The Los Angeles Unified School District and Service Employees International Union Local 99 reached a tentative agreement around 2 a.m. Tuesday Pacific Time. 

United Teachers Los Angeles and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles agreed to tentative contracts Sunday night. If SEIU had not reached an agreement, all three unions would have for the first time in the nation’s second-largest district.

“We are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement in principle with SEIU Local 99 that will allow schools to be open,” the district said in a . “Los Angeles Unified and SEIU Local 99 teams will continue to work together to finalize the details of a tentative agreement.”

The union, which represents more than 30,000 bus drivers, teachers’ assistants, custodians and cafeteria workers, had of bad-faith bargaining and retaliation. The teachers union and its 37,000 members had planned to walk out with the SEIU local in solidarity, as it did when the union an unfair labor charge strike in 2023. This time, the administrators union, which represents more than 3,000 principals and assistant principals, had planned to strike in support as well.

“Because of our members’ unity and readiness to take action, we secured major wins — including significant improvements to wages and hours; stronger protections against subcontracting; increased staffing; and we successfully stopped layoffs for (information technology) workers,” Local 99 said in a Tuesday . “This is what collective power looks like.”

The union and the district have been bargaining for two years, said Blanca Gallegos, the union’s communications director.

“Currently, the average wage in (our union) is about $35,000, which is below poverty for a family of four,” she said before the agreement was reached. “We’re also looking to increase hours — because the district relies on a lot of part-time work — so about 80% of Local 99 members are working less than eight hours a day.”

The district previously a 13% raise, but the union it wasn’t enough to provide a livable salary for its members. The union also wanted staff to be able to work more hours. Gallegos said many employees were restricted to a number of hours that’s just under the threshold needed to qualify for health benefits — a reason why picketing would have been classified as an . The district didn’t respond to a request for comment about the unfair labor charge.

“During these two years of negotiations, the district has taken a lot of actions that are retaliatory. One of them is they reduce the hours of thousands of members so that they’re not eligible for health care benefits — I mean, like 15 minutes short of being eligible,” Gallegos said. “We see that as undermining the contract.”

�ճܱ���岹��’s includes a 24% pay increase over three years and minimum work hour schedules for specific positions. 

The district had told all three unions it can’t afford huge raises, but bargaining leaders pointed to a $5 billion reserve fund. Los Angeles Unified has the account is dwindling amid a projected . 

United Teachers Los Angeles Sunday that it agreed to a tentative two-year contract that increases the average salary by 13.86%, with a minimum raise of 8%. The union had rejected an April 1 that included a 10% raise over three years with a one-time 3% bonus for this school year.

The new contract, which will expire in 2027, also includes four weeks of paid parental leave; more psychologists, psychiatric social workers and counselors; lower class sizes; and stipends for teachers if class sizes exceed the limit.

“The flexing of our collective power forced LAUSD to direct significant funding into critical priorities identified by UTLA members in the Win Our Future contract demands,” the union said in a .

United Teachers Los Angeles has been a key player in a statewide effort to improve pay and working conditions during contract negotiations this year. The , coordinated by the California Teachers Association, asked union locals in 32 districts to focus demands around wages, staffing, fewer layoffs and school closures. It also aims to pressure the state to increase school funding.

Associated Administrators of Los Angeles was 12% raises over two years, with a chance to renegotiate in the third year of its next contract. The district to an 11.65% salary increase. Union members stipends if they work in a high-needs school or are a school’s single administrator, and 40 hours a year of professional training.

“This moment did not happen by accident. It happened because 90% of you voted yes to authorize a strike,” union President Maria Nichols said to her members in a . “It happened because you trusted our union. It happened because you stood firm, you stood together and you refused to be overlooked. Your courage at that vote changed the tone at the bargaining table. Your unity shifted the balance of power. Your perseverance made this moment possible.”

The unions haven’t announced a timetable for ratifying the contracts. 

In case of a strike, the district had planned to at community food sites and offer classroom lesson packets. But some parents said loss of learning and other resources would have lasting negative impacts on their children.

Maria Palma, founder of the parent advocacy group , said the pandemic combined with other local school interruptions, such as immigration enforcement raids, have caused students to miss multiple days of school.

“Many parents are very concerned about the learning loss that has happened,” she said. “Most recently, we had a protest where teachers were telling students that they should walk out of schools and protest against ICE. The loss of so many school days for some kids that are now, for example, in high school, over all these years, has been considerable.”

A strike would have been especially devastating for Indigenous and immigrant families, said Evelyn Aleman, founder of , a local parent advocacy nonprofit. The district serves roughly 30,000 immigrant students, and 25% of them are undocumented, according to the .

Aleman said language barriers had made it difficult for immigrant parents to keep up with district updates about the strike. 

Undocumented parents don’t feel safe enough to pick up materials or food distributed by the district because of fears of deportation, she said. Many parents involved with Our Voice also work as street vendors and are the single guardians of multiple children, making it impossible to find child care.

“When LAUSD says there’s going to be food centers, some parents don’t have vehicles. It’s very frustrating,” Aleman said. “Some children will remain unwatched, because some of the parents will leave the children in the home and sometimes leave cameras. That’s how they monitor the children — that’s what is happening when these situations arise.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District is weighing layoffs that could reshape classrooms across the nation’s second-largest school district. 

