The Brief

We also offer a print version of this guide you can access here.

Los Angeles families have a lot of choices when it comes to public schools.

In Los Angeles Unified alone, there are more than 400 elementary schools, plus dozens of specialized programs and hundreds of charter schools run by separate nonprofits.

The default option is to attend the school nearest your home, but there are many reasons families may consider another school. Some of these schools are so popular there isn’t room for every family that wants to enroll.

Families have told us the process of choosing a school from their child is bewildering, overwhelming, and anxiety-driven.

LAist is here to help. In this guide we’ll cover:

• The application process
• Important dates
• School options
• What to consider as you’re making your choice

We’re primarily focused on LAUSD for this guide, but much of the information is also relevant to families looking in another district.

Like the rest of our School Game Plan series, what you read is based on the experience of real southern California families, educators and other experts. And throughout this story you’ll see the experiences of L.A. families, in their own words. We will continue to add more stories — share yours here.

Why can choosing a school feel so stressful? 

It’s not just choosing a school, it’s choosing a school plus everything else.

Nearly half of parents say on most days their stress is completely overwhelming compared to about a quarter of other adults, according to a 2023 American Psychological Association survey. There’s also an underlying current of economic anxiety — children born today are less likely to outearn their parents than those born in 1940, according to Stanford researchers. That creates pressure to send children to the “right schools.”

The “right school” will look different for every family — and this guide can’t make that decision for you, but we can equip you with the information you need to navigate the options available.

And while there is often a lot of negative rhetoric around “public schools,” it’s worth noting that parents’ views of their own child’s school experience are often positive — 70% say they are completely or somewhat satisfied.

When should I start a school search?

LAUSD has worked to streamline its “confusing maze” of school choices in recent years, but the process still perplexes many families.

If you want to attend your local school, the process is fairly straightforward, but to send your child to another school or a specialized program within the district (more on what those are below), it gets more complicated.

The application process for the largest pool of schools is called “Choices.”

The application usually opens about 10 months ahead of the first day of school.

There are two windows to apply — on-time and late. The latter consists of all the spaces left after families who applied on-time accept their offers.

Let’s say you’re applying for the 2027-28 school year. Here’s the general Choices timeline you’d be on for LAUSD:

• Sept. 2026: School fairs start
• Oct. 1, 2026: Choices application opens
• Nov. 6, 2026:  Deadline to apply online.
• Dec. 1, 2026:  Late applications begin 
• February 2027: On-time applicant results sent 
• March 5, 2027: Deadline to accept or decline school offers for on-time applicants. School assignments for late applications follow the processing of on-time applications. Students may be offered a spot through the start of the spring semester. 
• Aug. 12,  2027: The school year begins.
  

Starting this year, LAUSD will no longer accept paper Choices applications. If families do not have a computer, they can use a smart phone to complete an application. LAUSD will also allow families to use computers at school parent centers.

What kind of public school experience is best for my family? What are the options?

No one type of school is inherently better than another. Here are some of the factors that can contribute to a “good school”:

• High-quality, experienced teachers and administrators.
• Engaged parents and families — and avenues for them to participate at the school.
• Clean and safe facilities.
• Access to play and extracurricular activities including arts, sports and other clubs. 
• Student progress on academic goals, i.e. boosting reading scores.

Keep in mind:

• Public education, in general, has a lot of jargon, and as you’ll soon learn, LAUSD has several terms specific to the district. 
• Some schools may fall into more than one category. For example, your neighborhood school may also have a magnet program. 

Neighborhood schools

Every child who lives within the district boundaries has a default “neighborhood” or “resident” school close to their home — find yours here.

Families may enroll in their neighborhood school because it’s convenient, walkable and they want to be more connected to the community around their home.

Plus, your school choice journey becomes a short one if your neighborhood school fits the bill.

Some more affluent parents who live in gentrifying neighborhoods feel they can advocate for more resources that will benefit all students by sending their child to a local public school; those good intentions can have unexpected outcomes.

Still, there is ample evidence that students benefit from attending schools that are both racially and socioeconomically diverse. For example, a Harvard study found poor children who lived in places where people have more friendships across socioeconomic classes earned more in adulthood.

Other families may attend a public school in or near their neighborhood as a reflection of their values.

How to enroll: Collect the required documents (i.e. proof of residence and immunization) and enroll online or in person at the school.

