(Photos courtesy of iStock)

The first half of 2016 brought high stakes and high drama to Los Angeles’ education scene, from dire budget predictions to heated charter debates to attempts at overhauling teacher tenure laws.

There were anniversaries to celebrate along the way — 25 years for both charter schools nationwide and Teach For America — and comings and goings of superintendents, plus the glimmerings of electoral races to come (for the school board’s members and president, LA City Council, mayor and even governor) that promise a starring role for education.

NEW SUPERINTENDENT

The new year started with the announcement that Michelle King had been chosen by a unanimous vote of the school board to be LA Unified’s next superintendent, the first black female ever to lead the district and the first woman since 1929. The three-month nationwide search had ended at home, with an LA Unified “lifer” who was educated in the district and has worked for it for nearly 30 years. King replaced Ramon Cortines, who stepped down at the end of 2015.

King had to immediately grapple with how the district would co-exist with the growing number of charter schools and the school board’s opposition to a plan to significantly increase their numbers. In fact, the day she was confirmed by the board was also the day of the unanimous board vote against an early draft plan to expand charters.

King called for healing, and in her first community town hall she stressed, “It’s not us versus them.” She met three times with the new head of the nonprofit formed to lead the expansion of the city’s high-quality schools, Great Public Schools Now Executive Director Myrna Castrejon, who, like King, was announced in January, is a minority woman and single mother, and stands to have significant impact on the shape and state of education in LA.

King also took on the plummeting graduation rate as well as predictions of a massive deficit within three years, holding a series of special board meetings in May and June to address the predictions and as well as recommendations outlined in a November report by an independent financial review panel.

She presented her first budget in June, which most board members praised, but noted there was much work yet to be done.

“Are we there? No, we’re not there, but we are on a path moving forward in the right direction,” King said as she presented the budget to the board.

“In general, I think that your staff and you have done a good job of trying to meet the needs in the district with the limited funds we have,” board member Monica Ratliff told her.

BUDGET GLOOM

“The future is dire,” is what King heard at the outset of the special meetings on the fiscal health of the district.

Internationally renowned education expert Pedro Noguera of UCLA, hired by the district to advise King and the board and facilitate the special meetings, warned that unless more serious measures are taken, the nation’s second-largest school district is destined to lose more students.

The challenges LA Unified is facing, Noguera said, include declining enrollment because of the growth of charters and demographic shifts, chronically under-performing schools, structural budget deficits and the need to increase public support for schools.

The details were daunting: the budget deficit was projected to reach nearly half a billion dollars in three years; a district audit showed LA Unified debt outstripped assets by $4.2 billion; unfunded pensions topped $13 billion and have more than doubled since 2005; per-pupil funding had doubled but the district still faces financial crisis; and plans for a turnaround included boosting enrollment but not cutting staff. Indeed, even though the district has lost 100,000 students in the last six years, its certified administrative staff has increased 22 percent in the last five years.

While the board in June passed a $7.6 billion balanced budget for 2016-17, it included $15 million for “housed” employees, which have increased to 181. These “teacher jails” are for staff members who are being paid to essentially do nothing while awaiting internal investigations about alleged misconduct, while the district has to hire substitutes to do their jobs.

CHARTERS

The tensions over charters grew increasingly more heated after January’s unanimous vote by the board to oppose the charter expansion plan.

Charter operators contended the district had turned up the heat on them by making charter approvals and revisions increasingly difficult and documented that investigations into charters had increased. The board openly pondered whether the district is unfair to charters.

In May a study funded by the LA teachers union claimed that independent charter schools drain half a billion dollars a year from LA Unified, but the district disputed the report, and its own numbers show LA Unified actually makes money from charters.

The union, UTLA, also stepped up pressure on charters that are co-located on traditional school campuses, with a UTLA-led rally at a school in Chinatown and organizing other rallies districtwide.

Charters and their growth were a recurrent theme at board meetings, as were responses and reports by the California Charter Schools Association, including one that charter schools in the state are excelling at getting historically disadvantaged students into college over traditional schools.

Meanwhile, the district was offering up its own plans to stem declining enrollment, focusing in large part on its popular magnet schools. The board approved a $3 million expansion of magnets, delved into why charters were attracting more federal dollars than magnets and voted unanimously to seek help from outside the district to replicate high-achieving schools, including magnets.

In June Great Public Schools Now revealed its long-awaited plan to increase access to high-quality education for tens of thousands of low-income students in Los Angeles and announced its first three grants, though none directly went to district schools. More grants are expected to be announced in the fall.

