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The Los Angeles Unified school board voted to convert Birmingham High School to a charter Wednesday, ending a long and bitter battle between teachers and parents at the district's largest campus.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The board also made Birmingham's journalism and communications magnet a separate campus, housing about 500 students.

The 5-2 vote came a day after Birmingham's principal and athletic director, lead petitioners of the charter, were disciplined for their approval of student athletes being used in a racy GQ magazine photo shoot featuring "Bruno" star Sacha Baron Cohen.

Mayor committed to city
Chastened and humbled, Mayor Antonio Villaraiogsa took the oath of office Wednesday for a second term, saying he wants to be held accountable for promises he will "write in concrete rather than poetry" and pledging to focus on "deadlines over headlines." Daily News.

On a warm and sunny afternoon with more than 1,000 supporters on the South Lawn of City Hall, Villaraigosa said he recognizes he still has much to do to return to the popularity he had when he first took office four years ago.

Greuel, Trutanich promise transparency

A paper name plate reading City Attorney Carmen Trutanich covered the Rocky Delgadillo signs on his eighth floor office Wednesday as workers also finished installing Controller Wendy Greuel's new signs on her third floor office. Daily News

And, on the first day of their new job, the two showed clearly they plan to be different from their predecessors with the promise of greater independendence and more public transparency.

New LAUSD members
Two new school board members were sworn in to the Los Angeles Unified School District's board of education Wednesday, launching the district's 155th year. Connie Llanos in the Daily News

Nury Martinez, representing the east San Fernando Valley, replaced 22-year school board veteran Julie Korenstein in District 6. Steve Zimmer, representing parts of West Los Angeles and the West Valley, replaced Marlene Canter in District 4.

Los Angeles Unified board members are expected to decide today whether to approve a plan to split Birmingham High School into an independent charter and a district magnet high school - putting to rest a months-long battle between faculty and parents at the 3,200-student campus.Connie LLanos in the Daily News.

Charter proponents say they want to bring reform and financial freedom to a school that has suffered from worse-than-average dropout rates and declining test scores over the years.

Out with the old....

Every politician reaches that point when it's time to move on - usually because they've been voted out of office or, these days, face term limits. Daily News.

Los Angeles Unified school board members Julie Korenstein and Marlene Canter decided to step down on their own - allowing two new members to join the seven-person board at a time when many fear the district's basic survival is at risk.

In with the new....
Just days before the start of their terms on the Los Angeles Unified school board, Steve Zimmer and Nury Martinez are not daunted by the monumental challenge facing the nation's second-largest district. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The pair starts work Wednesday with the district shackled by a $1.1 billion deficit over the next three years, a frustrated work force frightened of further layoffs and a community clamoring for reform.

The L.A. Unified school board Tuesday adopted a $5.5 billion budget for the upcoming school year that will force some 2,500 teacher layoffs, larger class sizes and the elimination of many popular programs.

The board also signed off on $130 million in new cuts for the current 2008-09 school year that ends next week, prompted by the failure of state ballot measures in March.

The Los Angeles Unified School District unveiled a financial blueprint for the next three years Thursday that projected a $1.1 billion deficit through 2012, likely causing more class size increases, program cuts and steep reductions to services. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

District officials are weighing whether to propose a new parcel tax that could help support LAUSD's budget.

They said all federal stimulus dollars have been used to plug holes and fund required programs. They asked employee unions for concessions and community members for support of the potential tax that could be voted on as early as this fall.

California charter school leaders unveiled a plan Wednesday to push for higher academic standards at the more than 750 independent public schools statewide.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Under the plan the California Charter School Association, made up of school operators and leaders, will set new student achievement goals for charter campuses and would force schools to close if they don't meet minimum guidelines.

Current law gives charter schools options to remain open when they perform poorly on state standardized tests.

The move comes after a nationwide study revealed that charter school students are not performing as well as their traditional school counterparts.