What if I want my child to attend a ‘neighborhood’ school that isn’t in our neighborhood?

As we’ve noted, your neighborhood/“regular” school doesn’t require a Choices application. And there are hundreds of these schools in LAUSD. Say you fall in love with one of these schools, but it is not your family’s resident or neighborhood school. Maybe it’s:

• Close to your work or before-and-after school child care
• Offers a unique program or approach to learning
• Recommended to you from a friend-of-a-friend

Here are two possible pathways to get in.

Pathway No. 1: Open enrollment

California education law requires schools to accept students from anywhere in the district as long as they do not displace families that already live in a school’s attendance area.

LAUSD schools list the number of seats at their campus and families apply online (or on paper) for the opportunity to claim one of those spots.

Applications typically open in April for the following school year with a secondary late application window that begins in May and stretches through September.

If there are more student applications than seats available, the district selects who gets a spot randomly. Everyone else will be placed on a waitlist.

Factors to keep in mind for open enrollment:

• Families can apply for up to five participating open enrollment schools. 
• LAUSD does not provide transportation to families who select a school through open enrollment. 
• If your child enrolls at a school through open enrollment, they can continue to attend that school through the final grade offered. 
• There is no process to appeal an open enrollment application denial. 
• You can reach out to the District’s Master Planning and Demographics Office for help with the open enrollment process at (213) 241-8044 or mpd@lausd.net.

Pathway No. 2: Intra-district permit

LAUSD created a separate process called an “intra-district permit” for families that want to attend a “regular” school that is not their resident school for the following reasons:

• Parent employment: To be closer to the physical workspace of at least one parent or guardian. 
• Child care: To be close to a child’s before- or after-school care provider. 
• Sibling: To attend the same school as another sibling. 
• Specialized program: To access a program not available at their resident school (though this does not apply to programs covered in the Choices process) 
• Safety and precaution: When a student is unsafe on their resident school campus. For example, they’ve been a victim of violence or bullying.
• Continuing enrollment: To continue to attend a school after moving out of the enrollment boundaries. 
• Exceptions: The district may grant permits for other reasons on a “case-by-case” basis in situations of “extreme hardship.” 
• Special circumstances: There are several instances, including for students with disabilities, unhoused students and foster youth that may also qualify for an intra-district permit. 

Permits may be issued anytime during the current school year; the district starts accepting applications for the following school year on the second Monday of March.

Factors to keep in mind for the intra-district permit process:

• The application has several parts. The resident school and the requested school must separately approve a students’ application. 
• Schools can deny permits if they don’t have enough space to accept additional students. 
• LAUSD does not provide transportation to families who attend a school on an intra-district permit. 
• Schools can cancel permits mid-year for several reasons, including if students miss a lot of school, get in trouble or do not make academic progress. 
• There is a process to appeal a permit denial or cancellation. 
• Intra-district permits must be renewed annually.

Magnet programs

There are more than 330 magnet programs in the district focused on a specific theme, such as science, math, language, advanced studies or art.

Magnet programs may encompass the whole campus (i.e. a magnet school) or be limited to a department within a larger school (i.e. a magnet center). In the latter, magnet students attend separate classes and have separate teachers.

Families may enroll in a magnet program because their child has a specific interest or they’re interested in a program that attracts students from different geographic areas.

See a list of all the magnet programs in the district organized by name (alphabetical) or by region, theme and grade level (selection tool).

LAUSD created its first magnet programs in 1977 to integrate segregated schools after a court order. The goal was to attract students to a specific campus to diversify the population.

In the decades since then, many magnets have grown in popularity among a broad range of families (though schools in L.A. and many other places remain segregated).

Any student who lives within LAUSD boundaries can apply, including those with disabilities and English language learners. There is no test required for admittance, except in some cases for the gifted magnet programs).

How to apply: Applications for magnet programs are due in early November, and there is a late enrollment option a month later. Apply online.