GRADUATION RATES

In her first month, King declared it was “all hands on deck” in an internal memo that revealed that only 54 percent of seniors were meeting their A through G requirements and on track to graduate.

A $15 million credit recovery program started in the fall that included online classes and staff interventions was credited with raising the projected rate to 74 percent by the end of the term, topping last year’s rate of 72 percent, while California graduation rates also rose to a new high of 82 percent.

But questions remained about the quality of those online courses, and about the worth of high school diplomas statewide. And while there was much celebration over the improved numbers, still a quarter of all LA Unified seniors, perhaps as many as 10,000, would not celebrating in commencement ceremonies and would be facing uncertain futures.

Even of those graduating and heading to college, a rising percentage find themselves required to take remedial classes, setting them back financially and increasing the likelihood of dropping out.

ACCOUNTABILITY

A three-year dearth of state data on schools continued to have ramifications and cause deep consternation throughout California.

Most responsible for the dearth is Gov. Jerry Brown, who has been one of the foremost critics of federally driven efforts to use data to improve education — leaving researchers and policymakers in the dark and setting up the possibilities of significant consequences for defying federal guidelines.

Felt most notably is the absence of a single-score method of ranking schools. The Academic Performance Index (API), which reported a single score, was discontinued after 2013 as the state transitioned to the Common Core-aligned Smarter Balanced tests, which debuted last year.

Then a new accountability system was released in February, but LA Unified said it wouldn’t even consider it, even though it was one of the six school districts that developed it.

The School Quality Improvement Index was developed by the California Office to Reform Education (CORE) and is a significant jump away from API scores because it represents a far more complex and intricate way of ranking schools and incorporates more than just test scores while also valuing how well the neediest students are performing.

Because the state is developing its own guidelines in the wake of new federal legislation, the CORE data will not be reported again after its initial year, but its creators hope that it will influence the state process.

But the data revealed a trove of insights, which LA School Report documented in a number of deep dives inside the system, calculating the scores of all 714 LA Unified schools entered into the data set (which didn’t include charters) and ranking them.

The new data revealed the best and worst of the district. It showed that the district’s 13 lowest performers are all elementary schools, and it looked at the top and bottom elementary schools, the stark differences among middle schools and the high and low high schools (Harbor Teacher Prep Academy at the top, Jordan High at the bottom).

The lack of data also played a notable role in the drama over 20th Street Elementary School, when LA Unified rejected a parent petition to take over the failing elementary school in South Central Los Angeles, asserting that no California school qualifies as failing under the state “parent trigger” law precisely because data no longer exist, meaning no school could be failing.

TEACHER TENURE AND UNION DUES

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February set off fears of deadlocks and predictions that the Supreme Court could change course on education reform.

Indeed, following Scalia’s death, the Supreme Court split 4-4, upholding mandatory union dues for teachers and other public employees in Rebecca Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which had been called a “life-or-death” case for public employee unions.

Plaintiffs fighting the mandatory dues had been optimistic following January oral arguments, when a 5-4 decision in their favor seemed likely. That calculus changed, however, following Scalia’s death.

A blow to efforts to overhaul California’s teacher tenure laws came in April, when the Court of Appeal overturned a Los Angeles Supreme Court ruling in Vergara v. California, which challenged teacher tenure, layoff laws and dismissal policies. Attorneys representing the students plaintiffs appealed to the California Supreme Court, which must decide whether to take the case by the end of August.

Then in the closing days of June, state lawmakers defeated a bill that would have amended teacher tenure laws and extended the probationary period from two to three years — even after the bill was stripped of its boldest language. The bill, AB 934, had been drafted to address some of the same concerns raised in Vergara.

Brown’s plan to give struggling school districts like LAUSD, which have higher numbers of low-income and English language learner students, higher funding than more successful districts, has divided Democrats in the California legislature. Listen here:

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

“That’s how CTA infamously killed a [2012] law to fire sex-pervert teachers, SB 1530,” LA Weekly writer Matthew Mullins wrote. “A badly watered-down version, AB 375, is alive — because CTA backs it,”

What the LA Weekly didn’t note was that the “badly watered-down” bill moving through the state legislature was amended last week or that LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy has proposed several further changes to make sure that districts have a stronger role in the dismissal process and that teachers who review dismissal cases can be removed if necessary.

In an April 19 letter sent to the bill’s sponsor, Joan Buchanan (D-Alamo), Deasy takes note of the School Board’s recent vote in support of her bill’s intent — and then suggests seveal amendments to strengthen it.

Deasy’s key suggestions include giving districts more discretion on dismissing teachers and loosening eligibility requirements for the people who review dismissal cases on the Commission on Professional Competence. (Read the full letter here.)

In particular, LAUSD wants a bigger role for school districts who employ teachers accused of sexual misconduct. A previous teacher dismissal bill, SB 10, would have given school boards the final decision on dismissals.

In particular, Zazueta says Deasy wants to be sure the teacher dismissal legislation make it easier to find the teachers who serve on the professional competence review panel.

Current law (and the new bill) have limited, very specific requirements about what kind of teachers can review misconduct cases. “Time and time again the biggest hurdle and delay is finding these people. We feel they could improve that and make it easier,” Zazueta said.

LAUSD isn’t the only one looking to modify the Buchanan proposal.  Other education advocates remain skeptical of the bill even if they still haven’t concluded whether they support it or not — in part because it’s already being amended in Sacramento.

“At face value, some amendments to the bill seem like they’re working on our concerns,” EdVoice CEO Bill Lucia told LA School Report, referring to a series of amendments that were adopted last week.  “But we still have concerns, so I can’t say at all whether we’re leaning toward support.”

Previous posts: Assemblymember Bloom Opposes Teacher Dismissal Bill; Mixed Reactions to New Teacher Dismissal Bill; Teacher Misconduct Proposal Wins Unexpected Support

L.A. School Reform Effort Draws Diverse Group of Wealthy Donors
Republicans, liberals, Hollywood notables and global corporate executives are among those who gave to the Coalition for School Reform. LA Times

LAUSD Chief John Deasy Draws Fire as He Pursues Aggressive Reform Plan
The reforms that Deasy enacted – and just how aggressively he’s pursued them – have put the fast-talking New Englander at the center of a heated debate over the future of the nation’s second-largest school district. LA Daily News

Interest in Teaching Continues to Drop in California
Interest in teaching is steadily dropping in California, with the number of educators earning a teaching credential dipping by 12% last year — marking the eighth straight annual decline. LA Times
See also: EdSource

A To-Do List for L.A.’s Next Mayor
I want the next mayor to be an education mayor, but not by simply operating his or her own network of schools. I’d like the mayor to create an Office of City Schools to provide a one-stop informational shop for families. LA Times Opinion (Gloria Romero)

Villaraigosa’s Legacy
Throughout Villaraigosa’s tenure, there has consistently been a sense that he has fallen short of his potential and delivered less than he promised. LA Times (Jim Newton)

Race for Campaign Cash; Mayor’s Race Exceed $10 Million
In the Los Angeles Unified School District board campaigns, the primary race for the District 6 seat had generated more than $1.2 million in donations, but in the runoff, contributions are off to a slow start. LA Daily News

As Nation’s Schools Get More Diverse, Instruction of Students Learning English Remains Bleak
Of all the challenges facing minority students and their schools, English learners are arguably the most disadvantaged. It’s hard to find enough teachers who are qualified to instruct them, and there’s little consistency in the programs used to educate them. AP

Growing Charter Network Under SBE Draws Interest From Lawmakers
A sharp increase in the number of charter schools petitioning – and receiving – permission to open from the California State Board of Education has attracted the attention of the Legislature. SI&A Cabinet Report

California Pension Fund to Divest From Gunmakers
California’s pension fund for teachers made official on Friday its plan to divest holdings in firearms companies whose weapons are illegal in the state. Reuters

Robot Experiment Coming to Los Angeles Classrooms
A dragon-like robot will soon grace the classrooms of one Los Angeles elementary school in hopes of helping first-graders adopt healthier eating habits. KPCC

California High Schools Are Sick of the Coachella Cut Day ‘Mess’
In L.A., administrators and teachers at some of the top schools that have struggled to contend with the empty classrooms of Coachella Fridays are finally learning how to deal with absence in the age of the music festival. Atlantic

LAUSD Manager Scot Graham Suing District Regarding Alleged Harassment
A Los Angeles Unified School District manager is suing his employer, alleging the district failed to prevent former Superintendent Ramon Cortines from sexually harassing him. Scot Graham’s lawsuit was filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court. LA Daily News

New Program Creates ‘Education Champions’ for Every Foster Child
California is on the leading edge of an innovative effort to give foster children a fighting chance in school.  A new national initiative to provide a trained adult to act as an education advocate for every foster child in the nation was recently launched in Santa Cruz County, which is piloting the program in California. EdSource

Elise Buik, president of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, wants the mayor to help the district “replicate high-performance schools and transform low-performing schools more quickly.”

