LA Unified is rebuilding early-childhood education programs that were nearly decimated throughout the bleak recession years, investing an additional $30 million through 2016-2017.

In a 6-1 vote Tuesday, the school board agreed to create a pathway for returning funding for the district’s three to four-year-olds, to levels not seen since 2007. By 2012 the budget had been severely reduced with the entire program facing extinction.

The resolution, crafted by board member Bennett Kayser, allocates more than $4.5 million in the current school year to open more slots for students and possibly re-open a handful of shuttered school sites. Another $14 million will be restored in 2015-2016 and $20 million in 2016-2017.

“Funding early education is a proven ‘reform’ that pays direct dividends to our children and community,” Kayser told LA School Report. “Investing on the front-end is always better than trying to do remedial efforts later. I want to thank the LAUSD employees who took furlough days to save the early education program a few years ago. With my motion, we have at best restored funding to 2007-2008 levels; we still need so much more investment early education.”

But Tamar Galatzan, who cast the lone dissenting vote, worries that the money is not guaranteed and the shape of the program is undefined.

“With this resolution, we’ve committed to spend $14 million next year and $20 million more the year after that on early-childhood education without knowing what programs are the most effective or whether those are appropriate amounts to achieve our goals,” she told LA School Report. “We’re counting on this money to come from the feds and the state through competitive grants, so there’s no certainty that we’ll actually get it. If we don’t, we’ll have to pull that money from other programs. Those are going to be difficult decisions to make.”

Educators agree that children in low-income households, who are least likely to attend early education programs, lose ground to their middle class peers by kindergarten. Studies show that gap only widens as they advance through elementary school and can have an effect well into adulthood.

Kayser’s plan also directs the district’s Early Education Division to use the current school year to identify and prioritize early education sites that would most benefit from additional resources once the additional disbursements kick in.

Early education programs at elementary schools with low third grade reading scores that are farthest from an existing early education site will jump to the top of the list for funding along with elementary school with high-concentrations of English Learners and children in foster care. Also, schools with persistent wait lists and located in distressed neighborhoods will get access to resources sooner.

“This is a ground-breaking moment because LAUSD’s resolution represents the largest single investment by a school district in early education in the last decade, as well as the first large-scale investment in early education that includes Local Control Funding Formula dollars,” Kim Patillo Bronson, Director of Educational Equity for the Advancement Project, said in a statement released by the district. “We believe that the achievement gap is a preventable tragedy. We commend LAUSD and Board member Kayser for their bold leadership in investing in a proven prevention strategy: high quality early education.”

*Adds comment from Kim Patillo Bronson

L.A. Unified Fight Focuses on Breakfast Program
Los Angeles Unified will eliminate a classroom breakfast program serving nearly 200,000 children, reject more school police, cut administrators and scale back new construction projects unless the school board votes to approve them, according to Supt. John Deasy. LA Times
See also: LA School Report, Sac Bee, LA Daily News, KPCC

‘Super PACs’ Negate Spending Limits in L.A. Mayor’s Race
As groups raising funds for Greuel and Garcetti pour money into the race — a record $6.1 million so far — voter-approved contribution restrictions become meaningless. LA Times

Eric Garcetti for Mayor
Perhaps most important, Garcetti has demonstrated the capacity to grow, learn and improve his performance. He admits mistakes, such as his vote in favor of a settlement allowing, for a time, virtually unregulated digital billboards. LAT (editorial page)

L.A. Schools Finish One-Two in National Academic Decathlon
After months of preparation, Granada Hills Charter High wins the title for the third straight year. Finishing second was El Camino Real Charter High, a six-time national champion. LA Times
See also: Sac Bee

iPads in School: a Toy or a Tool?
Whether equipping all students with iPads is a gimmick or a great idea, one San Fernando Valley school that’s using them is sold. LA Times Column (Steve Lopez)

Gov. Brown As Robin Hood
His plan to shift money from suburban to urban districts might help disadvantaged students but it could hurt other kids. LA Times Opinion

Want to Build a Better Teacher Evaluation? Ask a Teacher
To generate more effective teaching through evaluations, teachers, principals, and school system leaders need to embrace a culture of ongoing two-way feedback and a commitment to continuous improvement. EdWeek Commentary

School Health Centers Are Not Just for Students
Lack of access to health care is a national problem, but it’s a particular problem in poor neighborhoods like South Los Angeles. California Report

California Legislature Ignoring Teacher Pension Gap
Those who occupy the Capitol have an infinite ability to evade reality, even something as seemingly stark as a huge deficit in the teacher pension system that’s growing, by its own numbers, by $17 million each day.  Sac Bee Opinion