The district’s board at next week’s meeting is expected to decide whether to cut jobs, as it faces a projected $191 million deficit in the 2027-28 school year if it keeps spending at its current pace. The deficits in LAUSD and other districts are driven largely by the loss of Covid relief funds, declining enrollment and rising costs.

Meanwhile, labor unions throughout the state are pushing many districts for pay raises and other changes, such as increased health care contributions in their next contracts.

“Where you need to cut then is the classroom,” he said. “Because you need fewer classrooms, you need fewer teachers, fewer aides, fewer of folks that are at the sites directly serving kids.”

Los Angeles Unified is not alone among California’s school districts facing financial pressures. The  must close a deficit or face state receivership.  plans to implement job cuts to address its budget shortfall. 

“Large and small districts, urban, suburban and rural alike, are experiencing similar constraints,” reads an open  from superintendents of eight California districts, demanding the state restructure the way it funds schools. “When nearly every school system in California is facing the same challenges, it is clear that the issue is not isolated decision-making, but the sustainability of the funding model itself.” 

The superintendents who sent the letter, including LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, cited ongoing challenges, such as enrollment declines.

LAUSD’s enrollment declined more than 3% to 389,000, down from roughly 402,500 between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years. That outpaced both the state and country, according to a at January’s Committee of the Whole meeting. 

About 90% of LAUSD’s budget is spent on personnel. Fine said that with so much of the money being spent on staffing, it would be nearly impossible to balance the budget on the remaining funds. 

“Our priority will be to protect students, protect programs, protect schools, and, to the extent possible, protect workforce,” Carvalho said at a Roundtable discussion with reporters in late January. “And within that priority, the protection of workforce begins with school sites. That is the balance that we want to establish, leading to the necessary fiscal solvency that we must continue to observe.” 

If LAUSD moves forward with job cuts, laid-off employees would be notified by March 15, per state law.

Weighing in the potential cuts, LAUSD is expecting a $191 million deficit for the 2027-28 academic year, though several factors are at play, including the final governor’s budget. The district also said it plans to move forward with roughly $150 million in reductions to its central office. 

The current fiscal challenges come after two years of diminishing reserves to help replenish a multi-billion-dollar deficit. While the district teacher’s union has pointed to $5 billion in reserves as of July, LAUSD is expecting to burn through it in three years. 

“The danger in just trimming 5% here, 10% there is it leaves you sometimes with incomplete programs,” Fine said. “It may leave you with the inability to actually turn things into practice.” 

The school board was originally expected to vote on the layoffs Tuesday, but postponed its regular meeting to Feb. 17 to allow for better preparation and engagement. The meeting’s comes after LAUSD unions issued a  asking that the vote be delayed and presented instead at a stand-alone meeting. 

Ongoing labor actions 

The discussion of layoffs comes as United Teachers Los Angeles, or UTLA, the union representing roughly 35,000 teachers,  a strike if a labor agreement isn’t reached. Meanwhile, SEIU Local 99, which represents roughly 30,000 workers, including special education assistants, cafeteria workers and custodians, is in the midst of a strike authorization vote. 

Before mediation began with UTLA in January, LAUSD said its bargaining proposals would cost $4 billion over a three-year contract, while SEIU Local 99’s would cost $3 billion through 2027-2028. 

LAUSD’s most recent  to SEIU Local 99 would increase wages by 13% over the next three years — starting with a 10% increase this year. Before mediation, the district offered UTLA a 4.5% raise and 1% bonus over two years. 

UTLA says that isn’t enough. With Los Angeles’ high cost of living, teachers are struggling financially, the union says. A showed that money is particularly important for Gen Z Black and Latino teachers in the district; a quarter of whom said they would leave their careers in education in search of a higher-paying job.

“I’m a third-year teacher. I have a master’s degree from UCLA, which is the premier education school in the country, and I’m still living paycheck to paycheck. And I’m still unable to even think about one day owning a home,” said Jon Paul Arciniega, a 29-year-old social studies teacher at Edward R. Roybal Learning Center in the Westlake area.  

“I still live at home,” Arciniega said. “And if I want to think about things like getting my own place, starting a family, buying a home, right now, all of that seems untenable.” 

Uncertainty ahead 

Sandy Meredith, a psychiatric social worker covering 42 district schools, said she hopes a strike won’t be necessary, both because of the financial strain it would place on colleagues like Arciniega and because schools play a critical role in students’ daily safety. 

But at the same time, she said they’re struggling to support students — 20% of whom require mental health services — without the district providing the support and wages they see as critical to their success. She expressed frustration with the size of the district’s reserves, particularly when teachers and staff like her pay out of pocket to provide basic resources, such as toilet paper, for students. 

“I feel like I’m on an airplane,” she said, “and I’ve been told ‘I’m sorry, but we can’t give you a mask to put on first. But go ahead and take care of the child.’ ” 

Strikes are nothing new in Los Angeles Unified. UTLA last went on strike in 2019, leading to a historic  with 6% pay raises, smaller class sizes and investments in community schools. Four years later, in 2023, SEIU Local 99 went on strike, which resulted in a 30% wage increase. 

But teachers and staff say this year comes with much higher stakes. 

Members of UTLA’s leadership say educators and school staff play a bigger role beyond the school walls.  

