Big Hollywood Donors Enter School Board Race for First Time Hollywood donates a lot of money to national political campaigns. Big players in “the industry” have also donated to Los Angeles City Hall races over the years. But L.A. Unified school board races have been way off the radars of these big donors. Until now....

The latest campaign contribution disclosures filed with the City reveal that LAUSD employees are not shy about kicking in money to support their favorite School Board candidates — a practice which is legal as long as the contribution is not solicited: Steve Zimmer, the incumbent running on the Westside for the District 4 seat, has...

In an under-the-radar move last week, the powerful Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which is the local arm of the AFL-CIO and represents 300 unions across LA county, officially endorsed three LAUSD Board candidates and has begun spending on candidates’ behalf through its independent expenditure (IE) committee, the Committee on Political Education (COPE). In District 2,...

Here’s the flyer for Board Member Garcia that’s being distributed thanks to two labor-backed independent expenditure (IE) committees: Previous posts: Labor Groups Spend for Garcia & Sanchez, Checking Out the Campaign Flyers. Click here to look at the full image.

School Board President Monica Garcia’s latest campaign finance statement includes some familiar names — including a $1,000 contribution from LAUSD Deputy Superintendent of Instruction Jaime Aquino, a top aide to Superintendent John Deasy. While it’s illegal to solicit campaign contributions from Los Angeles city employees, it is perfectly legal for  employees to give on their own accord,...

Over the three-day weekend, two powerful unions — the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the SEIU Local 99 (which represents classified LAUSD employees) kicked off what is expected to be an intense period of activity by independent expenditure (IE) committees over the next few months. The two organizations spent a combined $54,564 in support of School...

Last weekend, School Board candidate Kate Anderson kicked off her campaign. This weekend, LAUSD Board President Monica Garcia and supporters will kick off her reelection campaign on Saturday, January 19 at 9:00 a.m. in East Los Angeles. Garcia is running for a third term in District 2, an area that stretches from Central to East...

Garcia Leads in Fundraising for L.A. School Board Financial data released Thursday show that Monica Garcia raised $174,288 last year, far outdistancing the combined total of four challengers vying to unseat her. LA Times Southern California Schools to Benefit From Gov. Jerry Brown’s Budget California’s public schools are the big winners in Gov. Jerry Brown’s...

What would a monthly school board meeting be without at least one shot across the bow from one board member to another? According to the just-released morning agenda for the Tuesday January 15 meeting (see here), board member Marguerite LaMotte will introduce a resolution limiting the School board President’s term to two consecutive years. Currently, the position of president...

The Los Angeles Fund for Public Education, a philanthropy dedicated among other things to bringing arts integration programs to LA area schools, launched the second part of a $4 million public art and arts education fundraising campaign called “Arts Matter” on Tuesday. Twelve city buses, 175 billboards, and 271 additional spaces across Los Angeles will...