When there is more demand than seats available, families are admitted based on a points system that takes into consideration:

• Matriculation: Whether students are advancing from the last grade at their current magnet program to a middle or high school (12 points) OR Waiting list: If the student applied to a program where there were more applications than spots available. (4 points for the following year, up to 12 points total for the prior three consecutive years)
• PHBAO: The ethnic make-up of their current school. Students at resident schools that are predominantly Latino, Black, Asian and “other non-Anglo,” aka PHBAO. (4 points)
• Overcrowding: Whether their resident school is overcrowded. (4 points)
• Siblings: A sibling already in a desired program. (3 points)

Keep in mind: 

• The maximum number of points a family may accrue is 23. Seats are assigned randomly to students with the highest number of points in descending order. 
• Families may apply to up to three programs a year. If a student is not selected for any of their three choices, they are placed on a waiting list for their first choice school. (And they get 4 points toward next year’s admissions cycle if they never get off the waitlist.)
• Families applying to “gifted” magnet programs must show the “ability” or “strong potential” to work two years above grade level, be assessed by the district and meet additional criteria. 
• Magnet schools are not required to provide transitional kindergarten, but there might be an on-campus TK option available. 
• Late applications do not accrue points.

Multilingual Multicultural Program (Dual Language)

In these programs, students learn in both English and a second, “target” language.

In LAUSD these programs are often called dual language programs and they are part of the district’s Multilingual Multicultural Education Department. Some families may also know these programs by the term “immersion.”

These programs may also include students who are native speakers of the second target language learning English.

Families may enroll in a dual-language program because they want their child to learn an additional language or because they want to reinforce the non-English language spoken in their household or among family.

LAUSD’s more than 200 dual-language programs include:

• Arabic 
• Armenian 
• French
• Japanese
• Korean
• Mandarin 
• Spanish (which has the most options) 

How to apply: Applications for dual language programs are due in early November, and there is a late enrollment option a month later. Apply online.

If the number of applicants exceeds the space at the school, the spots will be prioritized in this order:

• Siblings of existing students in the school’s attendance boundary
• Students within the school’s attendance boundary
• Siblings living within Los Angeles Unified boundaries
• Students within LAUSD’s boundaries
• Siblings of existing students outside the district’s attendance boundary
• Students outside the district’s attendance boundary

Keep in mind: 

• Any student can apply for a dual language program from transitional kindergarten to first grade. Starting in second grade, new students will have to take a test to assess whether they can keep up with the target language skills of peers already in the school’s program. 
• A school may not offer a dual-language class in every grade. For example, newer programs may build capacity grade-by-grade.

Gifted and talented

The district provides some form of “gifted and talented education” (GATE) programs at each school from TK-12th grade. Accelerated and honors are other terms used to describe these programs which may include small groups of students gathering for more complex discussions about coursework or separate classes focused on more advanced coursework.

Families may enroll in GATE because their child is bored in their current class or they are seeking a more challenging academic experience.

There are several additional options for higher-level academic programs beyond those offered at a neighborhood school.

Schools for Advanced Studies (SAS)

LAUSD awards schools with “exemplary” GATE programs this label. SAS teachers and administrators are required to participate in annual professional development. Schools must reapply for this designation every five years by submitting data including student academic outcomes, parent and family engagement and staff skill level. There are also two single-gender SAS schools: The Girls and Boys Academic Leadership Academies.

Gifted magnet programs

Magnet programs and schools offer accelerated study for students. Unlike SAS schools, magnet programs’ “gifted” designation is continuous and, while teachers and administrators are encouraged to participate in professional development, it is not required.

How to apply: Applications for both SAS and magnet programs are due in early November, and there is a late enrollment option a month later. Apply online.

How students are prioritized:

• Gifted magnet programs prioritize applicants based on the above-mentioned points system. 
• Students who live within an SAS school’s boundary are prioritized first, then students from elsewhere in the district. If there are more applicants than available space, the school will randomly select eligible students with priority for siblings of existing students. 

Keep in mind: 

• If your neighborhood/resident school is a School For Advanced Studies, you do not need to submit an application, but your child must be considered eligible by the school. 
• To be eligible, students must meet one of the district’s criteria, which include test scores, creative ability, critical thinking and leadership skills. 
• The district also has several “highly gifted" magnet programs that require a specific intellectual assessment administered by an LAUSD psychologist.

Charter schools

Charter schools are tuition-free, publicly funded schools often run by nonprofit organizations.

Families may enroll in a charter school because they are attracted to the school’s approach to teaching or resources, or are looking for an alternative to their local public school.

California first authorized the creation of charter schools in 1992. As LAist has elsewhere reported:

The “authorizer” in most cases is the local public school district. In the 2026-27 school year, there were 198 independent charter schools operating within LAUSD.

