LAUSD board picks long-time administrator Michelle King as new superintendent
After months of speculation and a closed-door search process, the seven members of the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education announced on Monday that they have selected long-time district administrator Michelle King to be the district's next superintendent.
King, 54, has served as the district's chief deputy superintendent since October 2014. She has worked in the district since 1984, first as a life sciences teacher and then in a variety of academic and administrative roles, including as a high school principal, local district superintendent and the district's chief instructional officer for secondary schools.
Her appointment caps a months-long national search for an educational leader who can fix the school district’s financial and academic problems.
All eyes will be on how the new superintendent will turn around the school district’s dire financial outlook and raise academic achievement levels that have been inching up but are still far below state averages.
In November, a financial review panel commissioned by Cortines reported that the district faces a $333 million budget deficit by the 2017-18 school year and that shortfall could grow to more than $600 million two years after that.
The report found that the school district lost 100,000 students in the past six years, in part due to an exodus to independent charter schools. Additionally, a 2012 state LAUSD board picks long-time administrator Michelle King as new superintendent | 89.3 KPCC: