One of the most popular classes at 20th Street Elementary School has 43 dedicated students who come twice a week.

They’re all parents.

The parents of this 600-student school just south of downtown Los Angeles come here to learn English. They do projects for teachers. They discuss school issues. Their children even help them with their English homework. And it’s all taking place at one of the most active rooms on campus: the parent center.

LA Unified officials, board member Monica Garcia and about 50 parents gathered Tuesday to dedicate the new parent center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and student performances. The ceremony also marked a healing of sorts among divided parents who had twice moved to use a “parent trigger,” a California law that allows parents to take over a failing school.

District officials and the school board have come to realize that encouraging more parent centers on school campuses leads to more community engagement, higher attendance and eventually better test scores and higher graduation rates.

Nearly half of the school sites — more than 500 — at the nation’s second-largest school district have at least one classroom dedicated specifically as a parent center. Many of them have computers, Internet, desks, materials, copy machines and other supports for parents to use during and after school and sometimes on weekends.

This year alone, 70 parent centers opened at district schools and 40 more will open before the end of December, said Rowena Lagrosa, senior executive director of parent, community and student services. The district has a request before the school board for 155 more centers.

The 20th Street parent center.

“These centers are a game changer, and it results directly in improved classroom attendance,” Lagrosa said. “Getting our parents involved with the school is integral to getting our children college-bound, and as we see here, it starts at the elementary level.”

The costs per school for a new parent center run from $65,000 to $100,000, according to Lagrosa, who added, “Some of our schools need a little more TLC.” The district provides a cart with 20 Chromebooks, like those already provided to schools for testing.

“This is a great space for parents to come together and work together now,” said Karla Vilchis, who is on the English Language Advisory and School Site councils. She recalled the contentious years when parents tried to take control of the school. “Everyone has the desire to get the best education for our children.”

The school’s principal, Mario Garcielita, welcomed the parent center and acknowledged the difficult period with different factions of parents. For the past year, parents met at nearby homes to figure out how to force improvements at the school. Now they can meet on campus to voice their issues and talk among themselves.

“This was a tough year this last year, and I respect that past and the issues that came up, but I’m so excited about the future,” Garcielita said. “Parents are now coming together and sharing their vision for the school. This is a great new beginning.”

In June, the parents, teachers and the district agreed to move 20th Street into the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, which now operates 19 schools in South LA, Boyle Heights and Watts. With Partnership, the school remains under district control but is granted more educational autonomy. It also benefits from the nonprofit organization’s many community connections and resources. Partnership CEO Joan Sullivan attended Tuesday’s dedication and pointed out the importance of parent centers.

“Investing in adults, who are the primary teachers of our children, is a centerpiece of what Partnership believes,” Sullivan said. “Equal access to quality education is the biggest civil rights battle going on, and it’s more important than the suffragette movement or integration or abolition, and the movement will look to parents to lead the way.”

Although the parent center was in the planning stages before Partnership came on the scene, Sullivan said they have helped with equipment and supplies for the center.

“Sometimes parent centers are second thoughts and put off in the corner of the school somewhere,” Sullivan said. “But these are important spaces where parents come together and feel empowered. They learn together and strategize. It is a space where parents can raise their voices and realize they are true partners in the education of their children.”

This is the best way to start turning around the school, said Central District Administrator of Operations Eugene L. Hernandez. “This is the beginning of turning this into a top-notch school,” he said. “Parents need to be engaged.”

Annabella Sales, the community representative hired to work with the 20th Street parent center, said, “Most of the parents who come in are not familiar with technology and they do not have computers or Internet at home. They come here and they learn not only how to help their children with their homework, but the children help them too.”

Cutting the ribbon.

Parents also learn how to navigate getting financial help and looking ahead to college enrollment for their children. “It is a great team effort for everyone involved in education,” said Lorena Padilla-Melendez, director of community relations for the district’s Facilities Services Division. “It shows we are all part of the team.”

Mark Hovatter, chief facilities executive for the district, said, “I am a parent and I love the parent center projects because it costs a small amount of money and we do something that is so critical for the schools.”

