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Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)

Website:

achieve.lausd.net/domain/4
Location:

Los Angeles, CA
Type:

Public School System
Status:

Project of United to Protect Democracy
Formation:

2022
Superintendent:

Alberto Carvalho
Budget (2022):

Revenue: N/A
Expenses: $12,600,000,000
Assets: $5,120,000,000

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Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the second-largest public school system in the United States, consisting of more than 571,000 students and 74,000 staff. 1 It is governed by a board of elected officials, chosen to represent seven geographic districts. The board appoints the chief executive of the district, the superintendent. 2

In 2020, the LAUSD board passed a board resolution requiring “ethnic studies” instruction. In the resolution, the board stated that it values “equity” and strives to make “intersectional racial and social justice a reality” in the school district. 3 Its ethnic studies courses also consider race and racism, white supremacy, and settler colonialism to be profound social and cultural forces in American society. 4

LAUSD has expressed support for the far-left  Black Lives Matter movement. 5 6 Its Office of Human Relations, Diversity and Equity has several “advisory lessons” on topics including LGBT activism, gun violence, media literacy, the critical race theory-influenced concepts of privilege, inclusivity, and affirmation. 7

History and Leadership

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) was founded in 1872. 8 9

As of 2023, Alberto Carvalho was the superintendent of LAUSD. He has been LAUSD superintendent since February 2022. Previously he was superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools for 14 years. 10

Carvalho has admitted to formerly having overstayed a visa in the United States. 11 Carvalho opposed Trump administration immigration enforcement policies and made Miami-Dade schools “sanctuary schools,” effectively banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from school grounds. 12 He also supported mask mandates in Miami-Dade public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic and opposed the efforts of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) to ban mask mandates in Florida schools. 13

Activities and Funding

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the second-largest public school system in the United States, consisting of more than 571,000 students and 74,000 staff from K-12 schools, including adult education and charter schools. 14 LAUSD administers schools in a geographic region of over 700 square miles in Los Angeles County, California, and contains nearly 800 campuses. 15 16 In 2022, LAUSD reported a graduation rate of 86.1 percent. 17

LAUSD’s Office of Human Relations, Diversity, and Equity has a several “advisory lessons” on various topics including LGBT activism, gun violence, the Tulsa riots of the 1920s, media literacy, the critical race theory-influenced concept of privilege, inclusivity and affirmation, disagreement, and others. 18

Critical Race Theory

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has an office dedicated to human relations, diversity, and the critical race theory-influenced concept of equity. 19 The school district also encourages teachers to use critical race theory-influenced “restorative practices” when discussing race 20 and encourages conversations about the critical race theory-influenced concept of social justice, racial bias, and Black identities. 21 LAUSD officially defines racial trauma as race-based emotional injury caused by others against African Americans and persons identifying as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). 22

Despite these policies, an official LAUSD PowerPoint presentation claims that critical race theory is only a theoretical framework in which researchers and scholars try to understand how structural and racial inequities exist and endure. 23 The presentation also says that many confuse critical race theory with racism in schools, adding that implementing race-focused reforms at schools “sounds scary” to those who do not understand race or racism. 24

In its “Privilege 101” PowerPoint, LAUSD claims white privilege, heterosexual privilege, religious privilege, socio-economic privilege, gender privilege, able-bodied privilege, cisgender privilege, and colorism are “common types of privilege.” The presentation also introduces the critical race theory-influenced concept of intersectionality and suggests how people can be allies of these left-of-center activist causes. 25

Black Lives Matter

Los Angeles Unified School District has expressed support for the far-left Black Lives Matter movement 26 and provides a list of resources for teachers to teach about Black Lives Matter in class. These teaching materials include content created by left-of-center Learning for Justice, Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Civil Rights Teaching, Teaching for Change, DC Area Educators for Social Justice, Facing History and Ourselves, the Southern Poverty Law Center program 27 Teaching Tolerance, National Association of School Psychologists, the National Education Association (NEA) teachers union, New York Times, Teaching for Change, Zinn Education Project, and the controversial 1619 Project. 28

LGBT and Gender Activism

Los Angeles Unified School District encourages its staff to show solidarity with LGBT students by sharing badges, pronoun pins, and trainings. 29 LAUSD shares official LGBT-related materials from Each Mind Matters, Human Rights Campaign, National Center for Transgender Equality, Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Learning for Justice, ONE Archives Foundation, Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and others. 30

LAUSD’s official gender handbook says that when writing about gender ideology, descriptors with modifiers such as “cisgender” and “transgender” are more specific than writing without adjectives or general, nongendered terms. The handbook also suggests that it is more specific to use sexual orientation modifiers such as “lesbian,” “gay,” and “bisexual” instead of broader group labels. It also includes the use of neo-pronouns, has 12 pages of gender- and sexuality-related definitions, and condemns Florida that bans sexual orientation and gender identity education for kindergarten through third grade. 31 32