Any California student can apply to a charter school, but if there is more demand than available seats there may be a lottery to determine who gets in. A school may also give lottery priority to specific groups of students. For example, siblings of current students or those who reside within school district boundaries.

You’ll encounter two types of charter schools in LAUSD.

Affiliated charter schools are run by LAUSD, but have some of the same legal freedoms as independent charter schools. Many of these schools were once regular district schools that converted to charter status. The head of the district’s charter school division once described them as “really connected to the mothership.”

How to apply: “Choices” applications for affiliated charter school programs are due in early November, and there is a late enrollment option a month later. Apply online.

Keep in mind:

• Students that live within the school’s attendance boundary do not need to apply and can enroll directly.
• When there are more applications than seats available, the school will conduct a lottery in January and must publish the date on its website. Students who are not selected join a waiting list.

Independent charter schools are those run by nonprofit organizations with unelected boards.

How to apply: Independent charter schools have a separate application process that is unique to each school.

Out of district

There are 80 public school districts in L.A. County. Families may choose this option because they want their child to attend a school closer to their work, with a specialized program or for another reason.

It’s a two-step process to leave the district:

1. Apply online for an inter-district outgoing permit for the following school year between Feb. 2 and April 30.  
2. Apply for an incoming inter-district permit from the desired school district.  

Students who live outside of LAUSD who want to attend a school in the district can apply year round for the following school year starting on Feb. 2.

Each school district determines the criteria for transfers into and out of their schools.

Private schools

Our region also has hundreds of private or “independent” schools. About 11% of students in Los Angeles County go to one of these schools, which include traditional private schools, religious schools, Montessori schools and others. These schools charge tuition, though some families may offset the cost with financial aid or scholarships — and each has its own application process.

What information should I consider in my decision?

Does my child have unique needs?

If you know or suspect your child has a disability, they may need additional support at school.

Federal law guarantees students with disabilities a “free appropriate public education,” but Congress has never fully funded special education as intended when the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) first passed in 1975.

“Even when we do know our rights, there's no real accountability framework in place,” said L.A. parent Lisa Mosko Barros, the mom of two neurodiverse kids, advocate and founder of nonprofit SpEducational.

A lot of parents say they have to advocate for services to help their children learn, and many families struggle to get help.

“It can be very discouraging, but there are wins,” Mosko Barros said. “The more you know, the more you know. ... There's no other option. We don't have the option of not trying.”

Here are some questions to consider asking a prospective school:

• What resources are available for families of children with disabilities? 
• How do you meet the needs of students with disabilities? 
• What's the turnover for special education teachers? Special ed aides?
• How do you identify children who struggle to read and what kinds of tools are available to help? 

What does my child like to do?

While all schools expose students to a variety of subjects and activities, some may focus on incorporating a specific theme or style of teaching throughout a child's educational journey.

LAist talked to several families who attended their neighborhood school in the early elementary years and started exploring other school options after their child showed interest in a specific topic.

How competitive is enrollment?

The interest in some schools far exceeds the capacity.

When you search for a magnet program through LAUSD’s website, compare the number of openings for the next school year to how many applications were received the prior year to get an idea of how likely your child is to be admitted. And remember, if they don’t get in the first year, you accumulate points that can boost subsequent applications.

For other types of schools, ask staff directly about the capacity, number of applications in previous years and the number of openings for the upcoming year.

How will my child get to school?

California lags the nation in providing bus transportation to students.

The state doesn’t require schools to offer transportation though the federal government requires schools to provide it for a few specific groups of students, including some with disabilities and those experiencing homelessness.

LAUSD prioritizes bus transportation for:

• Students with disabilities whose Individualized Education Program (IEP) includes transportation are the highest priority. 
• Some magnet programs. 
• Unhoused students

Other students may also be eligible for transportation including those with:

• An IEP that does not include transportation.
• A hazardous walk to school. 

Or who live:

• More than one mile (elementary school) or more than 2 miles (middle through high school) from their school.
• Near an established bus route.

Current families can use the Parent Portal app to request busing. 

Families can also ask school staff, including the principal, or counselors about transportation options, call the district’s resource hotline — (213) 443-1300 — or visit the transportation services website.

And remember, you’ll have to opt-in to transportation every year unless your student has an IEP.