The watchdog office that keeps tabs on how the Los Angeles Unified School District spends taxpayer money now faces a 25 percent budget cut, not the 75 percent originally recommended by Superintendent Ramon Cortines. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Inspector General Jerry Thornton said he could "live with" the new proposal from Cortines to cut his budget by one-quarter.

"I understand the conditions the district finds itself (in) financially, ..." he said Wednesday. "With these cuts I believe we can continue to provide adequate and quality service to the children of this district."

Thornton said a 75 percent cut would have been "catastrophic" to his office.

California Democrats should be riding high after a surge in voter registration and the emergence of a strong cast set to audition for next year's gubernatorial race. AP in the Daiily News.

But enthusiasm is being tempered by the state's fiscal problems, which have forced the state's majority party to take unpopular actions. Democratic lawmakers have angered the party's traditional supporters by making deep cuts in state services and upset centrists by passing billions in tax increases.

County prepared to help adoptive parents
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to work with state lawmakers to help parents of adopted foster children adjust if steep cuts to benefits are made.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

To close an estimated $24 billion budget gap, state lawmakers are considering slicing up to 25 percent from assistance payments to parents of adopted foster children.

LAUSD prepares for more cuts

Union leaders of the Los Angeles Unified School District came together Tuesday to blast proposed state budget cuts to transportation that could total more than $400 million statewide.
Connie Llanos in the Daily News.
The latest state budget proposal would cut transportation funding to schools by 65 percent, equivalent to about $443 million according to union leaders.

Los Angeles teacher union officials filed 14 complaints against the L.A. Unified School District on Monday, claiming it allowed schools to spend too much federal stimulus money on out-of-classroom jobs, which they said would boost class sizes and jeopardize learning.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

School district officials, who have a number of days to respond to the complaints, permitted individual schools to use federal stimulus money to buy back a number of teachers and other workers whose jobs were set to be eliminated because of budget cuts.

At the end of the buyback program, a total of 2,668 teaching, counseling and other jobs were bought back in the district, and 1,056 of them were out-of-classroom jobs, LAUSD officials said Monday.

Three years ago, Anthony Mejia transferred to the newly formed Panorama High School. At 16, he was almost two grade levels behind, chronically truant and completely disengaged from his studies. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

It was Panorama High's first year and its location, in the heart of six competing gang territories, had already earned it the title of "Bloodbath High."

Now 19, Mejia is getting fitted for his cap and gown and scheduling classes at a local community college.

School's out for summer.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The Los Angeles Unified School District became the latest in a number of districts statewide to announce the cancellation of summer courses this year.

Officials announced Thursday that summer classes will be canceled for elementary and middle school campuses, and only a limited number of courses will be offered to high school students.

The move will affect more than 225,000 students and save the district about $34 million, officials said. It comes as the district seeks to close a budget gap of $130 million in the next six weeks.

Psychology major Tara Martin felt a deep solitude amid the abandoned outdoor lunch tables, the deserted paseos, and the vacant lawn in front of the Oviatt Library. Susan Abram in the Daily News.

Squirrels, it seemed, outnumbered people at Cal State Northridge.

"It's dead," said Martin, 23. "I was talking to my fiance just now, telling him, 'I'm the only one here."'

A nationally acclaimed alternative high school that works with second-chance teens will be given no second chance, administrators said Tuesday. Dana Barthololmew in the Daily News.

The West Valley Leadership Academy, nearly closed in June 2008 because of dwindling enrollment, will be shuttered next month by the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

The Canoga Park school has been hailed for its no-nonsense approach to turning around "the worst of the worst" - kids in gangs, kids on drugs, truant kids and kids who get kicked out of school.

Despite making strong gains in the latest round of standardized tests, the Los Angeles Unified School District still sits near the bottom of California's urban school districts, according to state rankings released Thursday.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The springtime release of the state's base Academic Performance Index, or API, ranks schools based on their statewide test scores and how they perform compared to schools having similar demographics.

According to a district analysis of 10 large, urban districts in the state, only Oakland Unified School District ranked below LAUSD.