Board member Garcia chatted in Spanish with parents and children after the second-graders recited the poem “I, Too, Sing America” and sang “This Little Light of Mine.” Then the school drill team performed.

“This parent center represents power and love and hope and shows something great for the future of these talented children,” Garcia said. “This is your classroom, parents, and if you have doubts and concerns, you can come here to discuss. Everything you need is available here. We will work together for your children.”

As parent Vilchis pointed out, parent involvement could be as simple as helping a teacher cut out shapes or sweep the classrooms.

“There’s a lot of cutting and sweeping to do,” Vilchis said. “There’s enough to do to feel proud and happy and making the world a better place for our children.”

The schools are eligible for School Improvement Grants (SIG) money that can result in $2 million a year for five years if the school administrators decide to implement one of seven school models that will help improve their scores.

The issue was brought up at the first LA Unified School Board meeting of the school year on Tuesday. Board members also discussed whether they need to intervene with the five traditional schools that are run by Partnership for Los Angeles Schools (and are not charter schools), as well as the six other charter schools that they oversee in the district.

The surprise is that a few of them named on the list are notable and previously celebrated schools as far as past achievements, yet some of them have been identified as low performing since 2010.

The traditional district schools are:

• 107th Street Elementary
• Annalee Avenue Elementary
• Augustus F. Hawkins High School-A Critical Design and Gaming School
• Barton Hill Elementary
• Cabrillo Avenue Elementary
• Daniel Webster Middle
• Dr. Owen Lloyd Knox Elementary
• Edwin Markham Middle
• Florence Griffth Joyner Elementary
• George Washington Carver Middle
• George Washington Preparatory High
• Samuel Gompers Middle School
• Tom Bradley Global Awareness Magnet Elementary
• Westchester Enriched Sciences High School Magnets- Health/Sports/Medicin

The charter schools are:

• Alain Leroy Locke College Preparatory Academy High (Green Dot)
• Animo Phillis Wheatley Charter Middle (Green Dot)
• Los Angeles Leadership Academy High
• Lou Dantzler Preparatory Charter Middle (ICEF)
• North Valley Military Institute College Preparatory
• Wallis Annenberg High (Accelerated School Foundation)

The list from the California Department of Education only slightly differs with the low-achieving list from the CORE district ratings which also included Century Park and Hillcrest Drive elementary schools and David Starr Jordan and Dr. Maya Angelou Community high schools.

The list of 291 schools throughout the state of low-performing schools identify 20 in LA Unified, one in Los Angeles County Office of Education (Soledad Enrichment Charter High) and one in Long Beach (Jordan High). In Los Angeles County, there are 12 other school districts with schools named in the lowest 5 percent of state schools.

The state’s lowest 5 percent of schools was based on 2015 math and English assessment scores, graduation rates based on four years of data, the English learner indicator of the past two years, suspension rates over two years and college and career indicators.

Among the charter schools, the 3-year-old North Valley Military Institute is the only one of its kind in LA Unified and is championed by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Wallis Annenberg High’s Accelerated School’s elementary school was named by TIME magazine as the “Elementary School of the Year” for its impressive approach to education, and has boasted years of 90-plus percent graduation rates.

Lou Dantzler Preparatory Charter Middle is getting a new building, and ICEF CEO Parker Hudnut said they have hired new experts in math that are joining the staff.

Among the traditional schools, the Augustus High School Critical Design and Gaming School has been noted for its innovation in computer science, while the successes at George Washington Preparatory High were chronicled in a movie starring Denzel Washington who played then-Principal George McKenna, who is now a school board member.

George McKenna

McKenna said he is unhappy with the low performance of a school where he gained his academic legacy, but said, “Our role is not to play ‘gotcha’ and I know some people have that perception. But if you have that perception you may think we’re in some way an intruder on someone else’s autonomy or freedom and they should be left alone. We need your help, we are the district and we have responsibility. If it’s our property, it’s our responsibility, it’s our kids. We have an obligation to insist and inform otherwise we are enabling or are complicit in negative outcomes and deficits.”

