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Los Angeles Unified School District

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in the United States, with only the New York City Department of Education having a larger student population. During the 2022–2023 school year, LAUSD served 565,479 students, including 11,795 early childhood education students and 27,740 adult students. During the same school year, it had 24,769 teachers and 49,231 other employees.[2] It is the second largest employer in Los Angeles County after the county government.[3] The school district's budget for the 2021–2022 school year was $10.7 billion, increasing to $12.6 billion for the 2022–2023 school year.[2]

For the LAUSD in Orange County, California, see Los Alamitos Unified School District. For the song "LAUSD" by Jurassic 5, see Quality Control (album).

Los Angeles Unified School District

Pre K–12

March 23, 1961 (1961-03-23)

1,302[1]

$12.6 billion

565,479

24,769

The school district's jurisdiction area consists of almost all of the city of Los Angeles and all or portions of several adjoining cities and unincorporated areas in southwestern Los Angeles County, California. LAUSD has its own police force, the Los Angeles School Police Department, which was established in 1948 to provide police services for LAUSD schools.[4] The LAUSD enrolls a third of the preschoolers in Los Angeles County, and operates almost as many buses as the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.[5] The LAUSD school construction program rivals the Big Dig in terms of expenditures, and LAUSD cafeterias serve about 500,000 meals a day, rivaling the output of local McDonald's restaurants.[5]


LAUSD has been criticized in the past for extremely crowded schools with large class sizes, high drop-out and expulsion rates, low academic performance in many schools, poor maintenance and incompetent administration.[6][7][8] In 2007, LAUSD's dropout rate was 26 percent for grades 9 through 12.[9] More recently, there are signs that the district is showing improvement, both in terms of dropout and graduation rates.[10] An ambitious renovation program intended to help ease the overcrowded conditions has been completed.[11] As part of its school-construction project, LAUSD opened two high schools (Santee Education Complex and South East) in 2005 and four high schools (Arleta, Contreras Learning Complex, Panorama, and East Valley) in 2006.[12]

: 1987, 1995

John Marshall High School

: 1989, 1994, 2006

William H. Taft High School

: 1998, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2023

El Camino Real High School

: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019

Granada Hills Charter High School

Controversies[edit]

Crimes and lawsuits[edit]

On January 5, 2008, Sandy Banks of the Los Angeles Times reported that vandals and thieves targeted LAUSD schools in various neighborhoods during holidays. Banks said that the lack of police presence allows thieves to target schools.[80]


Thirty-three-year-old Alberto Gutierrez sued the Los Angeles Unified School District, saying that the principal of the San Fernando High School, where he was assigned, retaliated against him when Gutierrez asked students to "think critically" about the role of the United States in the Iraq War. Jose Luis Rodriguez, the principal, says that he spoke to Gutierrez because some parents did not appreciate Gutierrez requiring students to attend off-campus screenings of Fahrenheit 9/11 and Crash.[81]

(1868–1945), architect and former member of the City Council for the 2nd Ward; served on the Board from 1900 to 1902

Chauncey Fitch Skilling

(1873–1958), former member of the California State Assembly and member of the City Council for the 2nd Ward; served on the Board from 1902 to 1904

Percy V. Hammon

(1887–1974), music teacher and first African-American woman to be elected to the Board; served on the Board from 1939 to 1943[119]

Fay Allen

(born 1933), former U.S. Representative for the 21st district (2001–2011); served on the Board from 1975 to 1978[120]

Diane Watson

(1937–2019), U.S. Representative for the 21st district (1981–1987); served on the Board from 1977 to 1980

Bobbi Fiedler

(born 1945), 29th Treasurer of California (1991–1995); served on the Board from 1975 to 1983

Kathleen Brown

(1930–2020), former member of the City Council for the 9th district (1991–2001); served on the Board from 1979 to 1991

Rita Walters

(born 1947), former member of the California State Assembly (2008–2012); served in the Board from 1987 to 1995

Warren Furutani

(born 1953), former Mexican Cultural Institute of Los Angeles (1995–2002); served on the Board from 1987 to 1992[121]

Leticia Quezada

(born 1946), former principal of Hollenbeck Junior High School; served on the Board from 1993 to 2001

Vickie Castro

(born 1968), former member of the City Council for the 14th district (2005–2020); served on the Board from 2001 to 2005[122]

José Huizar

(born 1973), President (2020–2022) and member of the City Council for the 6th district (2013–2022); served on the Board from 2009 to 2013

Nury Martinez

(born 1972), adjunct professor and convicted felon; served on the Board from 2015 to 2018[123]

Ref Rodriguez

Infrastructure[edit]

Air quality monitoring[edit]

The district has the country's largest school-based air quality monitoring network. The sensors give parents and students up-to-date access to air quality information. The district can also identify trends in specific areas and use that information to provide air filtration systems to schools affected by consistently bad air quality.[128]

Highly Gifted Magnet

List of high schools in Los Angeles County, California

List of Los Angeles Unified School District schools

List of Los Angeles Unified School District people

Common Bonds

  • Donovan, John T. “A Tale of Two Strikes: The Formation of United Teachers-Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Teachers Strikes of 1970 and 1989,” Southern California Quarterly Vol. 81. No. 3 (Fall 1999), 377–496.
  • Donovan, John T., “Helen Bernstein and United Teachers-Los Angeles, 1990-1996,” Southern California Quarterly Vol. 83. No. 4 (Winter 2001), 399–414.
  • Raftery, Judith. Land of Fair Promise: Politics and Reform in Los Angeles Schools, 1885-1941 (Stanford University Press, 1992).
  • Ravitch, Diane. Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools (Vintage Books, 2014).
  • Ryan, Howard. Educational Justice: Teaching and Organizing against the Corporate Juggernaut (Monthly Review Press, 2016).
  • Los Angeles Unified School District Web site

    Los Angeles School Police Department Web site

    Los Angeles Unified School District Facilities Services Division

    LAUSD District 6

    Enrollment Statistics

    United Teachers Los Angeles website

    Los Angeles Unified School District All District High School Honor Band

    A People's History of the Los Angeles Unified School District