Charter School Support in LA Unified (Jeff, Topic 12)

Howard Blume
Charter School Operators to run 7 More L.A. Unified Campuses (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0316-lausd-schools-20110316,0,4697862.story)
L.A. Times
March 15th, 2011

Summary: The L.A. Unified School District (LAUSD) is trying to find innovative solutions to decreasing school quality and increasing budgets. One method that they have pursued is to cede control of new or struggling schools to bidders. Among those who have bid to take control of the schools are teachers, administrators and charter schools. Charter schools have been especially successful in taking control of schools and wield an immense amount of power in the LAUSD.

Intended Audience: General Public, Parents and teachers will be especially interested.

Key Points: 1) The LAUSD is struggling financially and academically, 2) They are taking the risk of diversifying their curriculum by ceding control of state schools to interest groups, 3) Many of the schools are being turned into charter schools.

Relevance: We have all talked to the point of nausea about the current issues in education. Most of which center on the budget and decreasing quality of schools due to rigidity in curriculum and inept teachers and administration. In many ways, the LAUSD is the epitome of these problems. They have an enormous amount of students, many of whom are struggling academically, and and they have a budget problem worse than most districts. What is interesting is how they are beginning to respond to the problems--by innovating curriculum and school design. This article touches on what may become a trend in US education: a unique blend of public and private education.