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Monday, March 5, 2012

Cuts push LA Unified schools to break away from district | 89.3 KPCC

Cuts push LA Unified schools to break away from district | 89.3 KPCC:

Cuts push LA Unified schools to break away from district

6:00 a.m. | By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez | KPCC
Hamilton

Hamilton High School is one of several schools in the district considering transitioning to become a charter school.

A few months ago, the Los Angeles Unified school board approved hundreds of thousands of dollars in cuts to the budgets of schools with mixed populations of middle-class and low-income students.

Parents and administrators at many of those schools say that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. In response, many of them want to break away from the school district by filing for independent charter status.

The federal government grants Title One money to school districts with significant numbers of impoverished students – but those grants are in line for cuts. L.A. Unified had distributed Title One money to schools in which at least 40 percent of students live below the federal poverty line. Now