Marshall Tuck, CEO of Partnership for LA Schools, wants to know if the future mayor understands the state of LA schools and what they need to succeed:

And Gloria Romero, director of California’s Democrats for Education Reform, wants the new mayor to have more direct involvement in all LA schools — not just the lowest performing ones:

You can also read and listen to the full story at KPCC.

The positive takeaway is that even three years ago (which is when the data used in this interactive was sampled), LAUSD’s rate of suspensions and expulsions was lower than in many other school districts in the nation.

While San Fernando High, the Los Angeles school with the highest suspension rate, had suspended 24 percent of its students, other schools in states like Georgia and Alabama were suspending 80 to 100 percent of their students.

But that doesn’t mean school discipline in LAUSD is in a good place — as LA School Report mentioned Tuesday, a host of recent studies on discipline policies in LA schools show, minority students are targeted for suspension and expulsion in far higher numbers than their white peers, and that high schools in Los Angeles vary widely in what percentage of students they suspend.

Previous posts:  Linking Suspensions and Health Risks; Suspension Rates Vary Widely Among Schools

The new report, which looked at middle and high schools across the country, finds significant discipline gaps between white, black, and Hispanic students. In Los Angeles, suspension rates vary school-to-school: The study found 54 high schools with large suspension numbers, but the district also had 81 high schools with low suspension rates.

The discipline gap is nationwide: “The report found that one in three black middle school males were suspended once or more during the school year,” the Huffington Post reported. “The numbers were worse for racial minorities with disabilities: 36 percent of black students with disabilities in secondary school were suspended at least once.”

According to KPCC’s coverage of the suspension report, “Researchers found that while suspension rates for Asian and white students remained largely unchanged between 1973 and 2010, suspension rates for African-American and Latino students doubled.”

According an Education Week interview with one of the researchers involved in the report, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Chicago are districts that have many schools with high suspension rates.

LA School Report has already noted that a 2012 study from the California Endowment that examined LAUSD and two other California districts found that high suspension rates are correlated with low academic achievement, higher crime rates, higher school dropout rates, and ultimately higher health risks.

Teacher Dismissal Bill Off and Running With Committee Approval
A bill intended to make it quicker and less costly to dismiss teachers received a 7-0 approval from the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday, and its author – the chair of the committee, Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo – received much praise from her colleagues for taking on a contentious issue. EdSource
See also: Sac Bee

Calif. Districts’ Waiver Bid Now in Review Phase
The U.S. Department of Education and a band of outside peer reviewers are now weighing the details of a precedent-setting waiver application from nine districts in California that want flexibility under the No Child Left Behind Act even though their state’s bid for a waiver was unsuccessful. EdWeek

L.A. Unified Filling Security Jobs Created After Newtown Shooting
Los Angeles Unified has hired more than 750 security aides in response to the 26 deaths at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. About 250 openings remain. LA Times

California’s Prop 30 Gains Could Be Eaten Up by Crisis in Teacher Pension System
A recent report from the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office found a $70 billion shortfall in state teachers’ retirement plans — and that deficit has the potential to suck up a significant amount of Prop 30 revenue. HuffPo

Atlanta Cheating Scandal Reverberates
The criminal indictments last week of retired Atlanta schools Superintendent Beverly L. Hall and 34 other educators for their alleged roles in a far-reaching cheating scandal could have widespread fallout and potentially undermine efforts in other school districts to improve the academic achievement of poor and minority students, according to education leaders. EdWeek

Winners of Head Start Grant Re-Competition Announced
Every one of the four California Head Start operators required to compete for their federal grant in a new process aimed at improving program quality was told Tuesday that their grant had been renewed. But some of those grants will be smaller next year, as the money will now be divided between additional grantees. EdSource

Educators and Safety Experts Reject NRA-Funded Plan
Leading educational and school safety groups rejected key recommendations of a National Rifle Association-funded school safety report released Tuesday. MSNBC

5 Disruptive Education Trends That Address American Inequality
Fixing how we teach our children is of paramount importance. What if the solution also started to fix America’s broader socioeconomic problems? New ways of thinking about edtech just might start that process. Co.Exist

Calif. Bill Would Require Panic Alarms in Schools
Lawmakers gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a bill that would require panic alarms to be installed throughout school campuses in California, but only if the federal government pays for it. AP

School-to-Prison Pipeline Presents Growing Concern for Administrators
Federal mediators and public school administrators in Meridian, Miss., have reached a landmark agreement to launch a rewards-based disciplinary plan, aimed at keeping in the classroom more black students who routinely received harsher disciplinary action when accused of relatively minor infractions. LA Daily News

