School desegregation brings to mind famous photos of African-American children integrating classrooms after the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. But over seven years earlier, five Latino families…
[Eric Drachman produces KCRW’s SoundsLA, one-minute audio vignettes that air throughout the day.] SoundsLA is one of KCRW’s ventures that connects listeners with our community in Los Angeles. The stories are character-driven, start…
What’s causing climate change? There’s broad agreement in the scientific community that greenhouse gases produced by human activity are the primary driver of rising global temperatures, but you wouldn’t learn…
Gov. Jerry Brown has until this Sunday to decide whether to sign hundreds of bills into law or veto them. One of the bills he signed Monday deals with something called math…
Following the measles outbreak earlier this year that originated at Disneyland and infected 183 people and the passage of California’s tough new vaccination law, California has become ground zero for a national debate…
When California voters passed Proposition 39 three years ago, they were told thousands of green jobs would be created and that more than half-a-billion dollars a year would go to…
Los Angeles School leaders are backing away from requirements that were adopted in an effort to make all graduating students eligible for University of California and Cal State schools. The…
The first two all girls schools in LAUSD history are on schedule to open next fall after getting the unanimous support of the L.A. Board of Education. In approving the…
The debate over how best to provide a quality education to students learning English shows no signs of cooling down in California. In the first review of its kind, the…
California charter schools that require parents to volunteer as a condition of their child’s enrollment are breaking state law, according to a civil rights group. Public Advocates – a non-profit…
The L.A. School Board is expected to hold a closed-door meeting tomorrow. That in itself is nothing out of the ordinary. What is unusual is that this is a specially…
The state Legislature has approved a ballot measure that would ask voters two years from now whether California schools should ditch English-only instruction. It’s the latest in a series of…
It’s approximately 8,000,000 degrees in Boyle Heights, but the students at Hollenbeck Middle School don’t seem to mind. They bop around Suzanne Gindin’s music class, periodically strumming guitars or shouting…
Orange County will become the first large county to implement Laura’s Law, a California statute that allows for the forced treatment of people with severe mental illnesses. California lawmakers passed…
Investigators looking into that deadly Northern California bus crash involving L.A. high school students have received conflicting reports about whether the Fed-Ex truck that hit the bus was on fire…
Governor Jerry Brown is unveiling a budget proposal this morning that reflects California’s improving fiscal picture, with more money targeted for schools healthcare and social services. The governor also wants…
Mourning. College graduation is a joyous event. But today’s ceremony at Santa Monica College will be tinged with sadness as the commencement doubles as a memorial to victims of last…
Campus threat. A 19-year-old student has been detained as a “person of interest” in connection with threats to Santa Monica College and East L.A. College and lockdowns have been…
Governor’s budget. Gov. Jerry Brown’s latest budget proposal includes more money for schools, and less money for just about everything else. Even with state revenues surging, Brown’s revised budget trims…
While officials in Washington debate gun legislation, cities and counties are debating how they can make schools safer in the wake of the Newtown massacre. One question that arises is:…