L.A. Unified’s finances can be convoluted and complex. But it’s important to read up as the conversation on how much money the district has continues to swap out facts for politics, education expert Robin Lake said. Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, recently resurfaced a 2015 independent finance report commissioned by former...

*Updated Feb. 19 Parents, students and community members were able to question the candidates running for L.A. Unified school board in District 5 at two separate forums last week, one led by parents and the second by students. High school students wanted their new representative to make sure they are better prepared for college, while...

*Updated Feb. 19: Board members voted down the resolution 4-2. Voting against it were George McKenna, Scott Schmerelson, Kelly Gonez and Richard Vladovic, who had co-sponsored the resolution.  The L.A. Unified school board will vote Tuesday on whether to get rid of a district policy that can force schools to hire “displaced” teachers — even if...

Valentine’s Day is typically a celebration of love, but the holiday in 2018 will go down in history as a moment of hate, national mourning — and resilience. That afternoon in Parkland, Florida, a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school, killing 14 students and three adults. Like other mass school shootings —...

*Updated Feb. 13 The 10 candidates in the race for L.A. Unified’s vacant school board seat are in full swing participating in community forums and other public events as the March 5 special election approaches. The new board member for Board District 5 will represent about 100,000 students in some very different communities: from the...

After a prolonged lull, American school integration debates have reignited in recent years. Courtney Everts Mykytyn, the founder of California-based Integrated Schools, is quietly becoming a force in these conversations. Her four-year-old group describes itself and its mission this way: “Integrated Schools is growing a grassroots movement of, by and for parents who are intentionally, joyfully...

The L.A. Unified school board has approved a contract with its teachers union that officials admit they can’t fully afford, calling the deal’s sustainability into question as the district receives repeated warnings from the county that it’s in severe financial straits. To shoulder about $840 million in added costs through 2021, district officials say they’re...

School safety and college affordability are the most pressing issues in education, California voters said in a new poll. The top priority overall was reducing gun violence in schools, with more than half of respondents saying it was “very important.” But voters with children as well as those ages 18-49 and those earning less than...

Discussion of K-12 education was next to nonexistent in the State of the Union address Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s second. The president mentioned the issue just once, when he said, without elaboration, “To help support working parents, the time has come to pass school choice for America’s children.” The words echoed Trump’s 2017 address to...

*Updated Feb. 5 For the first time in six years, California has released the names of its lowest-performing schools. The 780 schools are in the bottom 5 percent of public K-12 schools as measured by the state’s new accountability tool, the California School Dashboard, and require “comprehensive school improvement.” The state identified a total of 1,640 schools...