FOUR VOTES NEEDED (AND ITS PUBLIC)
When the board meets behind closed-doors on Oct. 21 at least four members must approve of Deasy’s performance to extend his contract beyond its current expiration, in 2016.  Ditto for ousting Deasy — a consensus of four is a tall order for a fractured board, long plagued by in-fighting and competing ideologies. According to our math (see below) there are not many signs that four members are seeing eye to eye – especially when they know the vote would have to be made public.

LOOMING ELECTION
The variables at play for each board member on ‘the Deasy question’ can be reduced to the election next March, when four of the seven members must defend their seats. School board elections can cost millions, pitting the teachers union against a coalition of SEIU and reform groups. Board members and even the teachers union, may want to avoid having Deasy’s departure become a campaign issue.

STUDENTS HAVE MADE PROGRESS
To complicate matters, the district has shown improvement under Deasy, and while the teachers union may condemn him, his policies and stances seem to be popular with the public, including his pivotal support of the Vergara lawsuit last year that challenged teacher tenure laws. He has modernized, streamlined and reorganized at LAUSD, prevailed under dismal economic conditions and formulated a budget this year that was praised publicly by every single board member.

BOARD OWNS iPAD CONTROVERSY TOO
Like it or not, the school board was complicit in every phase of the now controversial initiative to purchase iPads for LAUSD students.  While Deasy is taking heat for his push to put iPads in the classroom, the board supported him in the effort, voting unanimously as recently as January to approve Phase II of the rollout. The board may now find it hard to make iPads an excuse for ousting him.

DEASY MAY LEAVE FIRST
Deasy has told close confidants that he is fed up with the hostility on the board, and is concerned about his health. The LA Times reports talks have been underway, and reaching an agreement would enable both sides to announce an amiable parting, leaving the ugliness of recent months behind them. This is the option that would suit his detractors on the board just fine.

 WHERE DO BOARD MEMBERS STAND ON JOHN DEASY?

Bennett Kayser
District 5 (Griffith Park, Huntington Park)
Kayser, a former science teacher, who was elected in 2011 with the help of more than a million dollars from the teachers union, is considered Deasy’s staunchest opponent. He has voiced opposition to most of the Deasy-led reforms including expanding school choice options and charter schools. He surprised members of the board when he circulated a memo more than a year ago asking for a Deasy succession plan. Kayser is up for re-election in March against three opponents.

Monica Ratliff
District 6 (East San Fernando Valley)
One of the most recent additions to the school board, Ratliff, a former lawyer and 5th grade teacher, was elected with the support of the teachers union. She was the only abstention last year at Deasy’s performance review. Despite voting to support Phase 2 of the iPad rollout, Ratliff has emerged as the program’s most vocal critic. In August, she released a report highly critical of Deasy’s role in the program. Deasy issued a memo calling Ratliff’s report, “false and misleading.”  

Tamar Galatzan
District 3 (West Valley, Sherman Oaks)
The only board member with children enrolled in the district, Galatzan was elected in 2007 with the help of then Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and a coalition of education reformers. Re-elected in 2011, Galatzan has consistently supported Deasy-led initiatives including increased school autonomy and expanding school choice. Galatzan is up for relection in March, facing at least four opponents.

Monica Garcia
District 2 (Downtown, East Los Angeles)
First elected in a special election in 2006, Garcia ran unopposed in 2009 and won easily again in 2013 with the help of reform groups. Calling her newsletter ‘the Cradle of Reform’, Garcia is an unabashed booster of school choice, charter school expansion and a staunch supporter of Deasy. She served as the president of the school board for six years, including when Deasy was first hired as superintendent.

Richard Vladovic
District 7 (East LA, San Pedro)
A former teacher and principal, Vladovic was first elected in 2007 and again in 2011 with the help of reform groups and then Mayor Antontio Villaraigosa. While lately Vladovic has become a less predictable supporter of reform efforts and of the superintendent, he is up for re-election in March and may want to be cautious. Last year, he cast his vote to support Deasy on the same day his colleagues on the board were deciding whether or not to censure Vladovic for alleged sexual harassment.

