Teachers Union to Vote on Aggressive Stand Against Deasy Policies The Los Angeles teachers union has scheduled an April vote for an initiative that would, if passed, call for a more aggressive posture against the leadership of the L.A. Unified School District. LA Times The Wrong Fight Over Schools Over the last century, American public...

L.A. School Board Race Tops Spending Records The city’s ethics commission, which tracks campaign finances, reported this week that independent expenditures in the three board races represent a 977 percent increase over the primary four years ago, the last time these three seats were up for grabs. EdWeek See also: LA School Report Mayoral Rivals Talk...

The teachers union political action committee has allocated the majority of its expenditures in the East LA District 2 School Board election — almost $90,000 — to attack incumbent LAUSD Board President Monica Garcia and bolster the chances of forcing a runoff between Garcia and one of her three union-endorsed candidates. But are the attacks accurate...

As we reported here last week, the union independent expenditure committee called UTLA-PACE has sent out a campaign mailer to attack LAUSD Board candidate Kate Anderson, who is challenging incumbent Steve Zimmer in the Westside/Hollywood’s District 4. But according to Anderson, the claims being made are “completely misleading:” The mailer scrutinizes Anderson’s attendance record while she served on...

When the LAUSD Board voted last week to approve 12 new “pilot schools,” it was a small but positive sign of change in a school district long troubled by battles among key stakeholders about to how to best improve LA’s many underperforming schools and create successful new options. Pilot schools are the most flexible of...

Union Fights Mayor Bloomberg in LA Mayor Bloomberg and teachers union boss Randi Weingarten are going head-to-head again — this time in a high-stakes, bitter national fight over school reform in Los Angeles. NY Post The Mayoral Endorsement That Isn’t Los Angeles Unified School District board member Tamar Galatzan has spent the last few weeks...

Outside Groups Trying to Influence L.A. School Board Races 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 L.A. Schools Need Technology, but Can We Afford It? On Tuesday, the Los Angeles School Board will consider...

CTA Targets Class-Size Waivers The almost automatic approval that school districts have received for class-size waivers from the California State Board of Education during the past four years may be facing serious opposition from the state’s powerful teachers lobby. SI&A Cabinet Report Rockers Help Students Roll on Toward Understanding Members of Ozomatli visit Hawthorne High...

Los Angeles Teachers Union Approves Use of Testing Data in Evaluations A landmark agreement to use student test scores for the first time to evaluate Los Angeles Unified instructors was approved by the teachers union Saturday. LA Times See also: LA Daily News, KPCC, LA School Report ‘Parent Trigger’ Organizers Find Willing Partner in Los...

United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) announced in the latest edition of its weekly newsletter that it plans to mail out surveys next week that give UTLA members the opportunity to grade LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy’s performance. It’s common knowledge that UTLA’s leadership, including union President Warren Fletcher, has often been critical of Deasy’s policies...