Ethnic Studies Curriculum Committee

In 2020, the Los Angeles Unified School District school board passed a board resolution requiring ethnic studies instruction, which will be a graduation requirement for LAUSD students beginning with the graduation class of 2026-2027. 33 In the resolution establishing the curriculum changes, LAUSD stated that it values equity and strives to make “intersectional racial and social justice a reality” in the school district. 34

The resolution also says that racism, Eurocentrism, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, and anti-Indigeneity persist in the curricula at LAUSD schools. It also states that the school district believes that prolonged exposure to curricula that it identifies as white supremacy, colonialism, and the erasure of minority groups can be alienating and traumatic for minority students. 35

LAUSD’s ethnic studies courses offer from the consideration that the concepts race and racism, white supremacy, colonialism, settler colonialism, and intersectional marginalization have been and continue to be profound social and cultural forces in American society. 36 Current ethnic studies course offerings in LAUSD include African American Literature, African American History, African American Studies, American Indian Studies, Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Studies, Introduction to Ethnic Studies, Mexican American Literature, and Mexican American Studies. 37

Gun Control Activism

Los Angeles Unified School District also runs a program on gun violence that cites left-of-center gun restriction activism group Everytown USA, which is extensively funded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The program also encourages students to join the left-of-center gun control activist groups March for Our Lives and Students Demand Action. 38

Funding

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) receives 90 percent of its funding from the state of California, including disbursements of local property taxes. 39 The remainder of its funding comes from the federal government. 40 In March 2023, LAUSD reported an ending budget balance of $5.12 billion. 41

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) had a total expenses general fund of $12.6 billion dollars for the 2022-2023 school year. In the 2021-2022 school year, LAUSD had an operating general fund of $10.7 billion. 42