Who cares for my child before and after school?

Many working families need child care outside of typical school hours.

LAUSD partners with several different organizations to offer free before- and after-school programs, but it can be confusing to figure out what program your school offers.

These programs may also be referred to as Beyond the Bell, Expanded Learning Program (ELP) or the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELOP).

Here are a few options to try:

• Search for a school in LAUSD’s “school explorer” site, and look for “Beyond the Bell” beneath “School Experiences.” to see what programs are available. 
• See a list of all the before-and-after school programs for the 2026-27 school year. 

Families must complete a separate application for before- and after-school programs online or at their child’s school.

How am I supposed to make a decision?

No one metric defines a great school.

For better or worse, we have a school accountability system based largely on students’ standardized test scores.

“The scores tell you something, but usually they are — across the whole country — highly correlated with socioeconomic status,” Learning Policy Institute founding president Linda Darling-Hammond told LAist. “A lot of what they tell you is how well off economically are students in this school, rather than how much is the school contributing to their gains and growth.”

For example, one study in Mississippi found a school’s overall scores can mask outcomes for low-performing groups of students.

Still, there are many factors beyond test scores to consider — from data about student attendance, discipline and parent surveys on school safety.

By far the most frequent piece of advice we’ve heard is to go on an in-person school tour if possible.

“The very best thing that people can do is go to the school and try to watch the way that educators interact with students, the way that students interact with each other, and the way that families are included or not in the life of a school,” says Jack Schneider, a University of Massachusetts Amherst education researcher and parent. “Once you do that, you really get a sense of what kind of place kids are going to school.”

Some schools post information about tours online, but you may have to call for details.

Once you’re there, here are some questions to ask:

• Can I talk to staff and students? 
• Do staff send their children to the school?
• What is staff turnover? 
• What professional development is available for staff? 
• How big are classes?
• What extracurricular activities are available? 
• Is there before- or after-school care? 
• What is the school’s approach to social and emotional learning? 
• How does the school handle discipline and bullying? 
• How much time do students spend on screens? I.e. working on computers or tablets? 
• Are there any recent or planned improvements to campus? 
• What opportunities are there for parents to get involved? Is there a parent-teacher association (PTA) or other organized group of families?
• Can the school help connect families to other community resources, such as meals, mental health, housing support, internet access? 

Here are some things to observe:

• What time of day does the tour take place? Is it a moment of transition like the beginning of the day or lunch?
• Are students engaged in the lessons? Wandering around campus? 
• What is the condition of the buildings, classrooms, playgrounds and school grounds?  Is there green space? 
• How are staff interacting with students and each other?
• What information is posted in the front office and hallways? Are there opportunities for parental involvement? 

In the fall, LAUSD also hosts a series of in-person and virtual “Choices Fairs,” where families can talk to educators from different schools in each region.

We have a comprehensive overview of the information you can review from the comfort of home, but here are a few places to start your search.

Other tools

LAUSD’s school explorer: You can search by location or by keywords. Each school page provides an overview of the programs and services available and few data points with a comparison to the district average including:

• Test scores
• Student demographics
• The percentage of students who feel safe at the school

For more information, including suspensions, attendance and the progress made by English Language Learners, visit the district’s open data site.

Individual school websites: At their best, these platforms are a window into the school’s history, curriculum, current programs and events. On the other end of the spectrum, information can be sparse or outdated. But a bad website isn’t necessarily indicative of a bad school.

Look for:

• Events 
• Tours 
• Extracurricular activities and after- and before-school programs
• How to contact teachers and administrators
• Parent and family resources

California School Dashboard: Here you can compare a school’s test scores and other information against state standards. Many measures are assigned a color from red (worst) to blue (best) based on performance from the current year and growth from the prior year.

School Accountability Report Card (SARC): The wonkiest of these options. The SARC is an annual assessment each school must submit each year; among the data is:

• Teacher qualifications
• School facility conditions
• Student support staff on campus (librarian, nurse, psychologist, etc.)

The website isn’t super user-friendly. Search for an individual school here and then click the button that says “view full SARC” to see all of the available information.

How can I meet other parents? 

There are parent Facebook groups, but there are also a variety of school, local government and parent-run organizations who can connect you to families willing to share their experiences.

At the school level:

• Parent-teacher association or a booster club.
• School site council, a group of parents, community members, staff, and students that advises leadership. 