An Urban School District That Works — Without Miracles or Teach For America
Union City makes an unlikely poster child for education reform. It’s a poor community with an unemployment rate 60 percent higher than the national average. Three-quarters of the students live in homes where only Spanish is spoken. A quarter are thought to be undocumented, living in fear of deportation. WaPo Opinion

California’s Largest Teachers Union Now Backs Bill to Ease Firing
Districts have long complained that the process is cumbersome and expensive, but unions have stridently fought attempts to change it.  Union leaders say the new proposal would shorten the dismissal process in a way that still allows charges against teachers to be handled fairly. San Jose Mercury News

Want to Teach Better? New Study Says Use Your Hands
One key to more effective teaching could be as simple as talking with your hands, according to a new study from the University of Iowa and Michigan State University. KPCC

Final Count in L.A. Election Due Tuesday After Three-Week Delay
Three weeks after the Los Angeles primary election, the city will announce the final vote count Tuesday in races for mayor, City Council and other local offices. LA Times

State Still Has a Role in Supporting and Holding Districts Accountable
With the passage of Proposition 30 and almost nine out of 10 local ballot measures last November, the voters of California gave our schools an almost unprecedented chance to begin rebuilding after years of budget cuts. EdSource Commentary

Students Would Do Well to Learn Cursive, Advocate Says
For many, cursive handwriting is a thing of the past, an archaic method taught in the days before keyboards and touch screens. But some argue that writing longhand could help in placement exams. LA Times

Three Former Wilmington Elementary School Students File Suit Alleging Abuse
A lawsuit filed Friday on behalf of three former students at Wilmington’s George De La Torre Jr. Elementary School alleges they were sexually abused by their fourth-grade teacher and that school district officials engaged in a cover-up. Daily Breeze

On the School of Second Chances: a Q&A With Mike Rose
Each spring across America, thousands of students who once lagged behind their peers get accepted to top-notch universities, thanks to what author Mike Rose calls “second chance” learning. LA Times

LiveSchool Behavior Tracking App Helps KIPP LA Shift School Culture
KIPP LA middle schools have a powerful tool in a behavior-tracking app that helps reward students for good choices and build a school culture that supports learning. PR Newswire

With GOP Advocate, Ed. Issues Could Gain Steam in Congress
Education issues—which haven’t gotten a lot of attention from Congress over the past four years—may have picked up an unlikely but powerful advocate: U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor. EdWeek

Schools Struggle to Provide Dental Health Safety Net
Hundreds of thousands of low-income children suffering from dental disease, some with teeth rotted to the gum line, are presenting California school districts with a widespread public health problem. EdSource

U.S. Ed Department Agrees to Review 9 Districts’ Plan for NCLB Waiver
The nine California districts seeking a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind Law have got their foot in the door. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it has accepted their waiver application and will treat it as they would an application from other states, with a formal review. EdSource

Bill Clinton Picks Wendy Greuel as L.A.’s Next Mayor
When a city’s schools fail the city fails. The next generation of L.A.’s job creators will create jobs in cities other than Los Angeles. The next Mayor of Los Angeles is going to have his or her hands full. LA Daily News Column

Miramonte Plaintiffs Want 2013 Trial; LAUSD’s 2014 Trial Request Rejected
The families of students allegedly abused at Miramonte Elementary School are pressing ahead with their demand for a trial. There was a court organizing session Tuesday as they move toward a trial. ABC LA

Banned Youth Football League Brings Concerns to County Board
Parents and players from the East L.A. Bobcats, a youth football league banned from county parks after gang-affiliated adult fans got in a fight that led to a fatal stabbing, called on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to allow the children to return to Salazar Park. LA Times

Congress Tweaks State Special Education Spending Mandates
States that run afoul of federal rules for special education funding will be punished—though not forever—under a technical, but important tweak to state maintenance of effort under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. EdWeek

Why We Can’t Threaten Our Way to Better Schools
While NCLB’s punitive approach has been softened to some extent by the Obama administration, the law’s philosophy has not. Diminished funding, school closings, turnarounds, takeovers, vouchers and the privatization of schools proliferate in a contemporary wave of reforms taking urban districts by storm. Hechinger Report Opinion

California Schools Chief to Deliver Annual Address in Lawndale
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson will deliver his annual “State of the State of California Education” address Thursday at the Centinela Valley Center for the Arts auditorium in Lawndale. Daily Breeze