McKenna and other board members approved allowing the 14 traditional schools to apply for the SIG money, but they expressed concerns about how to help the charter schools that they were not voting on Tuesday with SIG applications. Those charter schools must apply on their own, and McKenna also wondered about the five Partnership schools that the district co-runs as part of the nonprofit started in 2008 by former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Of the 18 Partnership schools they now run in LAUSD, five of them are on the district’s list of 14. Four of those five have been on the list since 2010, and have received extra money to help improve their test scores. Partnership’s CEO Joan Sullivan was unavailable to comment.

The money used to help the schools could be something that must sustain their progress, said board member Monica Ratliff. She said, “The schools begin to rely on the funding for the purchased positions, and then they lose those positions and it causes a lot of heartache on those campuses. If they bring up achievement levels maybe they do need those positions, and then suddenly those resources are not there anymore, and you’re out of luck.”

According to a national report when the schools were helped first in 2010, generally 69 percent of the schools helped for three years saw an increase in math, but 30 percent saw declines and 2 percent had no change.

School board President Steve Zimmer said he wanted to know for sure where money was spent to pinpoint interventions to see how they worked. He said he supported the Partnership schools and wanted to help.

“As far as charter schools, we feel these things shouldn’t happen,” Zimmer said about the list including independent charters. “We are granting the level of autonomy from the ed code that charter schools get and then results should follow them and not get deeper.”

Zimmer noted that the school board took a “leap of faith” in approving Green Dot charter renewals and said their two schools on this state list indicate “this should green-light more collaboration and I hope that it won’t be punitive, and would be a lot of engagement.”

George Bartleson, chief of School Choice at LA Unified, said the district has helped with partnered schools in the past, and there was a time when someone from the central office was assigned to schools to help.

David Tokofsky, a former LA Unified school board member who works for the principals union, pointed out that the school board and superintendent should have more scrutiny of the charter schools that will be getting the extra $2 million a year, especially if they continue to remain on the state’s improvement list.

LA Unified originally had 31 persistently low-achieving schools on the list. Eight schools are still receiving money from past SIG funding, according to a report by Frances Gipson, the chief academic officer. The district has to submit their applications for the schools to the state by Sept. 8.

Gipson said schools are already “discussing the selection of the intervention model that will best benefit their school culture.”

“The district approached us about supporting Grape Street, and the promise there is as great as the need, so we are excited to get involved,” said Partnership CEO Joan Sullivan.

The five-year memorandum of understanding signed between the district and the Partnership “includes a plan to strengthen instructional practices, implement socio-emotional learning, support teacher and school leader development and increase parent engagement,” according to a press release from the Partnership.

The Partnership schools in South LA, Watts and Boyle Heights are part of a nonprofit started by former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in 2007 while he was still in office. Although still considered traditional district schools, they receive extra funding and support through philanthropic donations and coordination with over 1,000 public and private partners.

The Partnership targets struggling schools and has a track record of improving student performance. According to the Partnership, the organization’s graduation rate has more than doubled, from 36 percent to 77 percent, since its inception, and the organization says it has also seen gains every year on math and literacy assessments. The Partnership last month added 20th Street Elementary to its network, ending a two-year “parent trigger” battle at the school.

One thing that made Grape Street a good fit for the Partnership is that it is a feeder school for Markham Middle School and Jordan High School, which are already part of the Partnership network.

“The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools has been an exceptional partner to LA Unified,” said Local Area South Superintendent Chris Downing in a statement. “This is the second year in a row we have asked them to partner with us in order to propel the progress at our school sites.”

Grape Street has struggled in recent performance indicators. On the California Office of Reform Education (CORE) school accountability system, which was released this year, Grape Street scored a 30 out of 100, while the average score at LA Unified was 60. On the 2015 Smarter Balanced standardized tests, 14 percent of Grape Street students met or exceeded the English language arts test standard and 13 percent met or exceeded the math standard, compared to 33 percent for the district as a whole in English and 25 percent for the district in math.

