While the teachers union and LA Unified are united in spirit that the district should not lose $47 million in state money over faulty attendance record keeping, their disagreement on another issue could cost them nearly four times as much from Washington. The district has until March 31 to apply for federal waiver that allows...

LA Unified officials today began a process of determining which teachers skipped a faculty meeting yesterday to participate in school-site rallies. Tom Waldman, a district spokesman, said efforts are underway to learn from each school tha names of teachers and other staff who chose a rally over a meeting — a violation of the law,...

Members of the Los Angeles teachers union, UTLA, staged more school site rallies today, these to call attention to contract demands that are now in the hands of an independent mediator to resolve. At one of the rallies, at Dorsey High School, Sharonne Hapuarachy, an English teacher and union chapter chair, said, “The people who are...

Despite threats by LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines to withhold wages, the teachers union, UTLA, is urging teachers to boycott faculty meetings tomorrow at schools across the district. “The Superintendent has threatened to dock the pay of employees who participate.  We know what we are doing is right, and this scare tactic will not stop...

*UPDATED Scott Schmerelson says he is “feeling pretty good” these days, and the longtime LA Unified educator, counselor and principal certainly has lots of reasons for it. Schmerelson emerged from a logjam of five challengers to finish second in the March 3 school board primary election, good enough to make the May 19 runoff against District...

A meeting yesterday of UTLA’s political action committee, PACE, concluded with no decision to endorse LA Unified School Board President Richard Vladovic or his opponent, Lydia Gutierrez. Vladovic was forced into May runoff against Gutierrez, a veteran educator who is anti-Common Core, pro-Vergara and Republican. It was an unusually close race for Vladovic after serving...

The Los Angeles teachers union, UTLA, has moved one step closer to endorsing Scott Schmerelson, a former LA Unified principal, administrator and a Republican, in the runoff race for Board District 3. Members of the teachers union political action committee, PACE, are recommending to the full committee an endorsement for Schmerelson in his bid to...

* UPDATED Despite new money from the state, LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines is taking direct aim at the district’s $160 million budget deficit with proposed layoffs that include hundreds of teachers. District officials have calculated that to reduce the deficit, the number of teachers, administrators, counselors and nurses — certificated employees — must be...

Aside from being well attended by thousands of teachers and supporters, the rally held last week by the LA teachers union, UTLA, also attracted its fair share of media attention. The major city papers were there, as were TV stations, college newspapers and even a humble education news website. The rally also got national attention,...