George McKenna
District 1 (South LA)
The most recent addition to the school board, McKenna was elected last August in a special election with the support of the teachers union. He has publicly criticized Deasy for his handling of a sex abuse case at Miramonte elementary school where Deasy removed the entire staff after a teacher was accused of lewd conduct. The teacher was later convicted and most of the staff returned. McKenna himself was the area supervisor at the time.  While sources say McKenna is not an ally of Deasy’s, he did tell the LA Times that he would let Deasy serve out his contract, and he is facing an election in March.

Steve Zimmer
District 4 (West LA, Hollywood)
A former teacher, Zimmer was elected first in 2009 and again in 2013 after a bruising battle against a reform-funded candidate. While considered friendly to many reform initiatives he was elected with financial help from the teachers union. Often seen as a swing vote on the board, Zimmer avoids picking sides, and frequently steps in to play the role of conciliator in a controversy. Last year, Zimmer came out publicly to support Deasy before his review. This year, according to a source, while he would like to avoid a vote – he might not be willing to pull the trigger in a tie-breaker.

California test scores dip slightly but L.A. Unified holds steady
California students scored slightly lower in math and English on standardized tests this year, the first dip since 2004, in what education officials Thursday blamed in part on brutal budget cuts over the last several years. But Los Angeles Unified School District students posted small gains in math, the best performance among the state’s 10 largest school districts, and had a smaller dip in English than their peers statewide. LA Times

Los Angeles Schools Plan Bonds for iPads
Los Angeles Unified School District will be among the first to use long-term financing to provide students with iPads when it goes to market next year on a $50 million bond sale to pay for the tablets and wireless infrastructure for 47 schools. The Bond Buyer

Those Federal School Waivers: It Ain’t Over Yet
The waivers that eight large California school districts got this week from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan are yet another measure of the power of the federal law they tried to escape from. The law has been cumbersome and stupid enough to prompt them — and many states — to seek better ways to pursue the same, or better, goals. But the waivers are not the end of this odyssey; they’re barely the beginning. EdSource

NCLB Waiver in Hand, CORE Districts Move Ahead

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan provoked a lot of strong opinions when he granted a precedent-setting waiver under the No Child Left Behind Act to eight California districts last week. These “CORE” (for California Office to Reform Education) districts now have sweeping flexibility to implement their own accountability systems, separate from the state of California’s, and the ability to largely police themselves with help from a new independent oversight panel. There are many questions this waiver is sparking. EdWeek

Six Questions About California CORE Districts’ Waiver
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan provoked a lot of strong opinions when he granted a precedent-setting waiver under the No Child Left Behind Act to eight California districts last week. These “CORE” (for California Office to Reform Education) districts now have sweeping flexibility to implement their own accountability systems, separate from the state of California’s, and the ability to largely police themselves with help from a new independent oversight panel. There are many questions this waiver is sparking. EdWeek

The tablet protest inspired some pretty good t-shirts, but it couldn’t stop the vote

On the grounds that wireless internet radiation “causes cancer,” six people showed up to Tuesday’s School Board meeting to protest a $500 million plan that will give all students and teachers portable computing devices by 2014.

But it was all to no avail.

In a strangely contention-less meeting — the last before the March 5 elections — the LAUSD School Board voted 6-0 to approve phase one of the technology plan.

During the meeting, the Board also voted to save the 208 employees that were threatened with layoffs; to approve 24th St. Elementary’s parent trigger petition; and to approve 12 new pilot schools.

Tablets Approved

The Board vote on tablets means that students at 47 schools will get computing devices, at a cost of $50 million, paid for out of leftover bond money (see District statement here; see Daily News story here).

Layoffs Averted

The most anticipated item of the day (and the one the TV crews were there to report on) — a proposal to lay off 208 counselors, social workers and librarians funded by local schools and grant money — was dispensed with almost immediately.The Board voted quickly and unanimously to fund the positions centrally, thus saving them. (See also KPCC.) No reason was given for the abrupt about-face.

The teachers union had been vocal in their opposition to the proposal, perhaps oddly considering that most of the positions are not part of their union.

“We are gratified the District is finally taking a first step toward keeping the promise to voters,” said UTLA President Warren Fletcher in a statement, alluding to Prop 30. The statement also said that UTLA would be asking for “salary increases to make up for four years of furloughs and six years without a raise.”