Grape Street in the 2015-16 school year had a total of 623 students, according to the California Department of Education. Seventy-one percent were Latino, 26 percent were African-American, 43 percent were English learners and 95 percent qualify for free and reduced price lunch.

Sullivan said parents and students at Grape Street “can expect to see a commitment. We are in it for the long haul. We are excited to work with these schools not just over months, but over years and decades,” Sullivan said. “From a macro perspective, we are a capacity building organization, so we invest in building capacity among the adults who serve our children.”

Parent College graduates at last year’s ceremony in Boyle Heights. (Credit: The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools)

April is graduation month, at least for parents in LA, and tomorrow more than 400 parents will be honored in their own graduation ceremony with a keynote address by Mayor Eric Garcetti and welcome from LA Unified board member Monica Garcia.

Saturday morning’s event at Roosevelt High School is the last of three graduations taking place this month across the city held by Parent College, a seven-month empowerment and advocacy workshop series open to all LA-area parents.

The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools launched Parent College seven years ago to empower and engage parents with knowledge of their rights, roles and responsibilities in their children’s education. The program has been key in getting parents more involved at the Partnership schools, which has led to a shift in culture at the school sites, particularly in accelerating college-going rates. Participation has grown more than 10 times to reach 7,000 families, and 80 percent of the parents say they feel more confident in supporting their child’s education, while 94 percent of principals report that parent involvement has positively impacted their school’s culture, according to the Partnership.

“We always wanted our sons to go to college, but the application process was complicated and we weren’t sure if we’d qualify for financial aid. But Parent College opened our eyes to all the opportunities available to our kids,” said Maria Ruiz, parent of a junior at Roosevelt High and a seventh-grader at Hollenbeck Middle School Magnet. “Our first son is now a sophomore at UC Riverside and we’re now more prepared to help our other two sons when it’s their turn to go to college. Through the training we received, my husband and I have become leaders at our school and in the community. The Partnership schools not only welcome our involvement, they encourage it, and I really believe that’s why so many kids who would never have even graduated high school are now considering which college to attend.”

Parent College participants at Cal State LA on their University Day visit last year. (Credit: The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools)

More than 2,000 Partnership parents participate in Parent College annually. Parents have to attend at least four of the seven Saturday workshops offered at the schools each school year in order to be eligible to receive a graduation certificate.

Saturday’s Parent College graduates all have enrolled students at one of six Boyle Heights campuses managed by the Partnership schools: Sunrise Elementary School, Stevenson Middle School, Hollenbeck Middle School, Mendez High School, Roosevelt High School and Math, Science, Technology Magnet Academy at Roosevelt High School.

The program’s impact has also reached beyond Partnership schools, with adoption of the training model for other charter networks like PUC Schools as well as LA Unified schools, Greenfield Union School District in Bakersfield and three LA’s Promise schools.

The Partnership trained select LA Unified teachers as the district introduced Parent College this year to families at Miguel Contreras Learning Center and its feeder schools. LA Unified is working to introduce Parent College to other schools throughout the district beginning in the fall.

The Partnership is one of the largest public school turnaround initiatives in the nation, overseeing 17 LA Unified schools and 14,000 students.

“A core belief of ours at the Partnership is that real school transformation can only occur when there is a strong, authentic partnership with parents,” said Joan Sullivan, the Partnership’s CEO. “In the seven years since we began overseeing some of LAUSD¹s highest need schools, we’ve seen a culture shift on our campuses and our network graduation rate jumped from 36 percent to 77 percent. Empowering our parents has been such a critical part of our schools’ academic growth, and we’re glad to see others in the broader school system adopting this model.”

The graduation ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, with workshops beginning at 10. Roosevelt High School is located at 456 S. Mathews St., Los Angeles,  90033.

The 17 Partnership schools in South LA, Watts and Boyle Heights are part of a non-profit started by former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in 2008 while he was still in office. Although still considered traditional district schools, they receive extra funding and support through philanthropic donations and coordination with over 1,000 public and private partners.

