Late Monday afternoon, LAUSD board member Steve Zimmer announced an updated, much-softened charter school oversight proposal. It replaces the previous moratorium on new charter schools with a request for charters to “voluntarily delay requesting action on new charter applications” until a new oversight scheme can be developed. The new version also asks the Superintendent to...

You may already have heard that LAUSD Board member Nury Martinez will introduce a motion at the Tuesday October 9 monthly school board meeting to make arts a “core subject” (KPCC: LAUSD considers making arts education a ‘core subject’). And we’ve already told you that Board member Steve Zimmer is holding off on offering a revised...

LAUSD board member Steve Zimmer’s proposal to overhaul charter school oversight and, more controversially, to place a moratorium on new charter schools, has been postponed until the November 13 board meeting, according to the just-posted agenda for the meeting this Tuesday, October 9. Zimmer’s idea was first presented at last month’s board meeting, and generated heavy...

Check out this Huffington Post blog penned by Carl Finer, a teacher who taught at LAUSD for seven years but switched to a Los Angeles charter school last year. A member of a pro-reform teacher voice organization called Teach Plus, Finer explains why he made the move, and what charter and district schools could learn from each...

School board member Tamar Galatzan (pictured) is quite possibly the busiest elected official in the city. One of two board members who has chosen to serve part-time (along with Nury Martinez), Galatzan also has a full-time job at the City Attorney’s office, and is the mother of two boys in elementary school. (She’s the only board...

Reviews of the new release “Won’t Back Down” vary widely and tend to conform with pre-existing views on education reform issues. Critics like The Nation’s Dana Goldstein describe it as a mean-spirited caricature of classroom teachers funded by a conservative millionaire who wants to destroy public schools — a 2012 version of  “Waiting For Superman.”...

Just about everyone who watches LAUSD is scratching their heads wondering just what board member Steve Zimmer is doing — lately more than ever. He’s introduced two incredibly polarizing motions recently– one to reject the use of Academic Growth Over Time in teacher evaluations, and one to provide greater oversight for charter schools and, more...

Slim chance for teachers strike in L.A., officials say LA Times: Few observers expect tensions over performance reviews to ignite a strike in Los Angeles, as it did in Chicago, because of myriad differences in conditions surrounding the two cities’ school districts. Group w/ties to Koch Bros drops $4 million on Prop 32 SF Chronicle:  Look what just...

You might be surprised to find out that “Won’t Back Down” — a screening of which I snuck into the other night — isn’t actually the fictionalized story of Desert Trails, site of the real-life still-unfolding parent trigger attempt outside of Los Angeles, or the CA parent trigger law that allows parents to vote to...

L.A. Unified, union OK system of evaluating principals LA Times: Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy announced the one-year agreement with the administrators’ union Tuesday, calling it a “remarkable breakthrough.” The one-year time period will give both sides time to work out details of the system, according to AALA President Judith Perez. Other coverage of the agreement is...