Los Angeles Schools Images

Los Angeles Unified School District ("LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California. It is the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. During the 2007-2008 school year, LAUSD served 694,288 students, and had 45,473 teachers and 38,494 other employees.It is the second largest employer in Los Angeles County, after the county government.The total school district budget for 2008 was $19,986,000,000 US dollars.In enrollment breakdown by ethnic group, 73% of its students were of Hispanic origin and 11% of its students were African American. Non-Hispanic white students comprise 9% of the student population, while Asian students comprise 4%. Students of Filipino origin form 2% of the student population, and American Indian and Pacific Islanders together are less than 1%

The school district consists of Los Angeles and all or portions of several adjoining Southern California cities. LAUSD has its own police force, the Los Angeles School Police Department, which was established in 1948 to provide police services for LAUSD schools. 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.[4] 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.

The LAUSD has a reputation for extremely crowded schools, high drop-out and expulsion rates, low academic performance in many schools, poor maintenance and incompetent administration.[5][6] Bond issues and ambitious renovation programs have not uniformly eased these conditions.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

The $160-million campus features three small learning communities and one autonomous New Technology High School, the Los Angeles School of Global Studies.

The Chamber and its affiliate UNITE-LA have been integral partners and instrumental in the development of the campus, which will equip students with 21st century skills to help them excel in an information-based, technologically advanced society.