Downey Teacher, Arrested for Allegedly Molesting 3 Girls, Out on Bail
A 55-year-old teacher at a charter school in unincorporated Willowbrook was out on bail Monday after his arrest for allegedly molesting three girls at the school between October 2012 and last March, authorities said. Daily Breeze

California Gets Mediocre Grade for Preschool Access and Quality
California got a mediocre grade in both access to preschool and the quality of the programs in a new study released today by the National Institute for Early Education Research. The state meets only four of the group’s ten benchmarks for quality preschool. KPCC

School Boards Join Movement Against Out-of-School Suspensions
The National School Boards Association has labeled the use of out-of-school suspensions a “crisis” in a new report. EdWeek

Baldwin Park School District Wins #1 Spot in Closing the Achievement Gap
Recently we reported on two schools in the Baldwin Park school district that have unique programs: a high school that helps teenage parents stay in school, and an elementary school where teaching a dual language immersion program is yielding top results. KPCC

Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti Engage in Acrimonious Debate
Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti blasted one another with a torrent of allegations Wednesday night in the most acrimonious debate of the Los Angeles mayor’s race. LA Times

Frustrated Parents Fought to Reclaim Their Kids’ Destiny—And It Worked
The parents of children attending the 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles made history this week. And, in doing so, the use of ‘Parent Trigger’ legislation to ensure parents have a seat at the education decision-making table for their children has gone mainstream. TakePart Op-Ed

Voters Favor Extra Funds for Poor Students but Not English Learners
A majority of Californians support Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to provide additional funding to districts with more low-income and English learner students, according to a newly released poll by the Public Policy Institute of California. EdSource

Students Rally to Support Adult Education Programs
A group of adult education students held a rally Wednesday to demand greater funding for adult education programs. LA Times

New RTTT Competition Announced, Targets Early Learning
The majority of the Obama administration’s remaining 2013 Race to the Top funds – some $370 million – will be available for states looking to develop successful early learning programs for children, according to an announcement Tuesday. SI&A Cabinet Report

Education Advocate Michelle Rhee Fends Off Accusations
Michelle Rhee, head of a group that advocates using student test scores to evaluate teachers, fends off accusations that she failed to pursue evidence of cheating when she ran the D.C. school system. LA Times

Study: Charters Get Less Funding Than Traditional Public Schools
Public charter schools received significantly less funding than traditional public schools in five cities, including the District, between 2007 and 2011, according to a new study released Wednesday. WaPo

CA Legislature Kills Bill to Shield Identities of Armed Teachers
A bill pushed by Assemblyman Tim Donnelly to train and shield armed “school marshals” failed to make it out of the Assembly Education Committee today after a 5-1 vote. Sac Bee

New Analysis Bolsters Case Against Suspension, Researchers Say
The results of a new analysis of out-of-school-suspension data that show staggering rates of the punishment’s use at some schools are even more reason to rethink that common method of disciplining students, researchers said Monday. EdWeek
See also: KPCC, EdSource, Yahoo

LA Unified Off Track to Meet Deadline for College Prep Courses
Los Angeles Unified School District has some work ahead of it to meet its deadline for all students to pass college-preparatory classes in order to graduate. EdSource
See also: LA Daily News

California Federation of Teachers Lobbies Lawmakers
It’s lobby day for the California Federation of Teachers, which means members of the state’s second-biggest teachers union (after the California Teachers Association) are in Sacramento to petition lawmakers. Sac Bee

Shepard Fairey Taps LAUSD Students for Ideas
Fairey is the third high-profile L.A. artist who has signed on to participate in the “Arts Matter” public awareness campaign by the L.A. Fund for Public Education, which plasters artwork on city buses and billboards to help get their message out. LA Times

Targeting Classroom Predators: The Encore
Last June saw one of the rawest displays ever of the power wielded by the half-million-plus members of the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers. SD Union Tribune

LAO Seeks Conditions on Brown’s Surplus Property-Charter Proposal
The governor’s plan to provide charter schools with more access to surplus property appears to have support within the Legislature – but lawmakers also seem interested in conditioning the proposal. SI&A Cabinet Report

Reform Falls Short
Lest there was any doubt, it is now clear that the pension bill Gov. Jerry Brown signed last September was not reform, it was merely a tweak. San Jose Mercury Editorial

Long Beach Has Jumpstart on Transitional Kindergarten
When California school districts were required by state law to start a new early kindergarten class for some 4-year-olds for the first time this year, Long Beach Unified had an easier task than most: to simply expand the existing “preppy kindergarten” program it started five years ago. EdSource

University Conference Hopes to Rally Southland Education Reformers
A TEDx conference at Loyola Marymount University on Saturday seeks to turn the traditional education conference on its head. Organizers believe that competing ideologies, little cooperation, and “finger-pointing” are keeping public schools in Los Angeles from improving. KPCC