In a press release, the Partnership for LA Schools said the graduation rate has jumped 41 points since its formation.

“We are proud that our collective efforts have yielded these remarkable results in some of the city’s highest-needs communities,” Joan Sullivan, the Partnership’s CEO, said in a statement. “Based on a combination of strategies that include a strong focus on academic rigor, leveraging community partners to support college access and heightened use of data to individualize instruction, we’ve more than doubled the percentage of students who receive a diploma each year.”

The rise in graduation rates coincides with rising rates in the district as a whole, which has seen nine straight years of growth. The district’s 2014-15 preliminary grad rate for the last school year was 74 percent. The California Board of Education will certify official graduation rates in the spring.

The Partnership has five high schools, and each one has seen a dramatic rise in graduation since 2008 — the strongest at the Santee Education Complex, which rose to a 74.4 percent graduation rate from 27 percent, and at the Math, Science & Technology Magnet Academy at Roosevelt (MSTMA), which rose to perfection, 100 percent, from 58.6 percent.

“When our last student in the class of 2015 met all graduation requirements, we stood in disbelief. None of us had ever experienced 100% of students meeting all graduation requirements. Then, we cheered,” MSTMA Principal Jose Espinoza said in a statement. “We now know that providing all students with a rigorous and nurturing curriculum, closely coupled with family and community partner support to provide persistent support and encouragement works.”

Tuck was said to be considering a run for State Assembly, but has instead decided to challenge Tom Torlakson, who will be running for a second four-year term.

“The current state superintendent has been an elected official for 35 years,” Tuck said in an interview with LA School Report. “He’s been part of the education establishment for a very long time. While certainly well intentioned, he’s not making the fundamental changes we need to help our state.”

As an example, Tuck cited Torlakson’s resistance to certain reforms, such as using student test scores to evaluate teachers, which helped cost California a federal waiver from No Child Left Behind regulations. That led eight school districts within the state to join forces, seeking a federal waiver on their own, which was granted earlier this month.

“For the first time ever, the federal Department of Education granted a waiver to individual entities,” said Tuck. “That’s because our State Superintendent wasn’t leading. We needed to go and do that ourselves. Think about the amount of time spent by those districts going around the state.”

Tuck’s campaign sets the stage for another showdown between teachers unions and “school reformers.” As the LA Times‘ Howard Blume pointed out this morning, unions spent $3.9 million to elect Torlakson in 2010.

The primary for State Superintendent will be held in June 2014. The two top vote-getters will then face off in the November general election.

Previous posts: Partnership Head “Exploring” Run for Public Office; Joan Sullivan to Head LA Partnership Schools

Marshall Tuck

Marshall Tuck was 33 when Mayor Antonio VIllaraigosa asked him to leave his position at Green Dot Public Charter Schools to become the first CEO of a new entity called the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools.

Six and a half years later — just a few weeks before Eric Garcetti takes over as the new Mayor of LA — Tuck is stepping down from the position and considering his options.

Tuck told LA School Report the timing of the decision had nothing to do with Villaraigosa leaving office or with Garcetti’s arrival.

“This was a hundred percent personal decision by me,” said Tuck. “The timing has to do with my belief that the organization is in a really strong place… We’re out of the start up-phase. I felt that it’s a good opportunity.”

Tuck doesn’t have any specific job lined up — at least not one that he’ll share with us — although he said he wants to work on making changes to education policy at the state level. He’s also “exploring” the idea of running for public office.

“There’s a lot of talent focused on school systems, but we need more talent focus on driving policy change… in Sacramento,” he said.

Taking Tuck’s place as head of the Partnership will be former Deputy Mayor for Education Joan Sullivan.

Previous posts: Joan Sullivan to Head LA Partnership Schools;  Garcetti’s Education Staffing Plans Unclear; Garcetti Praises Partnership School

Joan Sullivan

Today was Joan Sullivan’s last day as Deputy Mayor for Education, and it turns out she won’t be out of work very long.

