A pro-charter, pro-accountability group called Democrats for Education Reform has issued a report card on District 2 incumbent Monica Garcia and District 4 incumbent Steve Zimmer, based on “parent choice and quality schools; school district transparency; district leadership; and teacher effectiveness and quality.” Meantime, Zimmer has followed UTLA’s lead and issued a response to the news that...

Challengers at last night’s District 2 debate in El Sereno rarely invoked School Board President Monica Garcia‘s name, even though she was sitting there onstage with them. But they attacked the incumbent indirectly, with vehement criticisms of LAUSD policies and decisions (regarding standardized tests,  charters schools and budget cuts) as well as Superintendent John Deasy, who...

The Coalition for School Reform has unveiled a somewhat curious new 30-second TV ad for District 4 School Board challenger Kate Anderson. Titled “Talking Benches,” most of it is devoted to blasting incumbent Steve Zimmer.  “Zimmer voted to fire 5,000 teachers,” says an incredulous narrator, “and cut basics like art and PE, while supporting the costliest building project in America...

There is, arguably, just one School Board candidate running a truly grassroots campaign built on dozens of volunteers and more than a hundred* small contributions of as little as $5 — and little else by way of outside support. His name is Robert Skeels. Skeels is one of several candidates running for the Eastside District...

At a candidate forum in Northridge yesterday, Mayoral hopeful Eric Garcetti did some serious dodging when asked if he would vote for School Board President Monica Garcia, who is running for re-election in East Long Angeles’ District 2: “I admire Monica Garcia a lot,” said Garcetti, who has complained about teacher-bashing and recently received an endorsement...

Outside Spending Pours Into L.A. School Board Race Outside groups are mounting campaigns to influence the outcome of three races for seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education. LA Times See also: LA School Report Teachers’ Ratings Still High Despite New Measures High teacher rating results, among the first trickling out from states’ newly...

On Wednesday, the Coalition for School Reform launched a campaign ad in support of School Board President Monica Garcia, the District 2 candidate who is one of UTLA’s top targets in the March 5 election. The announcement says that the ad will begin airing immediately.  This is the Coalition’s second TV ad. No word yet on...

With the March 5 election day now less than a month away, the Coalition for School Reform, the LA County Federation of Labor, and the Local 99 branch of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have each kicked their LAUSD School Board spending up a notch, but UTLA-PACE — a major player in past elections...

As KPCC reported on Friday, United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) has endorsed Eric Garcetti for Mayor but has no plans to spend any money to campaign for him. “We’re focusing our money on the School Board races,” UTLA secondary Vice President Gregg Solkovits explained to LA School Report. But UTLA won’t be focusing equally on...

While campaign donations, policy positions, mailed flyers, debates, and endorsements all make up a big part of a school board race, the candidates for the three LAUSD School Board races also rely on a lot of phone calls, door knocking, and other kinds of “retail’ politics – some of which are coordinated out of storefront...