“We’re dealing with families’ anxieties. Are they not being able to come to school because of their housing insecurity? Is there trauma with this addition of the ICE raids? There’s concerns about safety,” said Margaret Wirth, a pupil services and attendance counselor who supports all of LAUSD’s Region South. “Is my child safe? For the child, is my parent safe? There’s a lot of different factors that make everything more heightened.”

Pupil service and attendance counselors like Wirth help reduce chronic absenteeism. She said layoffs will mean her caseloads will increase. 

But at the same time, Fine said if a district is going to move forward with layoffs, the earlier, the better.  

“The earlier you cut, the better off you are, and you’re also not dangling this black cloud over your staff and the community,” Fine said. “You get the discussion done, you forecast your gap right, and you make a decision on how to close that gap all at once, and everybody knows what the plan is.” 

This was originally published on .

Scott Schmerelson, who has worked in the LA Unified School District for nearly four decades and has served on the board since 2015, was  by his board colleagues on Dec. 10.  

As board president, he succeeded , who is retiring.

A former LAUSD teacher, principal and administrator, Schmerelson assumed leadership of the board just before he begins his third and final term representing District 3, which covers parts of LA’s San Fernando Valley region.

In a phone interview, Schmerelson said he’d focus the board’s attention on fighting falling student enrollment in the remainder of the academic year, as pre-pandemic declines accelerated into long-term losses that may eventually force school closures.

“I’m going to constantly, constantly talk about enrollment,” Schmerelson said. “For the school district to remain viable, we have to have students.”

Schmerelson said he hoped LAUSD’s improving test scores would help attract students who may have left the district for private schools or home instruction.

He said as board president he’ll also focus on issues including LAUSD’s  and rising .  

It’s a tall order. But with nearly 40 years working in the district and close to a decade on the school board, Schmerelson believes he has the backing of his community.

As president, Schmerelson will help set the direction of the board’s policymaking and manage its operations. The LAUSD’s seven-member board sets the district’s policy, controls its budget and hires the superintendent.

This fall Schmerelson overcame an aggressive campaign from opponent Dan Chang, a math teacher at James Madison Middle School in North Hollywood, who focused much of his election messaging on the need to tame waste and corruption in the school district.

Chang and his backers, including the state charter school association’s political arm, spent more than $5.6 million promoting his campaign. �����󳾱��������Dz�’s backers, including the local teacher union, spent about $2.5 million, .

In the end, Chang landed behind Schmerelson with 48% of the vote, while Schmerelson got 52%.

Schmerelson brought up the cost of the race in remarks he made after he was sworn in as president at LAUSD headquarters last month.  

“Really, it is our whole community that won,” he said. “Because we learned to work together against the power of money. And when I say money, I mean $5 million.”  

The contest between the two men had the potential to tilt the district’s school board away from a majority of union-backed members, and impact its handling of several   facing LAUSD, including restrictions on charter schools’ use of buildings, which Chang said he’d move to reverse if elected. 

 victory is part of a successful election season for many teachers  in Los Angeles – and Schmerelson has aligned himself with local unions on policies limiting space and resources for charter schools.

But in an interview Schmerelson said he supports the continued operation of high-quality charter schools in the district.

“I am going to support those charter schools that are doing an excellent job of educating the kids,” said Schmerelson.

“I want to make sure that the charter schools that we have, are viable and working well,” he added.

This school year Fremont High has seen security-related lockdowns on a nearly a monthly basis, including an incident at the beginning of the year when .

But Marisol Pérez, who’s taught at Fremont for more than a decade, said students at the school can find their way out of the concrete jungle through the STEM fields of science, tech, engineering and math.��

A retired Coast Guard veteran who served eight years as a technician in active duty before becoming a teacher, Perez knows from her own experience the value of education and the power of following your dreams.  

Now Perez has made it her life’s mission to outfit her students with the tools to succeed in an increasingly tech-driven world.

“The United States is struggling to produce enough qualified individuals for STEM jobs, which often results in these roles being outsourced to other countries,” said Perez, “leading to a loss of opportunities here at home.”

In recognition of her dedication, Pérez in November was named the , earning the honor through a nationwide nomination process for excellence in STEM education.

In an interview with The 74, Pérez discussed the challenges her students face pursuing STEM fields in South Central and how investment in new STEM programs can create a significant impact.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

South Central LA can be a tough place to grow up. How does the environment there impact students’ ability to study in school?

Students come to school saying that they can’t walk home late because these are not the types of areas where it’s safe to walk around.

The demographics here present unique challenges. Our students, as much as we would like them to focus on their homework, their education, often have different and more immediate concerns. Unfortunately Many come from broken homes, and their worries are far removed from those of the average student outside this community. They’re thinking about where their next meal will come from, or they’re rushing home because they have to go to work.

In my opinion, it’s hard for them to focus on academics in the same way students in other demographics might. The dynamics within the Black and Latino communities here are very similar—they face significant hardships they need to overcome. At the same time, they’re trying to pursue an education and push themselves to meet standards. They often have to work three or four times as hard just to meet those expectations. It’s incredibly challenging.

What has teaching in South Central for over a decade taught you about public schools in these communities?

I don’t think we have as many resources as we would like, and that’s where the struggle usually lies. This is a  Because of that, our budgets are really low—not where they need to be. In reality, schools like ours should be receiving the most funding since we lack critical resources. We have a student population of about 1,900, most of whom are at impoverished income levels. This is exactly where additional resources are needed.

