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‘I’ll make sure that they’re heard’: LAUSD’s new student board member outlines her priorities as the voice of 600,000
High school senior Frances Suavillo has always believed education is a right and not a privilege. She’s seen firsthand when it’s not. Born and raised in the Philippines until she was 9 years old, Suavillo saw deep-seated educational inequity in the Southeast Asian island country — how “money dictated who went to school and who didn’t,”...
By Taylor Swaak | September 9, 2019
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LAUSD approves $7.8 billion budget for next year: Here’s what it means for high-needs students, lowest-performing schools and district finances
*Updated June 25 L.A. Unified board members passed the 2019-20 budget and accountability plan on Tuesday — but not before acknowledging that they are “unintelligible” documents that provide little insight into specific program and funding changes as the district looks to the next school year. “None of the documents add up to anything you can...
By Taylor Swaak | June 21, 2019
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‘Voters are tired of you’: A week after parcel tax defeat, LAUSD parents rail at district leaders during 2019-20 budget hearing
*Updated June 17 Parents blasted L.A. Unified officials at a school board hearing this week — one even bursting into tears — offering an angry glimpse into the fractured trust between the community and the district just one week after voters overwhelmingly rejected a new parcel tax. Many of the more than 20 speakers at Tuesday’s...
By Taylor Swaak | June 13, 2019
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Mónica García: New ‘Everyone Counts’ resolution will break down data for L.A.’s diverse Asian student body & battle the model-minority myth
I know what it is like for a whole community to feel invisible. Before I began my service on the L.A. Unified School District Board of Education in 2006 as just the third Latina elected in 155 years, questions about whether Latino/a students could succeed academically were answered only by assumptions due to our lack...
By Mónica García | June 10, 2019
Schools After COVID: 6 Ways For Districts to Better Engage Parents Amid Concerns About COVID Learning Loss
74 Interview: Why Social Media is Being Blamed for the Youth Suicide Crisis
Thousands of Schools at Risk of Closing Due to Enrollment Loss
Free New AI Tool to Help Americans Search and Compare Student Test Scores Across All 50 States
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After parcel tax defeat, Los Angeles city and school leaders vow to keep fighting for funding for kids
One day after voters overwhelmingly rejected a $500 million-a-year parcel tax, Los Angeles city and school leaders sent a message to voters: We’ve heard your concerns. And we’re going to keep fighting to fund our schools. “This is just the beginning of our fight,” Superintendent Austin Beutner said as he launched into Wednesday’s news conference....
By Taylor Swaak | June 5, 2019
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Los Angeles voters roundly defeat parcel tax, leaving LAUSD on shaky financial footing
*Updated June 5 Los Angeles voters decisively defeated a parcel tax that would have sent $500 million a year to schools, according to unofficial results by the county registrar. Measure EE, which would have charged residents within L.A. Unified boundaries 16 cents per square foot of developed property for 12 years, fell more than 20...
By Taylor Swaak | June 5, 2019
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$500M annual parcel tax unlikely to pass if low voter turnout trend persists, poll shows
L.A. Unified’s proposed $500 million annual parcel tax is unlikely to pass next week if low voter turnout trends continue, a new independent poll finds. The poll, conducted by Probolsky Research, shows that if June 4’s special election sees “high” turnout, or 17 percent of the district’s 2.5 million eligible voters, the parcel tax could be on the...
By Taylor Swaak | May 28, 2019
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June’s parcel tax to fund schools takes center stage after Jackie Goldberg’s LAUSD board win
With Tuesday’s school board election delivering a decisive win for public education firebrand Jackie Goldberg, next month’s parcel tax vote is now center stage. L.A. Unified’s next election — less than three weeks away on June 4 — will ask residents within district boundaries to support Measure EE, a tax of 16 cents per square foot...
By Taylor Swaak | May 15, 2019
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Jackie Goldberg scores a decisive win in LAUSD’s Board District 5 race
*Updated May 15 Jackie Goldberg will rejoin L.A. Unified’s school board after a decisive win Tuesday in the Board District 5 runoff election. Goldberg, who represented the board district three decades ago, clinched 72 percent of the vote while former mayoral aide and L.A. Unified parent Heather Repenning took 28 percent, according to semi-official results announced by the...
By Taylor Swaak | May 14, 2019
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Election Guide 2019: The who, what, when and where for Tuesday’s LAUSD Board District 5 runoff
Tuesday is the runoff election to fill the school board seat in L.A. Unified’s Board District 5. The person elected — either teachers union favorite Jackie Goldberg or former mayoral aide and parent Heather Repenning — will become part of the seven-member school board that decides on policies, budget and approval of charter schools in...
By Taylor Swaak | May 13, 2019