U.S. Dept. of Ed. Protesters Turn Fierce Rhetoric on ‘Corporate’ Reform
As they kicked off four days of protests at the U.S. Department of Education, organizers of Occupy DOE 2.0 today used inflammatory—and, in one case, racially insulting—rhetoric to rally opposition against high-stakes testing, “corporate” education reform, and the “dismantling of public education.” EdWeek

Brown’s Funding Plan Faces Vigorous Review – and Speed Bump
The chair of the Assembly Education Committee turned Gov. Jerry Brown’s comprehensive plan for education finance reform into bill form Thursday, ensuring that all aspects will get an extensive review, while raising the possibility that the plan may not pass in time to take effect July 1, as the governor wants. EdSource

LA County Preschool Teachers Honored at Event
Los Angeles Universal Preschool presented its Teacher of the Year Awards to six early childhood educators. ABC LA

Civil Rights, School Groups Rally to Protect Spanish-Language Testing
A critical portion of California’s 1.4 million English learners face academic setback under a plan to suspend most of the state’s student assessments next year, civil rights activists and school advocacy groups say. SI&A Cabinet Report

LA for Youth Holds Concert at City Hall
On April Fool’s Day, the L.A. for Youth campaign gathered for a concert outside of City Hall to make a statement about what they call “foolish” safety policies in schools in Los Angeles. USC Intersections South LA

Bill Would Protect Adult Ed, Career Tech While Extending Local Control
School districts would keep discretion to spend billions of dollars of “categorical” funding  however they want for five more years under a Senate bill that passed its first hurdle in the Legislature on Wednesday. EdSource

Apps and Little Kids: Should We Worry?
Maybe it’s the appeal of swiping or the challenge of Angry Birds, but any parent with a smartphone or tablet can attest to this: the devices are irresistible to children. KPCC

Encino Crespi Leader a ‘Non-Jock’ Who Knows the Score on Sports
Father Tom Batsis admits to not having a sports background. But understanding the role of athletics at Crespi is perhaps why he quickly decided an alum should run the football program. LA Times

Wendy Greuel Re-Starts Campaign With Aggressive Tone
On schools, Greuel said: “I will aggressively and creatively fight to ensure that every dollar is spent in the classroom. I will make sure that our neighborhood teachers, parents and principals are in charge – not downtown bureaucrats.” KPCC (See also LADN)

LAUSD Adds 400 Security Aides at Elementary Schools
Los Angeles Unified has hired more than 440 safety aides to provide security at local elementary schools, part of its plan to bolster campus safety in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings, officials said Tuesday. LA Daily News
See also: CBS LA

NRA Report Sees Guns as Path to Safety in Schools
A National Rifle Association task force released a 225-page report on Tuesday that called for armed police officers, security guards or staff members in every American school, and urged states to loosen gun restrictions to allow trained teachers and administrators to carry weapons. NY Times
See also: LA Times, KPCC

Southland School District Latest to Buy iPads for Every Student
Coachella Valley Unified got the green light Tuesday from the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to spend bond money to put an iPad in every student’s hand and a Macbook in every teacher’s lap. KPCC

Aspire and State Board Give Up Fight Over Controversial Charters
After a six-year legal battle, Aspire Public Schools and the State Board of Education have agreed to give up the permit that enabled Aspire to open a half-dozen charter schools without local district approval. EdSource

Let’s Stop Cheating Our Kids With High-Stakes Testing
The institutionalized cheating and corruption that led to indictments last week of a former Atlanta superintendent and 34 others are stunning, but no aberration. It’s more like the tip of an iceberg, with chilling implications for our children, their teachers, and our public schools. Take Part Op-Ed

Wrestling Down Stereotypes
The wrestlers on the Panorama High girls’ team have broken into a male-dominated sport that doesn’t fully welcome them. They’re breaking up old notions of femininity — in their school, and in their families. LA Times

Do Charter Schools Serve Special-Needs Students?
Policymakers rightly want to know whether charter schools serve their fair share of students with disabilities. The fairest answer may surprise some people, however. In some cases, charter schools serve the same number of special-needs students as their regular public school peers; in others, as many have charged, charters serve fewer of these students. EdWeek Commentary

Listen: Ability Grouping and Tracking Make a Return to U.S. Schools
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Workshop to Help Undocumented Students Stay in U.S. to Be Held at Cleveland High
A free workshop will be held Thursday for undocumented students interested in applying for deferred action so they can remain legally in the United States. LA Daily News

Advocates Launch State Push for Obama’s Early Education Plan
A campaign to support President Barack Obama’s universal preschool initiative was launched in Sacramento on Tuesday by early childhood education advocates, a coalition of superintendents from around the state and Assemblymember Susan Bonilla, D-Concord. EdSource