Sun Valley’s Francis Polytechnic High to Convert to Innovative Pilot School
Francis Polytechnic High in Sun Valley will become the first LAUSD campus to convert to a pilot school, which offers greater freedom in scheduling and instruction but also requires teachers to commit annually to the reforms taking place. LA Daily News

LAUSD Teams up With Other Districts to Serve Cheaper, Healthier Lunches
The Los Angeles Unified School District has teamed up with five other large school districts to save money and serve a higher quality menu to students. CBS LA

California Teacher Fund Needs $4.5 Billion Yearly Boost
The California State Teachers’ Retirement System’s $73 billion unfunded liability may be the state’s “most difficult fiscal challenge” and lawmakers should increase funding for the second-largest U.S. pension, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said. Bloomberg
See also: AP

LAUSD Preschools to Get $7 Million in Security Upgrades
More than six dozen Los Angeles Unified preschools will get safety upgrades, including security gates equipped with video cameras, under a $7 million plan approved Tuesday by the school board. LA Daily News

More States Consider ‘Parent Trigger’ Laws
So far, outside of California, no school has been the subject of a parent-trigger petition in any state. (In California, a bill is under consideration to expand the number of schools eligible for the parent trigger.) EdWeek

New Teacher Assessment: Much Promise, Many Questions
Even if you follow education issues closely, you may have missed the rapid rise of this new assessment to evaluate prospective teachers. EdSource Commentary

New California Public School Reading List Includes LGBT-Friendly Books
The California Department of Education this week released its latest list of recommended reading for K-12 students, including some newly published works that address immigration and sexual identity issues. LA Daily News

Ed Committee Backs Crackdown on Interest-Deferred Bonds
Despite opposition from several education organizations, the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday voted 6-0 for a bill that would severely restrict school districts’ ability to float construction bonds that would saddle future taxpayers with huge balloon payments. EdSource

Superintendent John Deasy

The teachers union’s on-again, off-again plan to survey its members on what they think about LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy’s job performance is back on again.

However, this time around the union has a much stronger idea of what kinds of negative views its members should express.

The union first mentioned in January that it planned to survey members about Deasy. At the time, the survey was described in neutral terms: “UTLA members will have the opportunity to rate Superintendent Deasy’s performance.” Less than a month later, UTLA postponed the survey without any explanation.

This time around, the union isn’t being shy about the negative view it has of Deasy and how it hopes its members share a similar perspective: “Time and again, Superintendent Deasy makes decisions that short-change students for the benefit of his private agenda,” the union says on its website. In its newsletter, UTLA urges members to email if they have examples of how “Deasy’s decisions have hurt our schools.”

In April, union members will also vote on an initiative that would call for union leadership to more aggressively oppose Deasy. LA School Report has reached out to UTLA again to get more information. We’ll update you when we hear back.

Previous posts: Union Surveys Members About Deasy; UTLA Calls Off Survey on Deasy; April Vote Will Highlight Union Factions

Most State Board members Back Districts’ NCLB Waiver
A majority of State Board of Education members expressed strong support at their meeting Thursday for a consortium of districts’ unconventional request for a waiver from constraints of the federal No Child Left Behind law. EdSource

Aspire Surrenders Benefit Charter Status Under Settlement Terms
Aspire Charter Schools will surrender its statewide benefit charter status under terms of a settlement agreement reached today between the charter operator, the state board of education and the group of education advocates that brought the lawsuit. SI&A Cabinet Report

Teacher Evaluations: We’ve Got to Come up With a Better System
Two years ago we all jumped up and down against the emergence of Academic Growth Over Time (AGT), which is a prediction of student performance on the California Standards Test (CST).  Compared to raw test scores, AGT looks pretty good. TakePart Op-Ed

L.A. Chief John Deasy: Depoliticize Education Research
John Deasy, the superintendent of Los Angeles public schools, opened the annual meeting of the Association of Education Finance and Policy here today with a call for researchers to help school and district administrators making decisions in hot political environments. EdWeek

Have Charter Schools Grown Too Fast?
After two decades of offering educational choice to families, leaders of the charter-school movement in California are touting accomplishments but also calling for higher standards in light of some underperforming and mismanaged schools. San Diego Union Tribune

Stemming the Tide of English-Learner Dropouts
English-language learners are two times more likely to drop out of school than their peers who are either native English speakers or former ELLs who have become fluent in the language—a trend that, if unabated, will have far-reaching negative consequences, says a new report. EdWeek

Thousands in Los Angeles Marathon Will Test the Luck of the Irish on St. Patrick’s Day 
Ortega has been training for six months with Students Run L.A., an organization that challenges 1,300 youth within the Los Angeles Unified School district to finish the marathon. San Bernadino Sun

In Los Angeles, Focusing on Violence Before It Occurs
In the days after the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., Tony Beliz and his staff at the county’s mental health department here made a series of calls. New York Times

Pilot schools are the most flexible of three “autonomy models” agreed to under a 2011 agreement between the district and the teachers union — a relatively new alternative to both semi-autonomous charter schools (that usually lack a collective bargaining agreement for teachers) and also to the parent trigger process (through which parents petition the district to implement changes).

