the concept...

On Friday, LAUSD Board Member Steve Zimmer told LA School Report that his charter school oversight proposal would be revised and reintroduced yet again at the next Board meeting on November 13 in a version that is “a better representation of what my overall purpose is.”  As described, the latest version is nonbinding and asks charter...

Deasy: Teachers Delaying LAUSD Bid for $40M in Federal Grants Officials with the Los Angeles Unified School District raced on Monday to meet a fast-approaching deadline to apply for up to $40 million in federal grants. But Superintendent John Deasy said United Teachers Los Angeles has yet to sign off on the bid because it “requires...

Capping charter school growth seemed to have been a priority for LAUSD Board Member Steve Zimmer until recently, when he twice postponed, then watered down, his controversial proposal that would have banned new charter schools. The motivation behind his hedging has been something of a mystery. One answer could be he’s listening: California Charter Schools...

L.A. Schools Improve by State Standards, Not Enough by U.S. Yardstick Just like across California, campuses are at their highest-achieving level yet, but they aren’t keeping pace with rapidly rising federal targets. LA Times Also see stories from the Daily News, Ed Source, City News Service, SI&A Cabinet Report The Times also reports that two L.A. schools this...

L.A. Schools Chief Gets One-Year Contract Extension Superintendent John Deasy has received a one-year contract extension, but was unable to achieve ambitious performance targets that would have triggered a salary bonus. LA Times  [The Times’ Teresa Watanabe and Howard Blume are live-chatting about the contract extension here.] LAUSD approves one-year contract for Superintendent John Deasy The Los...

It was a slightly less crowded, slightly less emotionally charged LAUSD school board meeting Tuesday — at least compared to the last few, thanks largely to board member Steve Zimmer’s postponed resolutions rejecting the use of student achievement in teacher evaluations and scaling back charter school growth. That didn’t stop the meeting from lasting more...