School board member Nury Martinez, who was mysteriously absent for the first couple of hours of the meeting, showed up right after the vote, although she later added her abstention retroactively.

Parent Trigger

Another of day’s biggest stories flew completely under the radar: Twenty-fourth Street Elementary’s parent trigger petition passed unanimously and without any comment — a  stark contrast to the previous two trigger petitions, which were opposed by by Compton Unified and Adelanto Unified school boards.

“With their unanimous vote, the LAUSD Board has given its full support to transform our school — and give our children the opportunity for a better education,” said Amabilia Villeda, one of the lead parent organizers, in a statement.

Parents at the school are currently interviewing operators for their school, some of which are charters.

Left: Parent Revolution’s Ben Austin and school board member Dr. Richard Vladovic tell parents outside the meeting about the vote; Right: The parents cheer

Term Limits, Recusals, and Dual Language Votes Postponed

A number of anticipated votes were postponed: Board Member Margeurite LaMotte’s term-limits proposal, Board Member Bennett Kayser’s motion to bar board members from voting on charter schools they’ve taken donations from, and Board Member Steve Zimmer‘s proposal to expand dual language learning.

Board member Tamar Galatzan voiced opposition to Zimmer’s motion, saying that the programs weren’t ready for expansion. “I don’t know how the board could call for the programs’ expansions,” she said. “We don’t have assessment tests written yet. We don’t know if the kids are learning.”

A parent outside the meeting holds up a sign in support of Green Dot’s Locke

Charter and Pilot Approvals

The Board voted unanimously to approve 12 new pilot schools, and voted to approve and renew a number of charter schools, including Green Dot’s Ánimo Locke College Preparatory Academy.

Metro Charter School was approved, 5-1 with Zimmer casting the sole vote against its creation.

No charter approval was rejected, although Renaissance Arts Academy’s request to expand from a 6th to 12th grade school to a K-12 school was rejected by a 3-3 vote, Dr. Vladovic having left the meeting.

Corri Ravare of the California Charter School Association told LA School Report that the vote would most likely result in the school moving its operating jurisdiction to LA County.

Budget Outlook

During the meeting, Superintendent John Deasy reiterated his support for Governor Jerry Brown’s “weighted funding” proposal, which would reconfigure how state funds are passed down to school districts.

Deasy said the proposal would mean more money for LAUSD.

“K-12 funding is rebuilding,” thanks to Prop. 30 money and the state “paying down its deferrals,” said Megan Reilly, Chief Financial Officer of LAUSD.

Deasy called it “the best news on the budget in the last six years.”

This was the last Board meeting until after the March 5 municipal elections. The next Board meeting will take place on March 19th.

Previous posts: Board Preview: Tablets, Layoffs, & Dual Language, Crenshaw Reconstituted, Aspire Squeaks By*, Controversial Grant Approval Measure Passes, 4-3, School Board Round-Up, Board Restores 10 Days, Rejects Charter Proposal

UTLA has not yet responded to a request for comment on what was behind the change of heart. We’ll let you know when they do.

Gov. Jerry Brown

LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy praised the budget proposal California Gov. Jerry Brown released today, saying in a press release, “the changes announced today are quite positive for our students in the Los Angeles Unified School District.”

In his proposal, Governor Brown would fund school districts based on the number of its students and the level of challenges faced by its students, meaning districts like LAUSD with higher enrollments of low-income students and English language learners would be eligible for more state funding. According to Deasy, the Brown proposal would prevent new furloughs or budget cuts.

To see the summary of Gov. Brown’s 2013-2014 budget proposal, click here. To see Superintendent Deasy’s full press release, click here.

Contested UTLA Panel Elections Signal Internal Fissures
Some union members fear outside groups that encouraged teachers to run for UTLA’s House of Representatives, its official decision-making body, will try to influence policy. LA Times

Police Visiting LAUSD Schools in Wake of Connecticut Shooting
The Los Angeles Police Department, as well as the L.A. County Sheriff’s department and other law enforcement agencies planned to have officers visit the Los Angeles Unified School District’s more than 500 public elementary and middle schools on a daily basis. LA Times
See also: LA Daily News, KPCC

LAUSD School Tickets Still High Despite Reforms
Last spring, L.A. Unified released arrest and citations numbers for the first time. What they revealed was alarming. Kids had been issued more than 10,000 citations in a year, more than any other district in the country. KPCC