Pilot schools aren’t generally the model favored by the teachers union, notes LAUSD’s Rachel Bonkovsky, who is helping to oversee implementation of the various autonomy models. “The union is pretty staunch in not favoring pilots,” she said.

But the school-level interest in creating pilots has been higher than expected. “Sometimes you hear the union central message, and you don’t hear what individual, local schools are saying,” Bonkovsky says.

A Hard-Fought Compromise

The three autonomy models are the result of a hard-fought agreement negotiated in late 2011 between LAUSD and the teachers union.

As a part of negotiations, Superintendent John Deasy modified the original Public School Choice (PSC) program, which had allowed outside operators like charters to submit bids to turn around failing LAUSD schools.

In return, the teachers union agreed to lift a previously negotiated 30-school cap on the expansion of “pilot schools” and signed off on the Local School Stabilization and Empowerment Initiative (LSSEI) agreement.

There are three different kinds of autonomy models as established by the LSSEI agreement: pilot schools, which offer the most flexibility as compared to a traditional district school; Local Initiative Schools (LIS), which offer moderate flexibility; and Expanded School-Based Model Management (ESBMM) schools, which differ somewhat from regular district schools, but in less dramatic ways.

Pilot schools

Of the three autonomy models, pilots are the most flexible option because their teachers, though still represented by UTLA, must sign an “elect-to-work” contract that requires them to put in more hours on the job and participate in supplementary career training.

In addition to the 12 pilots approved in February, four more new pilots are also poised to go before the Board for approval in March.

LIS schools have the power to customize their budgets, teaching methods, curriculum and testing, bell schedules, school organization, discipline rules, and health and safety plans.

While a LIS school can ask its teachers to sign a “commitment to the plan” that expects them to put in extra work and participate in professional development, the agreement doesn’t have the same enforcement power that pilot school elect-to-work agreements have.

Anywhere between five to 10 LIS proposals are expected to be submitted for approval to the district; the final tally depends on how many schools are able to get a 60 percent approval vote from their teachers union-represented staff.

Expanded School-Based Model Management (ESBMM Schools)

ESBMM schools have a more limited set of options they can customize, which include their budgets, staff selection and professional development expectations, curriculum, and bell schedule.

Three applications for ESBMM schools are currently being considered for final approval by Superintendent Deasy; he’s expected to reach a decision in the next month.

Of the three models, ESBMM schools have the least potent reform options, according to Bonkovsky. This is the model that is most favored by the union, as demonstrated by the recent joint press conference UTLA hosted with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) at Woodland Hills Academy, the first school in LAUSD to transform into an ESBMM school, back in 2006.

Teacher Preferences

Pilot proposals outnumber LIS and ESBMM proposals because teachers recognize the perks the pilot model offers, Bonkovsky says: “Even though a teacher has to sign an elect to work agreement, they have a lot of power over it; they get to vote on what goes in [the agreement] each year. And on the site, teachers have a lot of say in their evaluations. So it’s a nice check and balance system.”

Greg Fisher, a teacher at Narbonne High School in the Harbor City area of LA, is one of the leaders of his Small Learning Community’s plan to transform into a pilot school this year. He says the tradeoff of a thinner union contract was worth it because it gives teachers “flexibility and autonomy where the district won’t have much say. Within parameters, we have a lot more control than ever before.”

Fisher concedes, however, that the pilot school model isn’t for everyone: “If there’s a teacher who wants to hide behind the LAUSD-UTLA contract, or if there are teachers who want to do as little as possible, a pilot is not for them.”