CTA Goes Hollywood on Teacher Dismissal Bills
An adage in politics is that if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.  Not so for the California Teachers Association, California’s most powerful political special interest. Their mantra seems to be more like, “If you can’t beat ’em, just overtake ’em.” OC Register Column
See also: SD Union-Tribune Editorial

What’s Really Scandalous About the School Testing Scandal
Even if we eliminate all the cheating, what remains is a broken system built on the dangerous misconception that testing is a proxy for actual teaching and learning. Time

What Will New Evaluation Systems Cost?
The cost of new teacher-evaluation systems is likely to vary based on how states and districts choose to establish student-growth measures for all teachers, according to an analysis from a researcher at the Value-Added Research Center. EdWeek

More Teachers Group Students by Ability
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Migrant Program Offers  Lessons for Reaching Latino Preschoolers
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Brown’s K-12 Online Agenda Faces Legislative Scrutiny
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How to Build a Progressive Education Movement
If proponents of progressive education want to become a credible alternative to the education-testing movement, we need to do the hard work of building a robust movement and persuading mainstream America that there is another path forward. EdWeek Commentary

Public School Reformer Michelle Rhee Sends Child to Private School: Should We Care?
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Do Cops With Guns Mean Safer Schools?
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Report: Cheating on Standardized Tests in 75 Percent of U.S. States
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SBE Allows Higher Student/Teacher Ratio for Online Charter Schools
California’s State Board of Education approved waiver requests this month increasing the pupil-to-teacher ratio for independent study students at several online charter schools. SI&A Cabinet Report

Michelle Rhee, ‘a Public School Parent’?
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From the Lunch Line to the Stage: LA Cafeteria Worker Featured in New Play
A new play that tackles healthy eating in schools by following the life of a lunch lady opens tonight. Among the performers is a Los Angeles Unified School District cafeteria worker who will take to the stage for the first time at age 58. KPCC

Inland Empire School District Repeats as Finalist for Academic Prize
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Intern Teachers: Special Ttraining Is Needed to Teach English Learners
magine your family transplanted to a new country. Neither you nor your children speak the local language; the education system functions entirely differently. Who do you want teaching your child: a teacher who knows how to teach both academic subjects and the new language to non-native speakers, or a teacher with little to no training in either?  San Jose Mercury Sun Opinion

California Schools Chief Strikes Tone of Optimism in Annual Address in Lawndale
In a speech addressing the state of education, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson on Thursday celebrated a recent wave of voter-approved taxes that are expected to stabilize a dire education budget, and touted other initiatives that would bring still more tax dollars to public schools. Long Beach Press-Telegram

California Needs to Fill Teachers’ Pension Gap
Last week the Legislative Analyst’s Office told the Legislature it needs to get serious about closing a $73 billion shortfall in the California State Teachers’ Retirement System over the next 30 years.  What would getting serious about closing that gap mean? Inland Valley Daily Bulletin Editorial

Head Start Programs Across the State Cut Services, Children
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School Board Candidates Debate Bloomberg’s $1-Million Donation
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See also: LA School Report

Education Reformers Speak out About Garcetti and Greuel’s Silence on Parent Trigger
After Los Angeles Unified School District board members approved a Parent Trigger earlier this week, mayoral candidates Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel refused to comment on the historic vote, which allows parents to take over a chronically failing elementary school in West Adams. LA Weekly

LAUSD, Deasy Find Solution to Save 200+ Jobs
A last-minute move saved hundreds of Los Angeles Unified School District employees from getting pink slips. ABC LA

FAA Greenlights $1 Lease for LAUSD’s Aviation Mechanics School at Van Nuys Airport
A plan to save a threatened aviation mechanics school at Van Nuys Airport inched toward takeoff this week after a tentative go-ahead from the FAA for a lease proposal. LA Daily News

How Should We Rebuild the U.S. Education System?
A good education is worth investing in—that has always been true. To get some perspective on what a quality learning experience could look like, and how we can turn that vision into reality, I reached out to a few people who are fighting to build a better education system here in the United States. Forbes

A Push For Higher Student Expectations Is Needed for Education in Los Angeles
Recent data out of San Jose Unified School District regarding the implementation of it’s college preparatory coursework, which requires students to complete 15 courses with a C grade or better in order to graduate from high school, has led many skeptics and traditional opposition voices to question the model’s effectiveness, and locally, whether L.A. Unified officials were too quick to adopt the new policy. SF Chronicle Commentary

President Unveils Plan for Expanding Early Childhood Education
Two days after President Barack Obama’s State of the Union vow to work toward universal high-quality preschool, the White House released its plan early Thursday morning. KPCC

Obama’s Expanded Preschool Plan Likely to Be Costly
President Barack Obama has yet to issue any cost estimates for his proposal to expand access to preschool for 4-year-olds, but there is one certainty should Congress approve the program: It will be expensive. EdSource