The first thing I notice when stepping into the office of Steve Zimmer, the 42 year-old LAUSD school board member, is the Cesar Chavez poster on the wall — a copy of which Deasy has, too. The second thing is the expansive view from the 24th floor of LAUSD’s massive hilltop headquarters looking out over...

The next LAUSD board meeting isn’t until September 11, and it’s one of only four scheduled board meetings for the rest of 2012. The board will also meet on October 9, November 13 and December 11, according to Jefferson Crain, the Board Secretariat. However “if an issue comes up that has a time component or which...

When the LAUSD Board meets tomorrow morning at 9 am, the first item of business will be which of the competing tax measures on the November ballot to support. Governor Jerry Brown is pushing proposition 30 while Molly Munger is pushing prop 38. The state’s rank-and-file Democrats are lining up to support the governor’s measure,...

• A Shorter School Year: Students at LA Unified this year will attend classes for only 175 days, 5 days fewer than last year, and 65 fewer than students in Japan. The decision was made by the school board due to budget constraints. Other districts chose to lay off more teachers. KPCC • Miramonte Elementary Teachers Return for...

For those of you wondering when the California Department of Education (CDE) will release its much-maligned Academic Performance Index (API) for 2012, don’t hold your breath. The API Index is the single number used to reflect a school’s progress, based on statewide testing. Traditionally timed to coincide with the start of the school year, the API release has...

Campaign disclosure statements for the first half of 2012 are now online, providing information on contributions for the two LAUSD board members next up for re-election.  Steve Zimmer‘s fundraising appears not to have really begun in earnest (he’s raised less than $10,000. However, Board President Monica Garcia (pictured) has raised a hefty $100,000, about half of which comes...

School Board Member Nury Martinez has long been rumored to be planning a run for Tony Cardenas’ City Council District 6 seat, which will become vacant when Cardenas gets elected to U.S. Congress, which he is expected to do in a walk. This would set the stage for a fight for Martinez’s school board seat, and...

LAUSD to fight judge’s ruling in charter case, and more. LAUSD is fighting a court order to give more space to charter schools. The district says enforcement would lead to school busing. LA Times, KPCC RiShawn Biddle argues that the NAACP should get on board with public school choice All sorts of media outlets are...