California Teachers Association

Democratic Party Schism over Scandalous Schools: Gloria Romero, Slimed By Teacher Unions, Says Sober Up

See also: "LAUSD Supe Fires Lemon Teachers" and "Firing the Bad Teachers." A few days ago, the teachers union wing of the California Democratic Party tarred the growing numbers of breakaway Democrats who, in sync with President Obama, point the finger at teachers unions as a big obstacle to fixing ... More >>

Why Did the L.A. Times Endorse Felipe 'Worst Legislator in California' Fuentes For L.A. City Council?

One of the most troubling endorsement's this campaign season came from the Los Angeles Times when the paper recently backed former state Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, also known as the "Worst Legislator in California." He's running for the L.A. City Council District 7 seat in the northeast San Fernand ... More >>

California Voter Guide for Nov. 6, 2012, Los Angeles Weekly

Confused about the measures and races on Tuesday's ballot? This California Voter Guide for November 6, 2012 contains a summary of all state measures and several key races. It does not take a position but does touch on controversies, polls and analysis. Proposition 30: Jerry Brown's Tax Hike Governo ... More >>

Will Betsy Butler's Sex Pervert Vote Kill Her Political Career?

In Assembly District 50, underdog Richard Bloom sees daylight

California Assembly District 50: Campaign Mailers Slam and Tout Richard Bloom and Betsy Butler

In the final days of the hotly contested California Assembly District 50 race, a bevy of campaign mailers sent to voters are slamming and touting rival candidates Richard Bloom and Betsy Butler. They make for hilarious, if not worrisome, reading. Themes range from Butler's "courage and integrity" t ... More >>

10 Stupidest California Bills That Legislators Are Trying to Slam Through at Final Hour

The last possible moment for California's bumbling state senators and assemblymen to nudge their pet bills onto Governor Jerry Brown's desk is this Friday, August 31 at midnight. Needless to say, the state Capitol is in a state of fluttering papers/utter mayhem right now. It's hard enough to know ... More >>

Will Felipe Fuentes and Gov. Jerry Brown Water Down Teachers' Evaluations?

California's education reform wars are popping up again -- this time over a controversial bill called AB 5, which reform activists say will water down teachers' evaluations. The grassroots group EdVoice has taken a full-page ad in today's A section of the Los Angeles Times to sound the alarm and g ... More >>

'Parent Trigger' Scores First-Ever Victory at Desert Trails Elementary: Judge Issues Historic Ruling Against Adelanto School District

See also: LA Weekly print stories "California's Parent Trigger" and "Parent Trigger's Second Try." For the first time in American history, parents with kids at an extremely low-performing school -- in this case, Desert Trails Elementary in Adelanto -- have succeeded in filing a petition to seize it ... More >>

Why California Democrats Protect Sex Abuser Teachers

How Betsy Butler and Mike Eng torpedoed Alex Padilla's sex-pervert bill, SB 1530

Firing the Bad Teachers: Ted Olson and LAUSD Parents Sue

Why Did California Lawmakers Kill Miramonte-Inspired Bill to Help Fire Pervy Teachers?

Senator Alex Padilla (D-Paicoma) is fuming this morning over yesterday's decision by the Assembly Education Committee to throw out SB 1530 -- that famous Miramonte-inspired bill that would have made it easier for school districts to fire teachers accused of "sex, violence or drug offenses involving ... More >>

Assembly Candidate Brian Johnson Appears Defeated; Education Reformers Spent $1.5 Million On Losing Effort

Update, Monday: Final update shows Johnson down by 31 votes. Waiting for Johnson to pull the plug.Brian Johnson -- the anointed candidate of the charter school movement -- appears headed to defeat in his costly race for the 46th Assembly District.With nearly all the ballots counted, Johnson, a Democ ... More >>

Eric Bauman v. Gloria Romero in Assembly District 46

Michelle Rhee, 'Parent Trigger' Supporters File Huge L.A. Lawsuit to Strip Teachers of Job Protection

California's teachers have long been protected by a series of state laws -- lobbied into existence by powerful teachers unions -- that make the ineffective ones almost impossible to fire. Now, in the largest state lawsuit of kind, the key players behind the controversial "Parent Trigger" law allege ... More >>