At the city level:

• Local neighborhood council, the smallest and most accessible unit of L.A. government. Many have a representative focused on education.

When will I hear back? 

LAUSD starts notifying families about the outcome of their Choices applications in February and families have until March 5, 2027, to accept or decline the school placement offered. Otherwise, the student’s enrollment will default to their resident school.

Acceptance

If you accept the district’s offer, the next step is to contact the school to enroll. Students who do not enroll and subsequently attend class within the first week of school are dropped from the program.

Waiting list

When there are more applicants than available space, your child will be placed on a waiting list. If you applied for multiple schools and are not selected for any of them, your child is placed on the waiting list for their first choice school.

Schools start to offer available spaces to students on the waiting list on a rolling basis and continue through the beginning of the fall semester. Spots may also open up the first two weeks of the spring semester.

You can contact the school directly to learn more about your child’s status on the waiting list.

Students still on the waiting list in the fall when the next application period opens should reapply.

How will I be involved in my child’s education?

Education experts and parents we interviewed also encouraged families to think about what they can provide to their larger school community in addition to what they hope their child will get out of their individual educational experience.

“Instead of obsessing over finding the one best school and angling to get our kids into that school and shove aside our competitors, we can begin to recognize that public schools are designed to bring us together,” Schneider, the education researcher, said. “They're designed to be spaces where young people from different walks of life sit alongside each other as they learn.”

One place to start is at your school’s parent-teacher association (PTA) or a booster club.

While fundraising is often a primary focus for school-based groups, they can be more inclusive, said former Atwater Village PTA president Lori Rosales.

“People can give money, they can give supplies, or they can give time,” Rosales said. “If we thought through those lenses, that is going to ensure that everybody can participate in some way.”

Illustration: Olivia Hughes / LAist

Los Angeles has handily broken its record for most days of coastal flooding in a year. And that’s without including October in the tally and with a wet El Niño winter ahead — a worrying sign for coastal homes and infrastructure.

Researchers can’t yet project how many more days of flooding we’ll have in 2026 — but we’re already well ahead of what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s models had forecast up to this point.

NOAA oceanographer Karen Kavanaugh said models had predicted three to six flood days between May 2026 and April 2027. Those models took El Niño and sea level rise into account. She said that there have already been nine flood days in that window and added that the 12 flood days so far in the calendar year are “abnormally high.”

The number of days of coastal flooding observed at NOAA’s tide gauge in San Pedro is the highest recorded since observations started being taken in 1923. The previous record was set at nine in 1983, during another El Niño event.

When might we see more flooding?

Kavanaugh couldn’t say with certainty when flooding might occur, but noted that high-risk times ahead coincide with Thanksgiving and Christmas. Around then, the moon will be at its closest point to the Earth. The stronger gravitational pull from the moon causes what are commonly known as king tides, a nonscientific term for the highest predicted tides of the year.

In addition to these factors, the wide range of events affecting our tides this year, including storms, climate change, El Niño and related Kelvin waves, could very well cause other flooding events or cause the existing ones to become stronger.

Kavanaugh said a combination of factors — specifically Kelvin waves and astronomical high tides — was exactly what was responsible for the flooding seen this week.

“That could happen, perhaps, again in November and December if we have another pulse of a Kelvin wave,” Kavanaugh said.

Flooding inundated coastal communities around Southern California this week, including Orange County's Sunset Beach.

(

Robert Gauthier

/

Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

)

How high will the tides be?

Unfortunately, Kavanaugh said, there’s no way to predict the severity of upcoming king tide events at this moment in time.

“But as we move closer to an event, there are good models that the National Weather Service uses to forecast flooding,” she added. “But they need it to be within seven days, sometimes shorter timelines.”

How to prepare for high tide conditions

Kavanaugh recommended keeping an eye on National Weather Service reports for the latest information and predictions. (There are separate pages for Los Angeles and Orange counties.)

Kavanaugh stressed that, given this year's unpredictability so far, people should be as prepared as possible.

“It's an unusual type of phenomenon to plan for for some communities,” she said. “We're used to planning for a big storm, maybe, and flooding from that, but not planning for, ‘Oh, it's gonna be beautiful sunny weather, and also you might have flooding on the roads.’”

Kavanaugh also recommended paying close attention to local emergency officials’ guidance and being mindful not to park cars in low-lying areas that could end up being inundated.

