In a series of special meetings to address looming deficits, the LA Unified school board on Tuesday reviewed potential savings of $112 million or more, but no action was taken. The all-day discussion was the third off-site meeting held by Superintendent Michelle King to address recommendations by the Independent Financial Review Panel to stave off deficits that could reach nearly half...

Special education students present one of the biggest costs for LA Unified, but administrators are considering ways to capitalize on the district’s successes with that population. Half of the school board’s all-day special budget session at USC on Tuesday was spent discussing the costs of dealing with students with mild and severe disabilities. Special ed is identified...

The recent utility increases approved by the city will sock LA Unified with $24.2 million more in costs, but the school district is already working on ways to save money. Solar panels, water recycling, light bulb replacements and other programs will help off-set some of the extra costs of water and power, said District Chief Facilities...

LA Unified expects this to be its best budget year in a decade, school officials said Tuesday, but board members urged immediate action to address a deficit in three years that could reach half a billion dollars. “This is the healthiest year in the past decade,” Chief Financial Officer Megan Reilly said in a report to...

Los Angeles’ schools are alive with the sound of music, or at least, they will be come fall when LA Unified’s new-and-improved arts budget is put into practice. Last week, the school board approved the district’s 2015-2016 spending plan, which allocates $26.5 million to arts education, said Rory Pullens, executive director of arts education for the...

LA Unified released a new $7.1 billion budget today that shows a big increase for next year, marking the second year the district will receive funding increases in the hundreds of millions due to higher state revenues. But despite the added injection of cash —the general fund will grow by more than $700 million over...

* UPDATED Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised budget, which directs billions more toward schools over the next few years, has brought smiles to the faces of educational leaders around the state. The overall amount includes an additional $3.1 billion for the current academic year and $2.7 billion extra for next year and could mean as much as...

With expectations of a windfall from the state when Gov. Jerry Brown announces his updated budget tomorrow, various interests in LA Unified are eager to learn if the added dollars will reach them. It’s not likely. Despite the possibility that the district’s cut of the added revenues could reach $300 million or more, Superintendent Ramon...

It turns out LA Unified’s money woes aren’t so bad — for now, anyway. Shortly before the end of the calendar year, Superintendent Ramon Cortines and other district officials were forecasting a deficit of $320 million, sometimes closer to $350 million. But that was before Governor Jerry Brown proposed his new budget. Now, the district’s...