References

  1. “Student Enrollment.” LAUSD. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=73040&dataid=121695&FileName=Fingertip_Facts_2022_2023_ENG_Final_032323.pdf.
  2. Freedberg, Louis. “Does Los Angeles Unified’s Powerful School Board Contribute to Leadership Turnover?” EdSource, November 17, 2021. https://edsource.org/2021/los-angeles-unifieds-powerful-school-board-does-it-contribute-to-leadership-turnover-many-think-it-does/663757.
  3. “Ethnic Studies.” LAUSD. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/EthnicStudies.
  4. “Course Guideline – Introduction to Ethnic Studies.” Los Angeles Unified School District. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/Domain/226/Intro%20to%20Ethnic%20Studies%20Course%20Guideline%20.pdf.
  5. “Board Approves Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.” LAUSD. February 4, 2020. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&ModuleInstanceID=4466&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=85628&PageID=1.
  6. “Human Relations, Diversity and Equity.” Los Angeles Unified School District. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/Page/17784.
  7. “Human Relations, Diversity and Equity.” Los Angeles Unified School District. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/Page/12095.
  8. “Los Angeles Unified School District. Historic Context Statement, from 1870 to 1969.” Sapphos Environmental, for LAUSD. March 2014. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://planning.lacity.org/odocument/5a14c032-614e-4cd2-b58a-9507df31fbd1/Los%20Angeles%20Unified%20School%20District%20Historic%20Context%2C%201870-1969.pdf.
  9. “LAUSD Maps.” Los Angeles Unified School District. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/domain/34.
  10. “Statement from Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho.” LAUSD. March 21, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&ModuleInstanceID=4466&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=131017&PageID=1#:~:text=Statement%20From%20Los%20Angeles%20Unified,(03%2D21%2D23).
  11.  Bakeman, Jessica. “Carvalho Slams Trump Immigration Policies In Speech: ‘I Was Undocumented.’” WUSF Public Media. November 29, 2017. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/2017-11-29/carvalho-slams-trump-immigration-policies-in-speech-i-was-undocumented.
  12. McMurdock, Marianna. “Four things to know about Alberto Carvalho, Los Angeles Unified’s new superintendent.” LA School Report. December 9, 2021. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://www.laschoolreport.com/four-things-to-know-about-alberto-carvalho-los-angeles-unifieds-new-superintendent/.
  13.  “Miami-Dade schools chief to follow science on masks. Too bad DeSantis won’t do the same | Editorial.” The Miami Herald. August 3, 2021. Accessed via Web Archive May 7, 2023. https://archive.ph/XlKoP.
  14. “Student Enrollment.” LAUSD. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=73040&dataid=121695&FileName=Fingertip_Facts_2022_2023_ENG_Final_032323.pdf.
  15. “Los Angeles Unified School District. Historic Context Statement, from 1870 to 1969.” Sapphos Environmental, for LAUSD. March 2014. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://planning.lacity.org/odocument/5a14c032-614e-4cd2-b58a-9507df31fbd1/Los%20Angeles%20Unified%20School%20District%20Historic%20Context%2C%201870-1969.pdf.
  16. “LAUSD Maps.” Los Angeles Unified School District. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/domain/34.
  17. Los Angeles Unified Achieves Record-Setting Graduation Rate.” Los Angeles Unified School District. December 15, 2022. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/site/Default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&PageID=1&ViewID=6446ee88-d30c-497e-9316-3f8874b3e108&FlexDataID=125977#:~:text=Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA%20(Dec.,college%20or%20into%20a%20career.
  18. [1] “Human Relations, Diversity and Equity.” Los Angeles Unified School District. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/Page/12095.
  19. “Human Relations.” Los Angeles Unified School District. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/human-relations.
  20. “Courageous Conversations with Students.” LAUSD. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/domain/156/sogie/HRDE_Courageous%20Conversations%20with%20Students_flyer%204.pdf.
  21. “Human Relations, Diversity and Equity.” Los Angeles Unified School District. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/Page/17784.
  22. “Psychological First Aid for Supporting Black Students.” LAUSD. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/Domain/156/PFA%20Supporting%20Black%20Students.png.
  23. “Critical Race Theory and Racism in K-12 Education.” Los Angeles Unified School District Power Point Presentation. July 2022. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/domain/156/ppt/updated%20advisory%20lessons/Critical%20Race%20Theory%20and%20Racism%20in%20K%2012%20Education.pptx#:~:text=Critical%20Race%20Theory%20is%20a,over%20the%20Summer%20of%202021.&text=Theoretical%20Framework%20through%20which%20researchers,and%20endure%20in%20our%20society.
  24. “Critical Race Theory and Racism in K-12 Education.” Los Angeles Unified School District Power Point Presentation. July 2022. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/domain/156/ppt/updated%20advisory%20lessons/Critical%20Race%20Theory%20and%20Racism%20in%20K%2012%20Education.pptx#:~:text=Critical%20Race%20Theory%20is%20a,over%20the%20Summer%20of%202021.&text=Theoretical%20Framework%20through%20which%20researchers,and%20endure%20in%20our%20society.
  25. “Privilege 101.” LAUSD PowerPoint. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/Page/12095.
  26. “Board Approves Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.” LAUSD. February 4, 2020. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&ModuleInstanceID=4466&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=85628&PageID=1.
  27. “Teaching Tolerance.” National Geographic. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/teaching-tolerance/.
  28. “Human Relations, Diversity and Equity.” Los Angeles Unified School District. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/Page/17784.
  29. “Show Your Solidarity.” LAUSD. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/domain/156/sogie/Show%20Your%20Solidarity%20Flyer%202022.pdf.
  30. “Human Relations, Diversity and Equity.” LAUSD. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/Page/17598.
  31. “Say Gay.” LAUSD PowerPoint. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/domain/156/ppt/updated%20advisory%20lessons/Say%20Gay%20Final.pptx.
  32. “SOGIE Handbook of Language & Vocabulary.” LAUSD Human Relations, Diversity & Equity. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/domain/156/pdfs/SOGIE%20Handbook.pdf.
  33.  “Guideline for Implementing the Ethnic Studies for All Students Board Resolution.” Los Angeles Unified School District Policy Bulletin. August 1, 2022. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://my.lausd.net/webcenter/wccproxy/d?dID=128077#:~:text=In%20addition%2C%20it%20states%20that,graduating%20class%20of%202026%2D2027.
  34. “Ethnic Studies.” LAUSD. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/EthnicStudies.
  35.  “Ethnic Studies for All Students: Reaffirming our commitment to Ethnic Studies in Los Angeles Unified.” School Board Resolution. Adopted August 25, 2020. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nGgsTpbOofh_vOzt6ZHosj1OMn0ZzU3A/view.
  36.  “Course Guideline – Introduction to Ethnic Studies.” Los Angeles Unified School District. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/Domain/226/Intro%20to%20Ethnic%20Studies%20Course%20Guideline%20.pdf.
  37. Ethnic Studies.” LAUSD. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/EthnicStudies.
  38. [1] “What Can We Do About Gun Violence?” LAUSD PowerPoint. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/domain/156/ppt/updated%20advisory%20lessons/What%20Can%20We%20Do%20About%20Gun%20Violence%20May%202022.pptx.
  39. “Budget Services and Financial Planning / Public Education Funding.” LAUSD. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/Page/1340.
  40. “Frequently Asked Questions.” Los Angeles Unified School District. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/Domain/978/FAQs%2010-12-18.pdf.
  41. Blume, Howard. “As talks with teachers heat up, LAUSD budget shows a higher ending balance, with caveats.” Los Angeles Times. March 28, 2023. Accessed via Web Archive May 6, 2023. https://archive.ph/CTkYN.
  42. [1] “Fingertip Facts.” LAUSD. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://achieve.lausd.net/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=73040&dataid=121695&FileName=Fingertip_Facts_2022_2023_ENG_Final_032323.pdf.
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Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)

333 South Beaudry Avenue
Los Angeles, CA