Much of the media coverage in the runup to today’s School Board primary election has focused on its possible impact on the fate of Superintendent John Deasy, who is appointed by the seven-member Board. The focus isn’t all that surprising — Deasy is as charismatic as he is divisive. He makes for good copy. Indeed, the...

About 20 teachers sat down in the back room of a Carrow’s restaurant in Santa Monica last night making phone calls reminding registered voters to vote for UTLA-backed District 4 incumbent Steve Zimmer. Volunteers were given cell phones, a list of phone numbers and were allowed to order a meal for up to $10 plus a...

The teachers union’s entire strategy for defeating District 2 incumbent Monica Garcia is predicated on the race going to a runoff.  They’ve spent much of their money attacking her record, and if — as most insiders are predicting — Garcia fails to reach the 50 percent threshold required to avoid a runoff, UTLA has already endorsed...

With Reform Fervor in the Air, Local School Board Elections See Record Outside Spending This year, huge amounts of money and passion are flowing down the ballot into the school board elections — part of an all-out war over public school reform. KCET See also: LA School Report Late Donations Bolster Pro-Deasy School Board Candidates...

Outside interest groups have spent $4.8 million so far on the three LAUSD Board races — an increase of $400,000 just over the weekend. So far, UTLA has spent $994,000 on two races — District 2 (East LA) and District 4 (Westside/Hollywood) — but has stayed out of the District 6 (East San Fernando Valley)...

Predicting the outcome of any political campaign is notoriously difficult — and predicting closely contested School Board races may be especially so. The turnout is generally low, and the polling is weak.  The majority of voters tend to make up their mind while they’re looking at the ballot, and forget who they’ve voted for 10...

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...

Three for LAUSD Board – and for Education Reform The result could either confirm the slow move toward innovation and reform in the nation’s second-largest school district. Or it could reverse the course, destroying the few steps the district has taken in recent years to shake up the old, failing education structure. LA Daily News Editorial...

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...