That’s because she’s been tapped to take over for Marshall Tuck as the new CEO of Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, which manages 22 schools within LAUSD.

According to a press release, Tuck “chose to leave the Partnership in order to advocate for policies and practices that expand access to quality education for all children. Marshall and Joan will work side by side through the summer to ensure a smooth transition.”

Founded by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in 2007, the Partnership is now a 501(c)(3), meaning it has a board that chooses its own CEO. Sullivan is currently a member of that board.

The timing of the move is somewhat curious in that it comes less than a month before Eric Garcetti is sworn in as Mayor. Although the Partnership is now separate from the mayor’s office, Garcetti may have been hoping to have some say in who heads the non-profit — a source told LA School Report that a member of the Garcetti team emailed him a few days ago asking for suggestions of who should be the new Partnership CEO.

Previous posts: Garcetti’s Education Staffing Plans Unclear; Garcetti Praises Partnership School, Differs with UTLA Poll; New Mayor’s Wife Has School Reform Past; An Unbalanced Breakfast for Mayors Villaraigosa & Garcetti

Candidate Garcetti visits 99th Street Elementary School with Partnership CEO Marshall Tuck

On Wednesday, Mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti toured 99th St. Elementary School, one of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s 22 Partnership for Los Angeles schools.

Appearing at the Watts school with Partnership CEO Marshall Tuck and a handful of others, Garcetti was full of praise for nearly everything he saw.

“This and the other 21 other Partnership schools will be a core part of the educational system in Los Angeles,” said Garcetti, who missed a City Council meeting in order to appear at the school.

However, the Mayoral candidate took issue with several recent education developments, including the recent UTLA poll on LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, the California Democratic Convention resolution against school reform, and the polarizing language Garcetti says is being used by education opponents to mischaracterize each other.

His campaign also told LA School Report that an education-focused debate with opponent Wendy Greuel would likely take place on May 6 or 7.

Garcetti visits 99th St. Elementary’s parent center

During the tour of 99th Street Elementary, Garcetti praised many of the things he saw, including the school’s strong emphasis on the students’ California Standardized Test scores, its “blended learning” classrooms where students use tablet computers, and its parent center, which is furnished by DirectTV.

When asked if he would support a corporate partnership in public schools, he replied, “absolutely.”

“I don’t want to see DirectTV High,” he said with a chuckle, “but absolutely. We have, for too long, seen our corporate partnerships, our community partnerships dwindle.”

The candidate also responded to questions about hot-topic education issues that have been in the news lately.

Asked about State Democratic Party’s recent resolution condemning the efforts of StudentsFirst and Democrats for Education Reform, Garcetti, a Democrat, said: “Resolutions like that, I reject.”

As he’s often done in the past, Garcetti called for a bridge between the two sides of the education divide:

“I think that we have wedged each other too much on education. We’ve turned people who are reformers into privatizers, people who just want to make a buck in schools, and vice versa — people who care about teachers are suddenly painted as union lackeys. There are people who care on both sides of this issue.”

When asked about UTLA’s recent recent straw poll aimed at Superintendent  Deasy, Garcetti said he respectfully disagreed with the union that’s endorsed him.

“I’m a big fan of the Superintendent, I think he’s doing great work,” said Garcetti. He also noted that the results don’t have any direct effect on the district’s leadership.  “At the end of the day it’s the School Board that appoints the Superintendent.”

Garcetti and Tuck outside 99th Street Elementary School

The membership of the School Board is still in flux.  However, Garcetti said he hasn’t yet endorsed a candidate in the District 6 race between union activist Antonio Sanchez and LAUSD teacher Monica Ratliff.

“It’s tough to sit down and have the conversations with candidates while you’re running yourself, and I think endorsements are due at least a conversation,” said Garcetti.

“I’ll see if I have time –– I will, as Mayor, certainly be involved in School Board races.”

Interestingly, Garcetti himself was endorsed by UTLA without being formally interviewed.

Garcetti and his opponent, Wendy Greuel, squared off last night in the second of a long series of debates, which will include a debate solely focused on education on either March 7 or 8, according to a Garcetti spokesman.

