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LA teachers planning campaign to oppose charter expansion
* UPDATED UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl said the teachers union is planning an aggressive campaign to oppose Eli Broad and other wealthy foundation leaders who have announced plans for a major expansion of charter schools in LA Unified. In a wide-ranging interview that focused on the state of charters in the district, Caputo-Pearl was highly...
By Mike Szymanski | August 26, 2015
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LAUSD board has mixed views on foundations’ charters expansion plan
Some think it is a threat to the public education system. Some welcome it. Members of the LA Unified school board have reacted quite differently to the announcement that the Broad, Keck and Walton Family Foundations are planning to expand the number of charter schools in the district to serve well beyond the 101,000 students...
By Mike Szymanski | August 24, 2015
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Garcia welcomes foundations promoting charter school expansion
LA Unified board member Mónica García, a leading voice for education reform efforts, said she is open to plans by a group of foundations that wants to expand the number of charter schools in the district well beyond the 285 that are now serving district students. “I’m open to any strategy that helps children and families. We...
By Mike Szymanski | August 12, 2015
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Commentary: Challenges await for wave of new LAUSD charters
It was a bombshell of a story on Saturday, the LA Times reporting that a group of foundations is exploring plans to expand the number of charter schools within LA Unified to serve many beyond the 100,000 students who now attend charters in the district. What would that mean exactly? Unclear for the time being....
By Michael Janofsky | August 10, 2015
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Deasy to work for Broad Center as ‘superintendent-in-residence’
Former LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy will be working as a consultant for The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems as a “superintendent-in-residence.” The center is a leadership academy for school administrators, which is funded by Eli Broad, a longtime Deasy supporter and powerful financier of California education reform efforts. Deasy resigned in October under...
By Craig Clough | January 13, 2015
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Commentary: Why Vergara won’t solve the real teacher problem
Bad teachers need to leave. And it is a gross injustice that they are disproportionately congregated in low-income communities. Right now, because of Vergara vs. California, the lawsuit waged against education laws alleged to protect bad teachers, there is a tremendous amount of public anger directed at those teachers. But to fire grossly incompetent teachers...
By Ellie Herman | February 4, 2014
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The Buzz: Thelma Melendez Likely to Run Garcetti’s Education Team
As Mayor Eric Garcetti considers his top education appointment, one name is generating more buzz than any other — Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana. Melendez, 55, recently ended a short, two-year tenure as Superintendent of Santa Ana Unified School District, the sixth largest in the state, with 58,000 students and a $483 million budget. She...
By Hillel Aron | August 2, 2013
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Coalition for School Reform Gets Big Donations
The Coalition for School Reform’s District 6 (East San Fernando Valley) runoff election coffers have been replenished thanks to big donations received from Los Angeles philanthropist Eli Broad and StudentsFirst, Michelle Rhee’s education advocacy group, among others. According to reports just filed with the LA City Ethics Commission, Broad gave the Coalition $250,000. StudentsFirst contributed another...
By Samantha Oltman | April 18, 2013
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Report: “Mayoral Control” Helps School Districts
A new report out from a Washington DC think tank closely associated with the Democratic Party takes a look at the history of “mayoral control” of big-city school systems in which City Hall runs a district rather than an independently elected Board of Education. According to the report, written by a pair of academics from...
By Alexander Russo | March 22, 2013
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LAUSD Leadership Shares Stage with Big-Money Donors
In addition to the high-pressure appearance of the candidates for Mayor of Los Angeles, the United Way summit at the LA Convention Center yesterday also included a morning discussion featuring LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, School Board President Monica Garcia, and school reform funders Casey Wasserman and Eli Broad, Not surprisingly, the like-minded panelists generated little...
By Hillel Aron | February 28, 2013