Watch: John Deasy Talks LAUSD Budget
LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy addresses how the passage of Prop. 30 impacts the district budget. ABC LA

Federal Officials Reject California’s No Child Left Behind Waiver Request
The U.S. Department of Education sent a letter on Friday to the president of California’s Board of Education denying the state’s request to be exempted from the most onerous requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law. KPCC

11 States Get Failing Grades on Public School Policies From Advocacy Group
StudentsFirst gave California the low rating despite the fact that it has a so-called parent trigger law that the advocacy group favors. Such laws allow parents at underperforming schools to vote to change the leadership or faculty. NY Times

Why California Must Lead the Way in Closing Underperforming Charter Schools
Many of California’s charter schools are among the best public schools in the state, if not the nation, but some are also among the worst. EdSource Commentary

Teachers Irate as Bloomberg Likens Union to the N.R.A.
Of all the polarizing things Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has said and done over the years, from banning large sugary drinks to supporting congestion pricing, few have generated the sort of viral backlash that has unexpectedly mounted after his weekly radio show on Friday. NY Times

LAUSD Culinary Teams Vie to See Their Dishes Served in Cafeterias
Six small teams of chefs from the culinary-arts programs of as many schools are cooking up original entrees in a contest this month whose winners will see their signature dish added to next year’s LAUSD menu rotation. Daily Breeze

Los Angeles Wants to “Reconstitute” Pioneering High School Despite Major Gains
In a letter to faculty, Superintendent John Deasy blamed four years of “less than adequate progress in the achievement of Crenshaw’s students.” Labor Notes

Do Armed Guards Really Make Schools Safer?
Additionally, many large school districts operate their own police departments, with the Los Angeles Unified School District having the largest such force in the nation with more than 350 officers. Capitol Weekly

Board Member Richard Vladovic

A controversial item on the LAUSD School Board agenda this week proposes drastically limiting Superintendent John Deasy’s ability to seek funding for the district by applying for public or private grants.

The resolution, initiated by School Board Members Richard Vladovic, Bennett Kayser, and Marguerite LaMotte, aims to give the school board veto power over grant applications made by the school superintendent in amounts over $750,000.

According to a source with knowledge about LAUSD grant applications, Supt. Deasy has been awarded about $120 million dollars for the district through grants so far.

Because of the split on the school board between union-backed board members and supporters of reform-minded Deasy, the effect would be to severely limit the district’s ability to attract foundation and federal money.

LAUSD Board Member Nury Martinez doesn’t see the point of the resolution.  “As a board member, I fight for more resources for my district,” Martinez said. “Why would we create a roadblock to securing more resources?” She said she doesn’t know why the board would want to “create another step in the process to relieve cash-strapped schools with additional funding.”

Board Member Richard Vladovic was not available for comment.

To read the full resolution, see page 13 of the board agenda.

LAUSD Board OKs Deal With Teachers Union on Performance Evaluations
The LAUSD school board signed off Tuesday on a deal with the teachers union to implement a new system that will incorporate student test data in performance evaluations. LA Daily News

A New Way to Rate L.A. Unified’s Teachers
What kind of process for evaluating teachers can possibly be devised by a determinedly reform-minded administration, a stubborn union and plaintiffs in a hostile lawsuit? As it turns out, a better kind than they’ve had up to now. LA Times Editorial

4 More Miramonte School Students File Lawsuits in Child Abuse Case
The list of plaintiffs in the case over alleged child abuse by teachers at Miramonte Elementary School is getting a little longer. KPCC
See also: LA Times, CBS 

School Names Can Be Lessons in Recognition
Celebrities? Historical figures? Neighborhoods? As L.A. Unified replaces temporary generic campus names with permanent monikers, the process has become political, controversial or just plain wacky. LA Times

Democrats Propose Using Proposition 39 for Schools
Democratic lawmakers are proposing to spend about $500 million a year in newly approved tax revenue on energy efficiency projects at schools in California’s poorest communities. AP

First Sign of Better Times for Schools Under Prop 30
Deferred payments to California schools and community colleges will fall to their lowest level in five years this academic year, and repayments for previous deferrals is starting sooner than expected. EdSource