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LAUSD School Board to Consider Laying Off Nearly 200
The Los Angeles Unified School Board will take up whether to lay off 194 staff in the 2013-14 school year. KPCC
See also: FOX LA, KTLA, LA School Report
L.A. Unified Aviation Training Center Gets $100,000 Donation
The mechanics vocational school had been facing closure or relocation after 40 years at Van Nuys Airport because of budget cuts and a rent increase. The gift will keep it going at least a year. LA Times See also: LA Daily News
School Safety Takes More Than Guns
Here in Los Angeles, we have increased police patrols in schools and this week, Superintendent John Deasy will put a proposal before the School Board to hire 1,087 new part-time aides at elementary, middle, and span campuses. GOOD Op-Ed by LAUSD Board Member Steve Zimmer
Education Content in State of The Union Likely to Focus on Littlest Learners
President Barack Obama made K-12 education a major component of his 2012 State of the Union Address — so much so that the topic garnered the most traffic on sites like Twitter. But this year, education advocates are expecting something entirely different. HuffPo
The Secret to Fixing Bad Schools
What would it really take to give students a first-rate education? Some argue that our schools are irremediably broken and that charter schools offer the only solution. The striking achievement of Union City, N.J. argues for reinventing the public schools we have. NY Times Op-Ed
CalSTRS Board to Forward Options for Saving Teacher Pensions
The Legislature has avoided action for a decade, and Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget forecast for education, with healthy projections for revenue, doesn’t take into account the daunting cost of teachers’ pensions on the expense side of the ledger. EdSource
How the President Should Address the State of Our Nation’s Schools
From my perspective as superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) — widely recognized as the most improved in California in spite of so many kids living in poverty in the state — here are some recommendations for addressing the needs of every American child regardless of where they come from. HuffPo Op-Ed
California Buoyed by Revenue Gains, Ratings Uptick – but Challenges Remain
Despite a spate of good news for California tax collectors late last week, some economists remain skeptical that a full-blown recovery is underway and indeed, that it also still can’t be sidetracked. SI&A Cabinet Report
Eric Garcetti and My Post-Obama Blues
Garcetti answered, “We need to stop bashing teachers.” He went on. Scapegoating, he said, is not the way to improve public education. And neither is privatizing the LAUSD. Some charter schools work well, he said, some don’t. HuffPo Op-Ed
Charters Struggle With Staffing Like Traditional Schools, Study Finds
Charter schools experiment with split work schedules, extended days, and a host of other staffing policies, but a study in the current issue of Education Finance and Policy suggests that they still struggle as much as traditional public schools to keep their best teachers and get rid of the ones who aren’t effective. EdWeek
Uncovering the Lost Treasures of the LAUSD Archives
Remaining under the radar and avoiding questions regarding the existence of an art and antiquities archive in LAUSD has served as a mode of survival. KCET