However, when funding is distributed, it rarely seems to reach schools like ours. We end up coming up short, with insufficient budgets to maintain resources. Even for programs like this one, I’ve had to spend a lot of my own money to cover the things we need. Running an engineering course is expensive—very expensive—and I’m constantly struggling to find additional funding. I’ve been applying for grants to help cover the cost of consumables the students go through daily.

For this program alone, I’ve had to obtain additional certifications to qualify for grants within the state because the school simply doesn’t have the money to support programs like this. On top of my engineering background, I pursued these certifications so I could apply for state grants and potentially secure the funds to expand the program and open up more engineering opportunities for the students.

Why is STEM so hard for your students to engage with?

I have a background in STEM, and I can tell you right now that as a mechanical engineer working in government, most people don’t look like me. There are very few Latinas or women in this field. I happen to have both under my belt—I’m a female Latina—and engineering is predominantly male-dominated. 

Bringing STEM programs into communities that are predominantly Black and Latino creates an opportunity to introduce something many people might not have known about. These communities may not realize that there are excellent jobs in STEM that they, too, can pursue. When they see someone like me—a female Latina from their area—they can say, “She did it, so why can’t I?” That’s the mentality we try to push here, is that we can do it, then there’s no excuse for you not to do it.

What is the school environment like for students?

When we wrap up our work, we need to ensure that we’re calling parents and making sure they come to the parking lot so our kids can get home safely. If that’s not possible, we’ll arrange transportation for them. Something as simple as this might seem unnecessary to someone outside the situation, but for us, it’s essential. 

 I live just a block away from the school, but even that short distance can feel intimidating because our community can be a little dangerous. However, the school itself is a safe and nurturing environment. It feels like a small oasis for the kids—a place where they feel secure and comfortable. But when they head home, they instinctively know that as the sun sets, they need to hurry and get there quickly.

What’s your teaching philosophy?

I always tell my kids, I don’t ever want a company to hire you just because you’re a female or because you’re a brown female. I want them to hire you because you have the skills, because you bring something valuable to the company that they need.

I do my best here not only to teach them the necessary skills but also to help them understand that this is not how they should expect to be hired—and it’s not how they should want to be hired. You should be hired because you are competitive and capable.

What changes do you think LAUSD should make?

LAUSD needs to focus more on STEM programs and allocate additional funding to them. The entire country acknowledges a problem with STEM education, as we’re falling short compared to other nations. 

We’re coming up short with STEM. As a result, these jobs end up being shipped to another country.

In the 21st century, with advancements like artificial intelligence, automation, electric vehicles, and even potential hydrogen technologies, it’s crucial to prioritize STEM education, especially since that’s where our biggest global competitors are headed.

This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Charter-backed upstart failed in the Nov. 5 elections to unseat , the longtime LAUSD educator and policymaker who won the election and will begin his third and final term on the LA Unified board in January. 

Chang conceded in a message to supporters that he wasn’t going to be able to overcome �����󳾱��������Dz�’s 4 percentage point lead. 

Chang, a math teacher at James Madison Middle School in North Hollywood, who previously helped found charter schools in LA, trailed behind Schmerelson with 48% of the vote, while Schmerelson garnered  52%.

The contest between the two men had the potential to tip the district’s school board away from a 4-3 majority of union-backed members, and impact the board’s handling of several facing LAUSD, including restrictions on charter schools’ use of buildings, which Chang said he’d move to reverse if elected. 

victory is part of a successful election season for many teachers . 

The outspoken former teacher and principal has sided closely with local unions on issues of space and resources for charter schools. His win could mean more headwinds for the nation’s largest charter school sector here moving forward. 

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Two other LA Unified school board races being decided by voters this year were not as close.

For District 1 in South LA, board admin defeated with 71% of the vote, versus 29% for Al-Alim, whom the in the primary over anti-semitic social media. 

For LAUSD Board District 5, which covers parts of Northeast and Southeast LA, union-backed led with 61% of the vote, versus 39% held by Ortiz.

Meanwhile, a majority of LA voters voiced their approval of a to repair and upgrade aging school buildings. 

As of Friday, voters cast 68% of ballots in favor of , which was backed by members of the LAUSD board, district superintendent Alberto Carvalho, the teachers union and local construction groups.  

Measure US would be LAUSD’s largest ever school facilities bond, and would be paid for with property tax increases. It requires a 55% majority in order to pass. 

The Los Angeles County Clerk is still counting votes and is providing daily. 

As of Friday the clerk had recorded more than 3.7 million votes in all the elections held November 5, with roughly 35% of eligible voters still uncounted.

I have always enjoyed working with students and felt it is a way to give back to the community. 

When I enrolled at the University of Southern California two years ago, I kept up the tutoring, bringing my skills to elementary schools in the low income neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles. 

What I quickly noticed was, despite the San Gabriel Valley being only 20 miles away from South Central LA, there was a huge disparity in literacy levels. 

The kids in the Valley could read at far more advanced levels than the kids in South Central. And the test scores confirmed what I saw in the classroom.

According to , 77% of elementary students tested at or above the proficient level for reading in the Arcadia Unified School District, in the Valley where I tutored; and 76% tested at or above that level for math. 

Compare that with the literacy levels for , where 43% of elementary students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 36% tested at or above that level for math. 

During my first semester tutoring in South Central, I had a 4th grade student who struggled to read. 