Previous posts: Mayoral Candidates Respond Differently to UTLA Vote on Deasy; Greuel Endorses New Teacher Evaluation Plan; Greuel to Garcetti: Let’s Debate Education Today, Garcetti Calls for Education Debate

Photo by Don Liebig / UCLA Luskin

Before and during a Wednesday evening education event held at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, a tired-looking Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa expressed frustration about the previous day’s election results — and pledged to keep working on school reform issues even after his term expires.

“Obviously I was disappointed with the results in the fourth district,” Villaraigosa told LA School Report. “I had hoped Kate Anderson would prevail.”

However, he said he was emboldened by District 2 incumbent Monica Garcia‘s victory and was already rolling up his sleeves to help elect District 6 challenger Antonio Sanchez in the runoff. He cast the election in startlingly personal terms.

“I won one, I’m leading in another, and I lost one,” he said, referring to Tuesday’s outcomes. “And I’m not giving up.”

Photo by Don Liebig / UCLA Luskin

The Mayor had an edge about him the entire evening — at one point criticizing the voters themselves for not handing him mayoral control of the district.

“I love that the LA voter protects their right to vote for school board and then votes at seven percent,” he said sarcastically. (While voter turnout was between 16 and 20 percent on Tuesday, it was lower in the school board races.)

He also went out of his way to take not one but two digs at the LA Times, calling the editorial board’s stance against making A through G curriculum a requirement to graduate “an abomination,” and saying the paper had failed to report all the progress made by LAUSD in recent years.

“You don’t read anything positive in that newspaper,” he said.

Did the Mayor regret soliciting big checks from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Rupert Murdoch?

“Absolutely not,” he said. “The unions get their checks from their members dues. They’ve controlled these elections for a long time. And we’re not gonna let that happen any longer.”

Superintendent John Deasy also defended the outside donations. “I think it’s very affirmational that people want to invest in LA schools,” he said. “I mean, LA is America, only sooner. And we are coming to a hometown near you.”

Peeved or not, Villaraigosa pledged to continue fighting for school reform in Los Angeles after his term as Mayor ends:

“I’ve committed to John and the reformers in this town that I’m gonna be involved in this election cycle, [and] in the next one. I just extended my Partnership Schools another five years. If the next mayor of LA doesn’t want to be involved in them, I’m gonna be.”

He added: “I’m here whether I’m in office as Mayor or not.”

As this recent Huffington Post entry describes (Being Education Mayor Is Different in LA), Villaraigosa never won control of the LA school system but he did start a nonprofit effort to help fix schools, and recruited candidates and supported fundraising efforts for the school board.

However, all that could change with a new Mayor and a new school board next year. Will Villaraigosa seek to lock in his education legacy by staying engaged in the upcoming school board races, or focus on other things instead?  No one seems to know for sure.

Unclaimed Tech Funds Won’t Bail Out L.A. Unified, Deasy Says
L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy on Tuesday said that $10 million in unused technology funds reserved for L.A. Unified will be claimed but would do nothing to ease the district’s current budget woes. LA Times

Munger-funded “Compare and Contrast” Ad Criticizes Prop. 30
In a new 30-second TV ad that circulated today, the rival campaign of Proposition 38 takes pot shots at Prop 30. EdSource

Compton High School Students Walk Out of Class
About 70 students marched out of Compton High School shortly before lunch Tuesday. They protested recent budget cuts that have led to a failing school system that graduates students who can barely read and write. Topping their list of demands: hire more teachers and reduce class size. Some students report that the teacher student ratio is 60-to-1. KPCC

New Data Deal Lets LAUSD Find the Best Learning Tools
The Los Angeles Unified School District has agreed to share a decade of student data in an effort to figure out the best methods for raising student achievement. Ed Source

Sparking Conversations With Creativity
This week, the Los Angeles Fund for Public Education (LA Fund) and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) launched a huge public art project called “Arts Matter” using the work of Barbara Kruger to address the importance of arts education. Wall Street Journal