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LAUSD loses appeal over how it spent $450 million of LCFF funds intended for needy students
LA Unified has lost its appeal to the California Department of Education on how it spends hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds that are supposed to be directed to its neediest students. The ruling reestablished the state’s opinion that LA Unified’s spending of $450 million over the last two fiscal years on special...
By Craig Clough | August 8, 2016
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Commentary: Will California come out of the shadows on standards to protect its students?
By Iris Maria Chávez Ignorance is bliss, as the saying goes, and no state has taken that message more to heart than California. Alone among the 50 states, California stopped reporting accountability ratings for public schools in 2013 and was the first state in the nation to hit pause on accountability. Now, with responsibility for...
By Guest contributor | March 22, 2016
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Q&A: Michelle King discusses LAUSD’s plans for helping foster youth
By Jeremy Loudenback In January, the Los Angeles Unified School District chose longtime local teacher and administrator Michelle King to head the nation’s second largest school district. The first African American woman to serve as district superintendent, King will oversee about 650,000 students at more than 900 schools across the city. LAUSD students include more...
By Guest contributor | March 3, 2016
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LAUSD students offering their views on how to spend extra state money
*UPDATED While classmates were at the beach, the mall or the park, about 150 LA Unified high school students spent part of their Saturday dowtown at the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, taking part in a Youth Town Hall. The focus of the meeting was for the students to offer opinions on how the district...
By Craig Clough | October 19, 2015
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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School board meeting involves LCAP, superintendent search
The LA Unified school board is meeting in open and closed sessions tomorrow, with plans to consider amendments to the Local Control Accountability Plan and adjustments to the fiscal stabilization plan. In the brief open session, the school board will take up clarification amendments to the LCAP plan as required by the Los Angeles County Office of...
By Mike Szymanski | September 14, 2015
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Lawsuit: LAUSD depriving high-needs students of $2 billion
* UPDATED A lawsuit filed today accuses the LA Unified school district of planning to deprive low-income, foster youth and English language learners of $2 billion in funds that should be directed to their education. The lawsuit, filed by ACLU SoCal, Public Advocates and Covington & Burling LLP on behalf of Community Coalition South Los...
By Craig Clough | July 1, 2015
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LA Unified falls short of LCFF goals, according to study
California’s new education budgeting process, known as Local Control Funding Formula, was designed to shrink the achievement gap among students by funneling more money to schools’ neediest pupils, but a year-long study of LA Unified shows the district has so far failed to fulfill that mission. The report by UC Berkeley and Communities for Los...
By Vanessa Romo | June 12, 2015
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Town hall seeks ideas on spending plan from LAUSD students
Students from high schools across LA Unified will have an opportunity tomorrow to help shape district spending when the United Way of Greater Los Angeles hosts a town hall dedicated to seeking their ideas for the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), which outlines how the district spends Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) dollars. The United Way,...
By Craig Clough | March 6, 2015
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CA voters getting chance to tell districts how much to spend
A ballot measure that goes before California voters in November seeking to amend the state Constitution has a controversial section that deals with strings attached to money school districts have controlled on their own. In effect, the state would have the right to place a cap on how much money a district can keep in...
By Michael Janofsky | June 20, 2014
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Groups pushing ‘need index’ helping LAUSD shape the budget
Among the challenges poor kids in south LA are forced to overcome just to meet the most basic learning conditions in schools, are cockroaches. Not in their classrooms. In their bodies. LA Unified students in neighborhoods like South Gate and Watts regularly visit health clinics to have the insects that crawl inside their ears, plucked...
By Vanessa Romo | June 17, 2014