As I continued my time tutoring in South Central, I realized many of my students struggled with reading and pronouncing words. I spoke to teachers who told me that the pandemic took a toll on learning. 

Some students struggled to focus on their work during online classes. And many struggled with disruption and trauma caused by the pandemic, teachers said.  

But I found there were ways that I could help these kids learn to read. 

I focused my lesson plans on phonics, the building blocks of words. We focused on pronouncing different letter combinations with a phonics book as my chosen curriculum. It turned out that my decision to focus on phonics made a huge difference.  

I used phonics to teach reading because it helped me guide my students. While I know all the pronunciations and word combinations, I didn’t have a list of sounds or letter combinations to teach, so a phonics textbook helped with giving my lessons structure.

As it turns out, districts around the country are embracing phonics as part of a movement in teaching called “the science of reading,” which relies on letter recognition and sounding out words to teach literacy. New York City has rolled out a phonics-based curriculum and Los Angeles Unified is in the process of doing so.

A number of states have laws to mandate the science of reading, but an  in California failed last year. Still, educators and districts are free to use the tools of phonics in their lessons. 

Through my phonics-based lessons, my students started to increase their literacy level, and reading became easier for them. However, one tutor can only do so much. 

There are many variables that can contribute to the educational chasm. The average household income for the is $115,525, and the average household income for  is $64,927, according to Point2Homes. Wealth puts some students ahead academically. 

From my experience, I know that many families in the San Gabriel Valley hire tutors to ensure their children stay on track and perhaps even surpass the educational requirements of their schools. 

But although students in the San Gabriel Valley have more financial resources, that doesn’t mean LAUSD elementary students can’t meet or exceed San Gabriel Valley’s test scores. 

To increase literacy rates in South Central schools, I believe that teachers and parents should create a culture where students are encouraged to read more. Students should view reading as something fun rather than work. 

While tutors can facilitate the reading process, students need to be self-motivated. Tutors can help students pronounce words and teach them the basic building blocks of reading. However, if students don’t read on their own time, they can’t take their skills to the next level. 

That’s why it’s so important for teachers and families to impart kids with a love of reading. The combination of phonics and a genuine interest in reading creates lifelong learners.

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho will roll out a district-wide smartphone ban after the LAUSD school board passed calling for the prohibition.  

School board members expressed concerns over the devices’ disruptive impact on student learning and socialization, referencing a survey saying students view their own phone use as an that can have a . 

Board member Nick Melvoin, who wrote the resolution, told LA School Report concerns about students’ mental health and academic success motivated the push.  

“I spend time in schools every week, and have been struck by how often kids are on their phones,” Melvoin said. “We now have over a decade of research that shows the deleterious effects of this on all of us.”   

Melvoin’s resolution said the new policy should consider the use of storage lockers, locking pouches and technology to block social media from students’ phones. Melvoin said he hoped Carvalho’s policy would present a menu of options for schools to choose from.   

The resolution came just a few months before California lawmakers passed the statewide ‘Phone Free Schools Act,’ requiring districts across California to implement policies that limit or ban student use of cell phones during the school day. 

Here’s what you need to know: 

1. LAUSD already has a cell phone policy. 

Introduced in 2011, permits students to have phones on campus but requires the devices to remain off and stored away during class. 

Melvoin said decisions regarding the enforcement of the policy have mostly been up to individual schools and teachers, and not always strictly enforced. 

With the new policy, Melvoin wants to continue to allow schools to make decisions and include parent and student voices, while also implementing specific guidelines that they must follow. 

He said he hoped the district would present a menu of options so schools would be able to choose the use of storage lockers, pouches, or an outright ban.

“We’re working with communities to actually ask them what they want,” Melvoin says. 

2. Some LAUSD schools already have policies to ban phones

A number of LAUSD schools, including Culver City High School and Lincoln High School, have already adopted approaches similar to those called for by the school board’s resolution.

According to Culver City’s parent handbook, classrooms have mandated designated areas in each classroom for students to place their phones before the course begins. A policy that is new as of the 2024-2025 school year. 

As of 2023, all teachers at LHS are provided with a 48-slot locking case that all students must place their phones in, similar to Melvoin’s proposed “menu.”

Other schools such as Gardena High School and Panorama High School and Magnets have more relaxed policies. Students at these schools are allowed to bring phones in the classroom but they must be turned off and put away, and may be confiscated if caught by a teacher. 

Tanya Ortiz-Franklin, an LAUSD board member and co-sponsor of the resolution, noticed an improvement in math scores from a school in her district that has already banned phones. 

“Students were even saying themselves, it’s nice to not feel distracted,” Ortiz-Franklin says.

With the impending ban, all high schools will be expected to update their policies in the upcoming school year.

3. The District is just months ahead of a California state ban of cell phones in the classroom, what is the rationale?

Both the state of California and LAUSD referenced studies proving that cell phones are harmful to education in their resolutions. 

‘The Phone Free Schools Act,’ referenced a paper published in , finding that students improved in schools with cell phone bans and that lower-performing students improved exponentially. 

The state also referenced Dr. Jean Twenge’s book “iGen” which showed evidence of increased depression and mental health issues in young adults who used social media. 

In a New York Times op-ed, released the day after LAUSD passed the new resolution, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, the U.S attorney general writes that social media should require a label, warning users that the platform is, “.”

Conversations around the harms of social media are heightened now more than ever, and schools are learning to deal with increasing concerns. 

