Free Republic

The nonprofit organization Superintendent Roy Romer set up to defend Los Angeles Unified's image against political attacks relied almost entirely on contributions from construction firms, textbook publishers and other school contractors, records released Tuesday showed. Friends of L.A. Schools Inc., which Romer formed in February just days after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his support for plans to break up the district, received single donations of $10,000 from investment bank Goldman Sachs, DMJM building consultants, Turner Construction and publishers Harcourt Inc. and Pearson Education - all of which have contracts totaling millions of dollars with the school district. Romer defended the...

Days after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his support for an effort to break up the LAUSD, Superintendent Roy Romer quietly created a nonprofit organization that has raised nearly $150,000 to tout the school district's accomplishments, the Daily News has learned. Despite having the district's nearly $1 million public-relations operation at his disposal, Romer founded Friends of L.A. Schools -- with himself as CEO -- to counter criticism by Schwarzenegger and then-mayoral challenger Bob Hertzberg that the Los Angeles Unified School District was too large and inefficient. "This began in February when there was a lot of criticism of the district,...

Los Angeles Unified and eight other Los Angeles County school districts were placed Thursday on the state's financial watch list after overspending their budgets in 2003-04. LAUSD -- the nation's second-largest district -- made its first appearance on the list predicting "impending financial problems" after it overspent its $5 billion budget by $253 million. The Annual Financial Report of California K-12 Schools, released by State Controller Steve Westly, points to a dire future for public school finances and warns that nearly 80 districts may not be able to pay their bills in two years. The Los Angeles School District said...

LAUSD Schools Win Large State Grant Wednesday June 29, 6:06 pm ET Nearly $6 Million for Technology Awarded to 9 Middle Schools LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 29, 2005--The California Department of Education announced this week that the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) was the top Los Angeles County winner among dozens of local school districts during the latest round of the competitive Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) grant program. The winning grant will provide nearly 6 million dollars as well as in-kind donations and partner discounts benefiting 9 LAUSD middle schools and approximately 20,000 students. Glendale Unified was the other...

Homeowners would be hit with a $150 annual "parcel tax" to help fund Los Angeles public schools -- on top of the hundreds of dollars they already pay annually for construction -- under a proposal introduced Tuesday. Under the draft plan, the tax would be in effect for six years, and the funds would be intended for use to reduce class sizes, improve libraries, bolster campus safety and provide more nurses and counselors. The proposal would be the first time the Los Angeles Unified School District would ask voters to approve such a fee and comes as the nation's second-largest...

The Los Angeles Unified School District is again considering building a $49 million parking garage for top brass and their staff a year after the plan ignited an outcry over finances. The 1,734-space garage at the corner of 3rd Street and Beaudry Avenue would serve district headquarters and be paid for out of the general fund using money currently spent on leased parking for employees and visitors. "It's a rent or buy decision -- leasing costs versus ownership costs -- where we get to a break-even situation in three years. We believe it's good business to invest in purchasing the...

School hate crimes spike LAUSD police report that incidents have quadrupled in past decade By Naush Boghossian and Lisa M. Sodders, Staff Writers Hate crimes in Los Angeles' public schools have surged more than 300 percent over the past decade -- the highest growth rate of all campus crimes, fueling concerns about racial tensions in the nation's second-largest school district. Nearly all of the 52 hate crimes reported in the 2003-04 school year were racially motivated, up from 12 in 1995-96, according to the latest figures available from Los Angeles Unified School District police. In recent months, officials have continued...

Many officials worry about Villaraigosa's desire to choose all of the school board's members, which currently are elected. Issue could be especially important in some South Bay cities. Los Angeles Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa made waves Friday when he told a state Senate committee that he wants the Mayor's Office to have the power to appoint the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District. While Villaraigosa has said previously that he believed the mayor should have "ultimate control" of the school district, his comment before the Senate Committee on Urban School Governance was the first time he made it clear...

Dozens of nonprofit organization leaders protested Thursday against a Los Angeles Unified plan to charge youth groups to use district athletic fields and facilities. Critics say the plan -- which would take effect in July and cost groups $78 for a permit and up to $48 an hour -- could force soccer associations, Girl Scouts and others to cancel activities. "The schools have been built by the community and they should be used by the community," said Mary Ann Lapointe, a teacher trainer with the Good News Club, a children's evangelical group that holds after-school classes in 22 schools in...

From Eureka to San Ysidro, and even beyond the borders of California, the Los Angeles Unified School District is the undisputed poster child of badly run school districts. To many, the district has become synonymous with its eight-year slow torture effort to build the nation's most expensive high school on an abandoned and toxic oil field. But most local observers know that it has a much longer history of dreadful management. This is why, when an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's office revealed that the school district faces an unfunded $5 billion liability to provide full medical coverage to...

