Why an organization once seen as LA Unified’s biggest threat now plans to give money to LAUSD schools In late January, a mere three weeks into her tenure as Los Angeles Unified School District’s superintendent, Michelle King welcomed two surprising guests into her office: representatives of the nonprofit group that sprouted from the controversial “Great...

L.A. Unified backs down and agrees to provide lifetime benefits to charter school teachers The Los Angeles school district and a well-known charter school have quietly resolved a conflict in a way that will help a group of employees but deepen the district’s long-term budget deficit. L.A. Unified has agreed to pay lifetime health benefits...

Clown hoax brings warnings from authorities The national craze of clowns scaring school-aged children has caused concern for local parents. LA Unified School Police Chief Steven Zipperman said that several district schools “have fielded calls from concerned parents regarding social media reports of individuals with a clown persona committing potential acts of violence.” There is...

LA charter school parts ways with business chief, cuts principal’s salary The governing board of El Camino Real Charter High School announced Wednesday night that Marshall Mayotte will no longer be the school’s chief business officer by the end of December and that Executive Director David Fehte is taking a cut in both salary and...

LA charter school refuses to release spending report Embattled El Camino Real Charter High School has formally denied requests to release an investigative report by an outside firm into administrator spending and reimbursement policies. The governing board of the Woodland Hills charter school commissioned the independent probe after the Los Angeles Unified School District warned the...

Gender-neutral bathrooms and access to ethnic studies classes are two of the new laws affecting California schools A gender-neutral bathroom law, Assembly Bill 1732, was one of many measures with an effect on education that Gov. Jerry Brown signed during the legislative session that ended Friday. Starting next March, any one-toilet bathroom in a California...

California’s largest school districts use aggressive tactics to find teachers Against the backdrop of a widely reported teacher shortage, most of California’s 25 largest school districts were able to fill nearly all their job openings for fully credentialed teachers by the time school started this year, according to an EdSource survey. Eight of the state’s...

Brown vetoes half-dozen K-12 bills, citing budget pressure Citing the danger of adding costs at a time of financial uncertainty, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a half-dozen K-12 education-related bills Wednesday, including one that would have required screening all low-income children receiving Medi-Cal services for the potential effects of traumatic experiences. He also rejected a bill...

El Camino Real teachers divided over credit-card spending controversy More than 50 teachers and parents protested outside El Camino Real Charter High School before classes Wednesday, demanding top administrators be held accountable for a credit-card spending controversy in an effort to “save our charter” while nearly two dozen other staff members gathered to express their...

Gov. Brown signs law to plan expansion of computer science education Gov. Jerry Brown Jr. on Tuesday signed into law a bill that begins a three-year planning process to expand computer science education for all grades in California’s public schools, beginning in kindergarten. Authored by Assemblymember Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, the bill, Assembly Bill 2329, requires State Superintendent of...