4. California is not the only state banning phones

The 2024-2025 school year marks the beginning of many new cell phone bans across the country and may mark a turning point for education in the United States.  

LAUSD is joined by Santa Barbara Unified and San Francisco Unified in cell phone bans for the 2024-2025 school year, but California is not the only state banning phones. 

Florida was the first state in May of 2023 to bar the use of cell phones, requiring districts to create policies that ban students from using phones during classes. 

Louisiana and Indiana have new policies that went into effect this year, and South Carolina, Virginia, Minnesota, and Ohio all have new rules coming online in 2025. 

Discussions around a New York City Department of Education cell phone ban have been circulating all summer, but Mayor Eric Adams, says the school is .

The new policy, set to roll out in January, is being created in response to .   

Studies show the unregulated use of phones on campus can harm students’ academic progress and cause harm to kids’ mental health. 

LA families and local educators are buzzing about , but no one is sure how it will work. 

“The first thing I thought was, how are they going to enforce that?” said Cara Becerril, a mother of a junior at . “They’re going to get a lot of backlash from students and parents…I’m for it.” 

LAUSD officials said they hope the cellphone ban will reduce attention problems, cyberbullying and anxiety caused by cellphone use. Parents think that’s a good idea. 

“I’m old school, and I grew up without a phone,” Becerril said. “Humans right now can’t get off their phone, so I mean, we’ve got to start somewhere.”

Teachers told LA School Report conflicts over cellphone use can strain their relationships with students. They said they do not want sole responsibility for enforcing a ban, and they’re not sure how the devices should be managed on campus. 

“I really don’t want to be the cellphone police,” said Susan Norton, an English teacher at . “It’s just not a good position for teachers to be in when we’re dealing with people’s property.” 

Teachers also said students seem “addicted” to their phones. 

Rebecca Holt, a sixth grade teacher in Bel Air, has noticed students hiding their cellphones behind their books or taking bathroom breaks just to use their phone. Once LAUSD implements the cellphone ban in 2025, she hopes teachers won’t have to be the cellphone police anymore. 

Three Los Angeles school teachers shared their students’ encounters with cyberbullying. According to Holt, two students threatened to get another student killed, saying they “deserved to die.” 

While technology and social media have some negative effects on youth mental health, adolescents have reported many positive aspects. In Holt’s math classroom, students enjoy seeing where their peers go on vacation through social media.

“It helps them see other cultures and learn about the world because they’ll see their friend who went to visit Iceland, and they’ll get to see what Iceland is like,” Holt said. 

Holt also said her students sometimes watch funny videos after a long day of school as a way to decompress. But she also said that social media could have an isolating effect on kids. 

One of Holt’s middle school students, she said, decided to stop using social media entirely, and said that they felt more present in class, had stronger relationships, and enjoyed the little things in life more after quitting social media. 

Although teachers and parents voiced concerns about teens’ mental health, teens expressed confidence in how they are handling challenges that come with using devices and social media. 

Some said they feel more connected than ever through their cell phones, while other teens, like Holt’s student who quit social media, have opted out of online communities. 

Their parents were less sanguine. 

“Children are totally addicted to their phones,” said Annise Fuller, mother of a senior at Westchester Enriched Sciences Magnets. “I think that the phones have taken away a lot of the children’s attention in the classroom.” 

But not all students are convinced. Although some kids told LA School Report phones can cause problems on campus, others, such as Dallas Robinson, Fuller’s daughter, said the devices are too important to bar from school.

“Don’t ban them,” said Robinson. “But make students put them in their backpacks.”

“They’re now graduated and in college…they came back [for] summer break. I had a couple of slices of coffee cake for them, and they were like, ‘Oh my gosh!’… because, you know it’s a famous thing,” said Heinz, a staff member at Marina Del Rey Middle School.

Stories like Heinz’s are not unique. LAUSD’s coffee cake is one of the most popular items on the district’s menu. Every year LA Unified serves up 800,000 slices of the coffee cake a year across 700 cafeterias, according to an LAIST .

The coffee cake recipe dates back to 1954 and has undergone several changes due to federal USDA regulations. Evelen Guirguis, who has been with the district for 30 years and is now the cafeteria manager at Marina del Rey Middle School, said shortening, an ingredient “high in calories and offers no nutritional benefits,” has since been cut out.

Baking more now that you are staying home? Remember the legendary LAUSD Old Fashioned Coffee Cake? Here is the original recipe from 1954. Photo credit: Danielle Chiriguaya.

— Los Angeles Unified (@LASchools)

“Before, the (ingredients) came from the government. Now we buy everything ourselves.” said Guirguis. “We have our own vendor now…[which] means we get the best [products] and everything is fresh,”

The current coffee cake recipe is expected to be updated again in the fall — because of a new set of federal regulations — cutting down on sugar. 

Meanwhile the iconic cake remains in high demand. 

“Even though the fat content has declined, it’s still a very moist cake…a big part of nutrition is what you enjoy,” said Manish Singh, director of LAUSD food services.

The district even the recipe during the pandemic, encouraging people to make it while they were home. 

Singh said earlier this month the district ordered 3,500 pieces of coffee cake as part of a staff appreciation day and “it was all gone in no time,”  he said.  “We did a similar thing last year. The first time, they ordered 1,000 pieces and were worried there would be leftovers. It was gone in 20 minutes.”

