Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

6-17-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):






LAUSD board hears final arguments on the budget
In a surprising move, the LA Unified Board of Education today moved swiftly through multiple motions that had been expected to be quite contentious. Most board meetings these day, go well into the dinner hour. The highlight, aside from the meeting lasting less than two and a half hours, was a parade of speakers making their final pleas for funding pet programs in the 2014-2015 budget. The budget i


At midday rally, teachers union insist on cut of new state money
UTLA incoming-president Alex Caputo-Pearl speaks at a union rally. As a prologue to today’s LA Unified board of education meeting, UTLA members rallied outside of LA Unified headquarters calling for a double digit raise, especially after the state Legislature approved the largest budget in state history. “Even more money than what they prognosticated in May is coming in [to our schools],” Presiden


LIVESTREAM coverage of today’s LAUSD School board meeting
The LA Unified School Board will conduct a special meeting today starting at 2 p.m. That agenda is here, with the supporting materials available here. Then, starting at 3 p.m., the board will hear 30 public comment speakers on the topic of the District’s Final Budget and the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). That agenda is here, with the supporting materials available, here. Follow our cov


CA’s ‘egregious’ teacher bill shows power of collaboration
Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, vice chair of the Education Committee After years of trying, with students’ safety hanging in the balance, the state legislature has finally passed a measure that expedites the process for dismissing teachers accused egregious behavior. Unanimous votes of support for AB 215 in both the Senate and Assembly was not only encouraging news for children and their parents, it

Groups pushing ‘need index’ helping LAUSD shape the budget
Alberto Retana, Executive Vice President of Community Coalition Among the challenges poor kids in south LA are forced to overcome just to meet the most basic learning conditions in schools, are cockroaches. Not in their classrooms. In their bodies. LA Unified students in neighborhoods like South Gate and Watts regularly visit health clinics to have the insects that crawl inside their ears, plucked

CA budget deal has some major changes for public education
Gov. Jerry Brown and the the California legislature reached a deal on a $108 billion budget for the 2014-2015 fiscal year. Here, as examined by John Fensterwald of EdSource, are some of the major education components: Proposition 98: $60.8 billion for K-12 schools and community colleges in 2014-15 through Proposition 98, the voter-approved school funding guarantee; $53.6 billion of that will go t
Morning Read: Child care spending rises, but still short
New child care spending a good first step Child care funding included in the final state budget adds thousands of new slots and restores reimbursement rates, but still leaves California nearly 40 percent short of the monies it provided for those programs prior to the recession. The $264 million Fair Start proposal aims to invest in early learning and childcare programs. S&I Cabinet Report Bil


6-16-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District)
LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): When the LA Unified watchdog watches too closelyVia Los Angeles Times | By Steve Lopez Commentary: If Stuart Magruder knew how to play the game, he might still have his volunteer watchdog job today. But he just had to speak up. The arrogance, the temerity, the insolence. How dare he challenge the leadersh