Miramonte Sex Scandal Inspires Legislation to Make Firing Teachers Easy: Big Union Says No

Three bills that would make it easier for school districts to fire allegedly bad teachers are being fought by the powerful California Teachers Association. Because bad teachers need to stay on the job longer! Many California Democrats, who have shared bed sheets with the CTA for ages, have been si ... More >>

'Parent Trigger' Petition Rejected by Adelanto School District After Teacher-Backed Rescission Campaign

A group of parents at Desert Trails Elementary, located two hours east of L.A. in the dusty desert town of Adelanto, saw months of hard work thrown back in their faces last night. The "parent union," as they call themselves, guided by controversial ed-reform org Parent Revolution, have been going d ... More >>

'Parent Trigger' School Reform Effort in Adelanto Attacked by Charter-Fearing Parents, Teachers, L.A. Times (Deja Vu)

Update, February 22: "'Parent Trigger' Petition Rejected by Adelanto School District After Teacher-Backed Rescission Campaign." A historic first for K-12 school reform might be chronicled tomorrow in the small desert town of Adelanto, two hours east of Los Angeles. If the Adelanto Unified Elementa ... More >>

Parent Trigger's Second Try

Minority parents target failing Adelanto school

Lynwood Parents Fight Back Against Nasty, Anti-'Parent Trigger' Newsletters From Teachers Union

PHOTO BY NANETTE GONZALESAlma Alvarado and her daughter, Jessica Alvarez, at Lynwood's Washington Elementary.​At a heated press conference in Lynwood today, a group of parents whose children attend the Lynwood Unified School District are trying to clear up some recent rumor-mongering by the lo ... More >>

Boyle Heights High-Schoolers Plan 4-Mile Walkout to LAUSD Board Meeting Over School Bus Cuts

flickriverNo more school buses in Los Angeles?​A few hundred students from Bravo Medical Magnet High School in Boyle Heights will trudge over four miles through whizzing downtown streets today. Fittingly, the brave urban hike will end in a plea to local Board of Education members: Don't you d ... More >>

Parent Trigger Regulations Approved by California State Board of Education: Let the Reform Begin!

PHOTO BY TED SOQUIThe absence of regulations meant trouble for a recent Parent Trigger attempt in Compton.​Huge victory today for the education-reform camp, and charter groups ready to flip public schools into places of learning, not administrator-heavy cesspools of FAIL: At about 10:20 this ... More >>

Patricia Rucker, Teachers Union Lobbyist and California Board of Education Member, Accused of Conflict of Interest

California Teachers AssociationRucker, to the right.​One of the first things Governor Jerry Brown did upon taking the wand from Schwarzenegger -- aside from woo the people on a Southwest flight -- was sweep out the Governator's entire State Board of Education, a full house of radical reformist ... More >>

Governor Jerry Brown Failing to Sell Tax Hikes: 62% of California Voters Want a Say, But Under Half Want to Say 'Yes'

He'd have been a shoddy salesman.​Governor Jerry Brown may have appeased the California Teachers Association, one of his most generous campaign backers, for now: In his revised May 17 budget proposal, he shields K-12 schools and community colleges from the big, stern cuts that will be necessar ... More >>

SoCal 'Parent Trigger' Pushers Travel to Sacramento, Tell State Board of Education: Don't Let Teachers Have a Say

California Teachers AssociationPatricia Rucker, right, is both a Board of Education member and a CTA lobbyist​If the battle over California's new parent-empowerment law was only vicariously between the California Teachers Association and the growing charter-school business before, it just got ... More >>

Union-Backed LAUSD Candidates Accuse UTLA President A.J. Duffy Of Coercing Them To Drop Out

A.J. Duffy​Updated below at 7:32 p.m. with UTLA response.Two union-backed school board candidates are accusing UTLA President A.J. Duffy of coercing them to drop out of the race, after background checks turned up legal and financial issues.Jesus Escandon agreed to drop out, but only after Duffy ma ... More >>

Governor Jerry Brown's New California Board Of Education Appointments Could Disable Compton 'Trigger'

