The United Teachers Los Angeles has announced two additional forums with candidates for president, one at Monroe High School on February 18 and the other two days later at UTLA headquarters. Eight of the 10 candidates faced off in a debate that resulted in at least one consensus: the current state of the union is fractured and plagued with in-fighting. Though fewer...

With new education tax dollars coming in, LAUSD is quickly assembling a 47-member Parent Advisory Committee as part of its Local Control Accountability Plan, which represents the district’s spending priorities. For parents there’s a two-step process for participating. A local School Site Council identifies interested parents as  potential candidates. Then each council nominates one parent of a “low...

Aspire Public Schools, a nonprofit charter school operator with 12 schools chartered through LAUSD, announced this morning that it will expand its blending learning curriculum to all of its elementary schools in the Los Angeles region by the end of the 2015-16 school year. The expansion is supported by The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation,...

An intergovernmental pilot project began last week to address potential environmental health hazards in Southern California schools, with LAUSD as the only school district involved as a core particpant. The six month pilot program, known as the Southern California – Clean, Green and Healthy Schools Partnership, is intended to foster collaboration among local, state and federal regulators...

Candidates in a crowded field to take the top spot at one of the nation’s most powerful teachers union, UTLA, are angling to distinguish themselves online. An online search finds that four of the 10 running, Gregg Solkovits, Alex Caputo-Pearl, Saul Lankster and Bill Gafney, have established a website presence, announcing their candidacies and platforms. UTLA...

When California decided it was out with old standards and in with the new, Common Core-aligned assessments, it was only the start of a long and arduous transition for local school districts in adopting to the new computer-based “Smarter Balanced” tests. That was seven months ago. Now, an internal LAUSD memo released to LA School...

The Los Angeles City Clerk will conduct a candidate workshop this Saturday for candidates in the LAUSD District 1 Special Election on June 3. This is the only workshop to be held by the City Clerk’s election division, and it’s intended to brief candidates on the procedures related to filing the “Declaration of Intention to Become...

The California Department of Education is setting aside $250 million for school districts to link high school curricula to careers beyond the classroom, an initiative designed to keep students engaged in classes often consider dull and dry, while preparing them for a high-skilled job market. The 40 one-time grants bundled in the Career Pathways Trust –...