The cake is so popular, it has even inspired businesses like Runaway Sweet Treats in Los Angeles to offer on its menu items using the original recipe. It’s also a big crowd pleaser on back-to-school night, with parents waiting in long lines to get a slice.  

LAUSD Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho is also a big fan, requesting it for monthly principals’ meetings.

When a student reporter with several boxes of coffee cake returned to the University of Southern California campus, a security guard recognized the packaging and asked for a  piece.

The recipe is not the only thing that has changed. With the decrease in cafeteria-produced food, some schools have contracted the production process to a third-party vendor. The cake is still made from scratch in 25-30 school kitchens, Singh said. 

“Where we have the capacity, and where the staff is able to make it from scratch, we still encourage them to make it from scratch,” Singh said. 

Guirguis is one of the many passionate individuals behind the creation of the legendary cake. Once a week, she and her staff bake nearly 600 coffee cakes before breakfast at 7:45 AM for the students at Marina del Rey Middle School and seven other LAUSD campuses.

From start to finish, it only takes her 30 minutes to bake two trays of fresh coffee cake. Baking the cake, she said, is her favorite part of her job.

When asked why the coffee cake is so popular, Guirguis said, “It’s because we make it with love.”

Learn how to make the legendary treat below:

Los Angeles Unified School District’s coffee cake is one of the most popular items on the district’s menu. Learn more about the 70 year old tradition, and see the full recipe, at The74million.org

In the first glimpse of California’s K-12 schools’ year-over-year progress since the pandemic,  graduation rates hit some of their highest levels ever, absenteeism dropped significantly, and hundreds of districts showed academic improvements.

But despite a few bright spots, most of the 13 measurements that California uses to gauge student achievement remained flat in the , which the California Department of Education released on Dec. 15.

Returning to the color-coded system the state used prior to the pandemic, the new dashboard graded many categories as “yellow,” or mid-way between high and low. In assigning one of five colors, the state combines data about schools’ current performance and progress from previous years, which it says creates a more nuanced picture of achievement. Districts that score red — the lowest grade — for more than one category qualify for extra assistance to make improvements. 

During the pandemic, the state didn’t update the dashboard for two years, and then last year didn’t use the color-coding system because there was no previous data to compare it to. This is the first year since 2019 that the dashboard contains full information about test scores and other metrics.

First released in 2018, the dashboard is meant to give the public a fuller view of school performance, beyond just test scores. The dashboard looks at detailed data such as suspension rates, progress of English learners and career readiness, broken down by race and ethnicity and whether students are low-income, in foster care, are homeless or have disabilities.

“In no way, shape or form is yellow a good thing,” said Kimberly Mundhenk, education research and evaluation administrator for the Department of Education. “But it could mean that there’s improvements. … Not all yellows are created equal.”

The number of students who graduated within five years climbed to 88.7%, the highest rate since the state started tracking that data in 2018. More than half of those students qualified for California’s public universities, also the highest rate in years. 

Chronic absenteeism, which hit record levels during the pandemic, dropped to 24.3%, down more than 5 percentage points from last year but still more than double the pre-pandemic level.

“I’m glad to see that we’re starting to turn things around, and that districts that had intentional strategies saw big improvements,” said Hedy Chang, executive director of Attendance Works, which researches the topic. “But we still have a significant challenge before us.”

Los Angeles Unified and Monterey County both doubled down on attendance efforts last year, she said, by examining data, working directly with families to address the barriers to attendance, investing in after-school and summer programs and taking other steps to get students back in the classroom after the height of the pandemic. A comprehensive, data-focused strategy clearly works, Chang said, and the state should encourage all districts to adopt such an approach. 

Heather Hough, executive director of Policy Analysis for California Education, said that the state needs to take dramatic steps to jolt schools toward better results. She and her PACE colleagues showing that collaboration among teachers, data analysis and extra help for struggling students can have “measurable impacts on student achievement.”

“There isn’t a simple solution, because the problem is that our schools (currently) aren’t organized in a way that supports and empowers educators to make sure every student learns,” she said. “The dashboard release will bring new attention to the issue, and will raise again questions about what, exactly, we need to do.”

The number of school districts that qualified for what the state calls “differentiated assistance” — extra help based on poor achievement in at least two categories — fell dramatically, from 617 last year to 466 in 2023, primarily because of improvements in attendance, according to the state.

were released in October and incorporated into the new dashboard. Mostly unchanged from last year, the dashboard shows English language arts and math both in “orange,” or below average. In English language arts, students scored an average of 13.6 points below the state benchmark on a 200-point scale, and 49.1 points below the standard in math.

Education officials said they were gratified about the dashboard data. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said the improvements show that California’s recent investments in K-12 education are beginning to pay off. Since the onset of the pandemic, the state and federal governments have spent billions on tutoring, after-school programs and mental health programs to help students recover from school closures.

“This is encouraging news — and our work is not complete,” Thurmond said. “We need to continue providing students with the tools they need to excel, especially now that we are successfully reengaging our students and families, so we can close gaps in achievement in the same way that we have begun to close the equity gaps in attendance and absenteeism.” 

Los Angeles Unified was especially proud of its adjusted 4-year graduation rate, which jumped almost five percentage points to 84%. In addition, a record number of graduates — 53% — met the admission requirements for University of California and California State University. 