FROM Eureka to San Ysidro, and even beyond the borders of California, the Los Angeles Unified School District is the undisputed poster child of badly run school districts. To many, the district has become synonymous with its eight-year, slow-torture effort to build the nation's most expensive high school on an abandoned and toxic oil field. But most local observers know that it has a much longer history of dreadful management. That is why, when an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office revealed that the school district faces an unfunded $5 billion liability to provide full medical coverage to retired...

The Los Angeles Unified School District faces a potential financial crisis that threatens its future because of its unfunded $5 billion liability to provide full medical coverage to retired employees and their families, according to a new state analysis. The report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office warned that soaring health-care costs, generous employee contracts and the failure to earmark money for the expenses pose a serious danger. It said the LAUSD needs to put away $500 million a year -- about 8 percent of its current budget -- for 30 years to cover a liability that could reach $11...

The fate of the Los Angeles Unified School District is a tragedy that is spreading across the country. To understand what is in store for America I offer my story about the LAUSD and why I abandoned it. As you will see, the cause is our toleration of illegal immigration from Mexico. In February of 2002 my wife and I were expecting our first child. We needed to move to a larger home. I worked in West Los Angeles but the home prices were generally less in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles where we were. Apart from...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a surprise cameo in the city's mayoral race Thursday, lining up behind a controversial proposal by candidate Bob Hertzberg to dismantle the huge Los Angeles Unified School District. The popular governor, who lives in the city's Brentwood section, has said he will not endorse a candidate before the March 8 primary election. But Schwarzenegger, by embracing Hertzberg's signature issue, appears to be sending a tacit signal of his preference without taking the political risk of a formal endorsement in a crowded field. The Republican governor is backing Hertzberg's plan because he "supports...

The Los Angeles Board of Education has chosen a Pasadena assistant city attorney as its new special counsel, a lawyer with the backing of union leaders and the school board president but far less experience than others seeking the job. According to several sources familiar with the selection process, the school board voted 4-3 in a closed session to offer Maribel S. Medina the position, which could pay up to $240,000 a year. Medina specializes in land-use, environmental and real estate law. The vote to hire Medina is the latest in a series of board decisions that have caused some...

Two looming deadlines have created a "perfect storm" for Los Angeles Unified officials, who face the prospect of proposing teacher raises while officially reporting that the district's finances are uncertain. If the LAUSD board doesn't pinpoint $137 million in potential budget cuts by Wednesday, it will have to submit a "qualified" rating for the first time in district history. That qualified rating, down from "positive," could cost the district higher interest rates on billions of dollars in school construction bonds as well as more oversight by the Los Angeles County Office of Education. The board also is grappling with a...

Los Angeles Unified has until Dec. 15 to come up with $110 million of budget cuts or it faces a lower financial rating by the Los Angeles County Office of Education, district officials said Tuesday. If LAUSD fails to submit a potential list of cuts for the 2005-06 school year, its certification could fall for the first time ever from ``positive'' to either ``qualified'' or ``negative.'' Sharp cuts made earlier this year have put the district in stable financial shape for 2004-05, but the Office of Education says the district is on course for a $110 million shortfall in 2005-06....

The Los Angeles Unified School District's citizen bond oversight committee questioned on Wednesday how the district is spending voter-approved bond revenue and warned that it might run out of money before all projects are built. The panel has been asked to sign off on using bond revenue to pay salaries, leases and expense reimbursements, which members noted were legal but violate the spirit of the two bond measures -- to build and repair schools. Members said these items should have been paid for using other sources, including the district's general fund. And while the district has about $14 billion in...

Tired of double-digit dropout rates and graduates who are unprepared for college, Los Angeles Unified leaders are turning to "small learning communities" to transform the district's large, impersonal high schools. The communities, several of which will debut this summer and when the fall semester starts Sept. 9, will build upon traits of successful programs already established at some of the district's most overcrowded campuses, such as the humanities magnet at Cleveland High School and the culinary arts academy at Monroe High School. "What we're trying to do is to find that hook that will make students come to school every...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal grand jury has opened an investigation into the Los Angeles Unified School District's purchase of its $74.5 million downtown headquarters. LAUSD Inspector General Don Mullinax disclosed the investigation Thursday in a memo to school district officials. "I am writing to inform you that at the request of the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California, the Office of the Inspector General is providing assistance in a federal grand jury investigation regarding the purchase of the Beaudry building," Mullinax wrote. Board member David Tokofsky, who cast the only vote against the purchase of the building,...