Previous posts: Public School Choice 4.0; Beyond Charters; Charter & District School Alternatives

The Mayoral Endorsement That Isn’t
Los Angeles Unified School District board member Tamar Galatzan has spent the last few weeks taping informal interviews with Eric Garcetti, Wendy Greuel, Kevin James, Jan Perry and Emanuel Pleitez, getting their views on public education and what their role would be as mayor. LA Daily News Column

Teachers Training Teachers: It Works in California School District
Jandella Faulkner is a teaching coach in the Long Beach, Calif., school district. Her job is to train a select group of teachers at Edison Elementary. It’s part of a district-wide training system that relies on teachers working with each other to improve classroom practices. NBC News

Second Effort to Limit ‘Willful Defiance’ as Cause to Expel and Suspend
Assemblymember Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) is reintroducing his bill to limit the use of willfully defying authorities or disrupting school activities as a reason to suspend or expel students. EdSource

Southern California Educators, First Responders to Train on “Active Shooter” Scenarios
The L.A. County Office of Education is holding an all-day “active shooter” workshop this Friday. The training, at the agency’s compound in Downey, is designed to educate principals and police who patrol schools on how to react in the worst of all circumstances: an armed intruder  on campus. KPCC

Gym Class Isn’t Just Fun and Games Anymore
On a recent afternoon, the third graders in Sharon Patelsky’s class reviewed words like “acronym,” “clockwise” and “descending,” as well as math concepts like greater than, less than and place values. During gym class. NY Times

Legislation Would Require Carbon Monoxide Alarms in New School Projects
A new law that went into effect at the first of the year requires owners of apartment buildings to install carbon monoxide alarms in each unit. Now, a San Diego County lawmaker wants school districts to make the life-saving monitor a part of any new or modernization project. SI&A Cabinet Report

District, Union Team Up to Solve Budget Crunch
As anyone who has ever sat at either side of a bargaining table can attest, the labor-management relationship is already challenging enough in flush times. But as one Colorado district shows, it is not impossible for district and union leaders to work together to make tough decisions. EdWeek

Senate Plan Would Give Schools More Time to Prepare for Common Core Testing
A leading member of the state Senate has proposed legislation that could give schools significantly more time to prepare students and teachers for assessments based on the new common core curriculum standards. SI&A Cabinet Report

Union Wins Right to Represent Valley Charter School
The Los Angeles teachers union announced Wednesday night that it has won the right to negotiate a contract for teachers and counselors at a West San Fernando Valley charter school. LA Times

Open Letter to New York Mayor Bloomberg
Perhaps I haven’t pleased everyone in my pursuit to make our student’s education a priority, and by eschewing politics to pursue education reform I’ve offended the extremes of the education debate. Venice Patch Op-Ed by LAUSD Board Member Steve Zimmer

Slate Mailer Sleaze in L.A.
If you are on record as ever having voted in an L.A. municipal election, this month your mailbox will jam up with photo-filled mailers in advance of the March 5 primary for mayor, City Council, city attorney, controller, Los Angeles Unified School Board and community college trustees. LA Weekly

For First Time, a ‘Parent Trigger’ Without a Hitch
For the first time, a group of parents has succeeded in pulling a “parent trigger” on a struggling school without resistance. On a 7- 0 vote, the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education on Tuesday afternoon quickly approved a petition to overhaul 24th Street Elementary. Hechinger Report

California Drops Out of ELL Assessment Consortium
California education officials have dropped out of a group of a dozen states that had organized around the need to develop a new English-language proficiency assessment that will measure the language demands of the Common Core State Standards. EdWeek

Beverly Hills High Wins County Academic Decathlon
Beverly Hills High School has won the Los Angeles County Academic Decathlon, earning a spot in the state competition in Sacramento next month. LA Times

Charter School Petition Is Approved
Plans to bring a charter school to Downtown got the green light from the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education this week. LA Downtown News

Changing the Debate on Charter Schools
As charter schools have dominated public discussion on education in the past several years, the debate at times has appeared to be between charter schools for the whole country or no charter schools at all. EdWeek Commentary

Judge May Dismiss Sex Lawsuit Against Former LAUSD Chief Ramon Cortines
A judge said Wednesday he was inclined to grant a motion by lawyers for former Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the educator made unwanted sexual advances to a male LAUSD employee.  LA Daily News

API Rewrite Getting Fast-Tracked, Graduation Rates Come First
Under pressure to quickly add new indicators for school success into the Academic Performance Index, a state advisory panel recommended Tuesday a point-scoring system that would reflect the number of students who’ve graduated. SI&A Cabinet Report

Report Questions Impact of Brown’s Finance Formula on Career Tech
In proposing to give school districts money with fewer strings attached, Gov. Jerry Brown is confident that local school boards and superintendents are best able to make the right decisions so that all students can graduate ready for college and work. A report released today questions that assumption. EdSource