The Los Angeles Unified School Board last week approved a $18.8 billion budget for the 2023–24 school year that includes the last of its pandemic aid—and is beginning to prepare for operating without such funds. Over the next two school years, the district will invest $4.2 billion—most of which comes from one-time emergency COVID-19 relief…

The union representing Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) teachers voted to ratify its contract with the district last week, meaning the union’s 35,000 members will get a 21 percent bump in pay over the next two years. United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) announced that 94 percent of their members voted to ratify the…

Every California middle and high school will stock at least two doses of naloxone—a nasal spray that treats an opioid overdose—on campus under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed 2023–24 budget released last week. While hundreds of schools in the state have already begun to stock naloxone on campuses amid rising opioid-related overdoses and deaths, this year’s…

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) reported a record-high graduation rate last year amid high rates of absenteeism and pandemic learning loss in students. About 86.1 percent of LAUSD students graduated in the 2021–22 school year, while California’s graduation rate was about 87.4 percent, according to state data released last week. LAUSD’s most recent numbers are…

About 8.3 percent of students enrolled in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)—the second largest school district in the United States—were absent from the first week of school, according to district officials. The data released by the district shows 89 percent of students attended the first day of school on Monday, Aug. 15. That…

A union representing teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) filed Aug. 8 an unfair practice charge against the district’s adding four optional days to the 2022–2023 school year. The district’s school board approved in April the extension to help students who are still catching up on learning while emerging from the COVID-19…

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will scale back most of its COVID-19 measures—including the mask mandate and weekly testing—for the upcoming school year. The LAUSD announced these changes just two weeks before the start of the fall semester on Aug 15. “As we have entered into a new phase of this virus where…

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved July 12 a motion instructing county departments to collaborate with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and other school districts on increasing campus safety. The motion was a response to violence in local schools and the recent national spate of school shootings. Specifically mentioned was…

LOS ANGELES—The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has temporarily filled nearly half of its vacant teaching positions with administrators and district staff, with plans to finish these reassignments this week. Earlier this month, LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho—who took office in February—announced plans to fill about 420 vacant teaching positions with administrators and other staff…

LOS ANGELES—New Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho presented his 100-day plan to the Los Angeles City Council on April 8—saying it will include developing a five-year strategic road map that has not existed in the district for more than seven years. “Without a strategic plan, without a north star, without a journey,…