Following up on a comment made at the September Board meeting, LAUSD Board Member Bennett Kayser plans on introducing a resolution at Tuesday’s upcoming board meeting that would force board members to “automatically recuse themselves from voting on a charter contract if they have received campaign contributions six months prior to the vote.” Also on...

Kate Anderson tells LA School Report that she plans on filing paperwork today to run for LAUSD school board, in District 4, where she will take on sitting board member Steve Zimmer. Anderson currently serves as the Los Angeles director of Children Now and sits on the board of the Mar Vista Community Council.  She had told us previously she was...

The morning after California voters passed Proposition 30, which temporarily raises taxes to avoid further cuts to public education, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy expressed gratitude in a written statement: “These funds will better equip us to provide a quality education to all LAUSD youth over the next several years and begin the road back to...

Teachers Union Refuses to Sign Off on LAUSD Plan for Race to the Top Grant The Los Angeles teachers union has refused to sign off on Los Angeles Unified’s bid for a prestigious Race to the Top grant, costing the district a shot at winning $40 million in federal money, sources said Saturday. Daily News...

A new article in The American Prospect magazine traces Teach For America’s efforts to support its former teachers who want to run for public office (and who generally adhere to a common set of education priorities including charter schools, teacher effectiveness, test-based school accountability. The article includes a link to LA School Report’s recent interview with LAUSD board...

There’s a big City Hall event this morning hosted by the California Charter Schools Association. There are now nearly 1,100 charters in the state, and LA added 40 new ones this year alone. (See AP story: California Sees Record Number of New Charter Schools). It’s the 20th anniversary of the charter school concept — semi-autonomous public schools with more...

LA School Report has learned that Jeneen Robinson (pictured) plans on running for LAUSD Board member in District 4 against incumbent Steve Zimmer, though she has yet to file official paperwork. Robinson, 40, grew up in Virginia and moved to Los Angeles about 10 years ago. She lives in Westchester and has a son attending a...

On Friday, LAUSD Board Member Steve Zimmer told LA School Report that his charter school oversight proposal would be revised and reintroduced yet again at the next Board meeting on November 13 in a version that is “a better representation of what my overall purpose is.”  As described, the latest version is nonbinding and asks charter...

Capping charter school growth seemed to have been a priority for LAUSD Board Member Steve Zimmer until recently, when he twice postponed, then watered down, his controversial proposal that would have banned new charter schools. The motivation behind his hedging has been something of a mystery. One answer could be he’s listening: California Charter Schools...

The Washington Post’s national education blog, which is called The Answer Sheet, recently highlighted our recent interview with Board member Steve Zimmer (Ex-Teach For America member changes his mind).