February 2020 – Page 2 – Los Angeles Education Examiner

Schools Reach Beyond The Classroom

On the eve of launching LA’s new Education Examiner, I attended a Los Angeles Public Library “ALOUD” discussion stimulated by the new book of America’s leading populist, progressive Education theorist Diane Ravitch: Slaying Goliath. UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl very capably nailed out the corners of a conversational tapestry warped by the current reality of today’s educational landscape on the ground, in our schools, as felt by kids and teachers in every classroom; a tapestry woven by the weft of administrative realities, political pressures and evolving ideology.

It’s not enough to understand what we experience in the classroom as our kids learn and grow. That’s a snapshot in time of their experience; the system of which they are an integral part is informed by more, a political landscape of economics, rhetoric, law, power, governance – local, regional and federal. It is fundamental to our responsibility as citizens of a republic, to trace and follow construction of this integrated fabric: the weave of daily experience shot through with politics and policy.

That’s why we all need to contribute as informed, voting participants in this system, indeed to any of them. As families and community members orbiting the school system, we are blanketed in daily struggles of homework, interactions, socializing, communicating, growing, sharing, creating, following instruction. But aside from all that, we are all mandated with a concurrent – separate – responsibility: we must engage as voters to elect members of the Board of Education because they are in charge of the policy and politics that steer the hand of our public schools.

In March while the world fixates on Super Tuesday’s presidential candidates, there will be four important elections in LA Unified’s (LAUSD) northwest Valley, southern, south-central and northeastern sections of LA. The LA Education Examiner will bring you news of these races, which collectively will determine the majority policy of LAUSD’s Board of Education. Conducted in even- and odd- district numbers every four years as a group, this year’s elections in districts LAUSD1, LAUSD3, LAUSD5 and LAUSD7 involve more than half (over one million) of registered voters eligible to vote in LAUSD. You can register here up to two-weeks-plus-one-day before the March 3, 2020, election day. Click here to find your new Vote Center.

Rounding Up the Top News

Every week we’ll be rounding up the top education news both locally and nationwide.

A pro-charter school group filed a complaint against LAUSD Board Member Scott Schmerelson claiming conflict of interest. Despite scary headlines on their website, and a story that echoed their complaints in the Daily News, the Fair Political Practices Commission dismissed the charges and issued a warning in less than three weeks. On Twitter, KPCC reporter Kyle Stokes notes that this hasn’t stopped charter advocates from sending expensive mailers smearing him for putting “his own profit over the safety of LA kids.

LAUSD7: Big Political Interests Control LAUSD’s Southern Ports District 7 (Election News, March 3, 2020)

Originally published January 13, 2020

Big political interests are big: Yep, we all know this, but until a tiny little just-me person comes up against their fighting power it’s hard to comprehend.

Money to candidates comes in two flavors (see graphics here): (a) that which is controlled by the candidate him/herself, and (b) that which the candidate has no control of, collected and spent by “independent expenditure committees” (IECs) “outside” the campaign.

While the really big shenanigans are contained within IEC expenditures, it turns out campaign donations can be useful indicators of “who” a candidate is, where and among whom their support lies; who considers them a worthy early investment, who chips in downstream.

These monies can even give clues as to regional culture and characteristics. Which is very useful considering the vastness of Los Angeles Unified’s school district (LAUSD), carved into just seven political zones of representation, mapped here. LAUSD encompasses 710 square miles including 26 municipalities and unincorporated areas of LA County, in which 100 different languages are spoken. Divide that by 7 as a rough estimate of what goes on in your particular district, and it’s no wonder if you have no clue of its diversity never mind what’s happening in the next one over.

LAUSD By Some Numbers

First published June, 2019. All figures open separately by clicking on the header or caption.

The largest school district in America with an elected school board, LAUSD (the “District”) is vast indeed. It is hard to get one’s head around how big. And it’s hard to understand what’s involved, never mind ubiquitously presumed, when outcome or performance metrics such as “excellence” or poverty or enrollment drain are casually discussed.

The District publishes interesting “fingertip facts” every year that attests at 710 square miles, it covers an area 41% greater than the City of Los Angeles (CoLA). Eighteen cities are partially covered by its footprint and 8 lie entirely within the District.

What Schools?

Just the simple number of schools within its footprint is astonishing. The whole conversation surrounding “traditional district” and charter schools of either variety – “affiliated” and “independent” – begs the question of the system’s diversity, not just in the student population but in the kinds of schools operated. Beyond K-12 elementary, middle and high schools, operating as charters and “Alternative Schools of Choice” (e.g., magnet schools among others), are Special Education programs, Adult and Trade/Tech programs, and four kinds of schools that address specialized scholastic needs such as education for the incarcerated or otherwise academically at-risk.

Diversity of LAUSD-area school types

dist-of-school-types-by-magnet-and-district-status

What Authorizers?

The one thousand⁺ schools listed here for 2018-19 include some public schools operating within LAUSD’s footprint, that are not also under their direct jurisdiction. There are schools operated by and also chartered by Los Angeles County, and there are schools chartered by the State of California as well.

Authorization and management of school types

School-types-in-LAUSD-territory