“The work we are doing to transform Los Angeles Unified into the premier urban district in the nation is being demonstrated in the remarkable stories of our students overcoming adversity, dedicating themselves to their school work and graduating ready to change the world,” Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said. “Our students and families have confronted remarkable challenges since the pandemic, but this is the latest signpost validating the progress we are making as a district.”

San Francisco Unified touted the drop in its chronic absenteeism rate, from 29% to 26%, among almost all student groups. The district had been prioritizing attendance with incentives like schoolwide dance breaks, parent notifications and services to help families get their children to school regularly.

“Attendance is directly tied to student outcomes. If a child doesn’t come to school, they’re not learning,” Superintendent Matt Wayne said. “We are pleased to have made progress last year in reducing chronic absenteeism, and we know that more work is needed to continue supporting students in coming to school every day.”

Among English learners, the dashboard assigned “yellow” statewide, based on 48.7% of students advancing in their language skills. But Martha Hernandez, executive director of Californians Together, an English learner advocacy group, said the state should have higher standards for its students.

“We’re happy the state has returned to the color-coded indicators, but we’re very concerned that 48.7% is considered yellow,” Hernandez said. “We’d like to see more aspirational goals, like 80%. … We know that there’s a persistent achievement gap for English learners, but California is giving itself a yellow as if there’s no sense of urgency.”

Students who don’t become proficient in English are more likely to struggle academically and miss out on opportunities to succeed in college and career, she said. 

“This is important,” she said. “I think we need to have higher expectations.”

An advocate of school choice, nontraditional schools and known champion of undocumented student rights, Carvalho, 57, has run Miami’s schools for more than a decade.��

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Carvalho’s sometimes unusual reform tactics have been credited for Miami-Dade’s rising high school graduation rate, now about — about than rates the year prior to his tenure.��

His aggressive approach to school reform may be welcome in Los Angeles, a system struggling with , student and overall . ��

Here are four things to know about the man set to head up the nation’s second largest district:��

1. Carvalho has spent his entire career in the Miami-Dade school system, starting as a high school science teacher in the 1980s.

Originally on track to become a doctor, he accepted a teaching job in his early 20s and “the bug infected me,” he told the 74.

In his 13 year tenure as superintendent, he’s pushed for the expansion of charter and magnet schools throughout Miami and encouraged families to use publicly funded vouchers to attend private schools.��

The “privatization” of the district, and its hefty payouts to expand school security, have garnered over concerns that they’ve siphoned funds from existing, traditional schools.

“We are now working in an educational environment that is driven by choice. I believe that is a good thing. We need to actually be engaged in that choice movement. So if you do not ride that wave, you will succumb to it. I choose not to,” he once said of his stance.

The academic success of his districts’ nontraditional schools is a reminder of how, as he summed up in a 2015 conversation with The 74, “one size fits none.”

From 2017 to 2019, no schools in his district were marked as failing by Florida’s Department of Education. Carvalho called the rankings, a first for the district, “.”��

2. He’s not a stranger to public confrontations, this year taking on Florida Gov. DeSantis over mask mandates.

This summer, while Florida COVID-19 hospitalizations rose, Gov. Ron DeSantis who defied his executive order banning mask mandates.��

Carvalho balked. “At no point shall I allow my decision to be influenced by a threat to my paycheck, a small price to pay considering the gravity of this issue and the potential impact to the health and well-being of our students and dedicated employees,” he said in a .��

It wasn’t the first time he’d publicly challenged state or federal leaders in efforts to protect students in Miami-Dade. In 2012, he threatened to resign if Daniela Pelaez, a North Miami valedictorian, was deported per a judge’s order.��

“I took a position then, I stood with the students,” he told The 74.��

Pelaez was , and President Obama’s executive order protecting undocumented DREAMers from deportation was enacted .

3. For Carvalho, student immigrant rights are personal. He grew up in Portugal and came to NYC as an undocumented immigrant in his teens.

“I remember landing in New York City, JFK International Airport, and the rest is history,” Carvalho told The 74 in 2018.��

Carvalho left his home in Portugal as a teen, just after becoming the first in his family to finish high school, in pursuit of higher education and financial freedom.��

He arrived without knowing English as an undocumented immigrant, at times experiencing homelessness, working as a busboy and construction worker in NYC and South Florida.��

In 2017, as President Trump’s administration firmly stood against undocumented immigration, Carvalho banned ICE from Miami-Dade’s “sanctuary schools” — a stark contrast to the county’s policy to detain undocumented immigrants.��

Many of the district’s students emigrated as children from Haiti, Brazil, Guatemala, Cuba and Mexico.��

“ will any federal entity enter our schools to take immigration actions against our kids,” he declared on television at the time.��

4. In 2018, he was slated to run NYC schools and turned the offer down — on live TV.

After weeks of courtship by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, who called him “a world-class educator with an unmatched track record of success,” Carvalho stunned the nation after he rejected the offer during a televised Miami school board meeting.��

In a familiar flair for the dramatic, he took an extended pause from the live broadcast, returning to tearfully declare that he’d stay with Miami-Dade.��

“I am breaking an agreement between adults to honor an agreement and a pact I have with the children of Miami,” , admitting he’d received a supportive wave of texts and voicemails from Florida families the night before the announcement.��

The decision to NYC media and politicians, given the lengthy search process and previous indications he’d accept the coveted role to lead schools in the nation’s largest district.��