A new State Board of Education might be Brown's way of pulling the trigger on charters​Jerry Brown announced his California Board of Education appointments yesterday -- and they're sure to throw a wrench in the spokes of the Parent Trigger movement. For a group of parents in Compton, this wil ... More >>

Compton's Parent Trigger Feud

PTA opposes charter school. Moms sick of McKinley Elementary fight back

California's Parent Trigger

How McKinley in Compton became the first school taken over by parents under a radical new law

Prop. 22, Prop. 24 Election Results: Voters Took Their Best Guess On Two Fiscal-Jargon Props Only Teachers Cared About

The California Teachers Association don't like dese apples​In the shadow of Prop. 19's "to smoke or not to smoke" sex appeal and Prop. 23's Earthy fist pump, there were a couple initiatives -- Prop. 22 and Prop. 24, both riddled in tax talk -- that were completely neglected by the hype machine ... More >>

Special Interests Spend Heavily on California Superintendent of Public Instruction Race

California superintendent candidate Tom Torlakson​If anyone thinks no one in California cared all that much about the little-known statewide race for superintendent of public instruction, think again. According to the state's Fair Political Practices Commission, special interest groups spent ... More >>

State Superintendent Race Still Too Close to Call

Retired public school superintendent Larry Aceves​In an extremely close race that is still not official, retired public school superintendent Larry Aceves and state Senator Tom Torlakson appear to be heading for a run-off in the November general election for California Superintendent of Publi ... More >>

Larry Aceves and Tom Torlakson Move Forward in State Superintendent Race

State Assemblyman Tom Torlakson​The San Francisco Chronicle has called the statewide race for superintendent of public instruction, with retired public school superintendent Larry Aceves and state Assemblyman Tom Torlakson facing each other in a November run-off. State Senator Gloria Romero ... More >>

LAUSD Honchos Back Gloria Romero in Superintendent Race

State Sen. Gloria Romero.​Los Angeles Unified School District President Monica Garcia and Vice-President Yolie Flores are backing California State Senator Gloria Romero in her bid to become the next state superintendent of public instruction.Romero, a hard-charging reformer from Los Angeles w ... More >>

Gloria Romero's Race to the Top

Can a scrappy L.A. reformist beat a big union to become Supe of California's schools?

Free Pass From (Teacher) Jail

President Monica Garcia and a cowed LAUSD board punt on firing bad teachers

Pink Slippage: Teachers' Unions Gear Up for Combat

These are not the best of times to be a public school teacher in California. The United Teachers Los Angeles is facing a potential loss of nearly 5,500 instructors from its 48,000-member union due to layoffs -- a devastating blow to any organization that size. The UTLA is gearing up to reduce the ... More >>

Fabian, maybe it's the friends you keep

If you followed the election fine print - those ballot measures having nothing to do with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain or Mitt Romney, you might be wondering what killed Proposition 93, the plan to alter California Term Limits for the first time since voters overwhelmingly passed the l ... More >>

Sacramento's Poison Pill

A sneaky move by Fabian Núñez aims to stop statewide charter schools

An Autumn's Long Nap

Phil’s in trouble, but so are you if a New York developer gets his way on Proposition 90

Naked Politics

Democratic sleaze and the Clean Money campaign

Jackie's Warring Clan

Going for broke in the race to replace Goldberg in the 45th Assembly District

The Takeover King

Is Mayor V betraying his old-time union allies? Or rescuing L.A.’s troubled public school system? Whatever the answer, he faces the biggest risks of his political career.

The Mayor's A-List

When it comes to winning Antonio’s support, it helps not to oppose school takeover

The Reiner Riddle

Whatever his Sacramento troubles, Meathead’s created a smart progressive initiative

An A-Plus in Fund-Raising

Teacher unions-backed candidate rolling in the dough

Reverse Recall

The Arnold revolution runs out of spin

Schwarzshank Redemption

Four ballot measures could decide the governor’s term

Size Matters

Former Governor Pete Wilson said that reducing class size would be good for kids. He should have said it would be good for affluent kids.

Interview with Wally Knox

State of Disrepair

Phil Angelides’ prescription for rebuilding California