“If [local officials are] asking you to get sandbags or things like that, keep those sandbags because you might need them again in a few weeks,” she said.

The federal government must pull three taxpayer-funded Trump administration ads that appear to have been made for political or propaganda purposes, including one touting the president’s claim that every American will get $5,000 if Republicans keep control of Congress in the upcoming election, a judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon in New York sided with a coalition, including the nonpartisan watchdog Common Cause, in ordering the government to take down the advertisements titled “$5,000 to Americans,” “Every Democrat Voted Against No Tax on Tips,” and “Cost of Socialism.” She declined to pull several other ads.

She said the three ads must be taken off official government websites, including social media sites such as YouTube, Instagram and the like. Rochon also ordered the cancellation of any plans for the airing or distribution of the ads through authorized third parties, including by President Donald Trump’s flagship super PAC, MAGA Inc.

Rochon was nominated to the court by then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and once served as a law clerk for Trump’s sister, the late Maryanne Trump Barry, a longtime federal appeals court judge.

Responding to the ruling, White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said: “This Biden-appointed activist judge issued a lawless order to stop the administration from sharing patriotic videos.”

Rochon ruled during a hearing in which she considered expanding a temporary restraining order she issued two weeks ago, when she banned a series of ads that glorify Trump and echo his political messaging going into the midterms.

The plaintiffs sought the removal of at least 13 ads, but Rochon only ordered that the three be pulled, at least for now. She noted that the Government Accountability Office has observed that there are instances when the president’s office is entitled to inform the public of its policies, justify its policies and respond to attacks on its policies.

Rochon said the plaintiffs were seeking to restrict the office in ways that were “broad and far reaching” and she found herself concluding that the government will ultimately prevail legally with regard to many of the ads.

The White House has defended the ads as public service announcements akin to what past administrations have made to promote various policies. But the recent ads differ from many past public service announcements because they don’t try to help the public benefit from specific government programs, according to the plaintiffs.

After Rochon issued the order, she noted that she was doing so on a Friday afternoon and that the government would have no excuse to delay taking them down immediately.

A government lawyer acknowledged that he would be able to immediately notify relevant individuals responsible for taking down the ads.

“Everyone is here. Everyone can hear my order. No one is at the theater,” the judge quipped in a reference to excuses offered by government lawyers when her recent order, issued over a weekend, wasn’t immediately obeyed.

Rochon said irreparable harm could result to the plaintiffs if she didn’t ban the ads while the court case proceeds, though she noted that she could reverse herself and restore the ads or ban additional ads after hearing more evidence in the coming weeks.

“This court can neither postpone an election nor turn back the clock,” Rochon said after concluding that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claims regarding the ads and would suffer harm if they were not taken down.

“This temporary restraining order will stop the administration’s wanton disregard for the law while the court hears the full case,” said Bradley Girard, a lawyer with Democracy Forward. “Congress has made clear that partisan ads cannot be funded with taxpayer dollars, and we are proud to work with this coalition to earn today’s result.”

In court papers, the coalition’s lawyers wrote that Congress did not appropriate funds to the president’s office “to run a PR shop to help the President’s allies and attack his perceived ideological opponents.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Oestericher wrote in response to the plaintiffs that there was nothing wrong with White House staff compiling advertisements to “inform the public about his policies and to rebut attacks on those policies and his Administration.”

___

Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.

Thousands of military veterans with VA-backed mortgages have been hit with higher interest rates and monthly payments since last year, when the Trump administration shut down a low-interest program designed to help them.

Among veterans who had their loans modified after a financial hardship, more than 15,000 saw their monthly payments increase by at least $150, according to an NPR investigation that obtained previously unreported data from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

More than 700 veterans suffered payment increases of $1,000 or more.

Lenders offer loan modifications to enable homeowners to catch up on missed payments. It involves changing the loan terms, and for the vast majority of Americans, it either lowers their payment or keeps it the same, depending on what they can afford. But that's not the case for VA loans, since the VA abruptly ended the program.

NPR found that 63% of veterans who received a loan modification were hit with a payment increase, compared with just 2% for modifications of loans guaranteed by the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which cover most of the U.S. mortgage market.

"This is the height of insanity," said California Democratic Rep. Mark Takano, the ranking member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, after NPR shared its findings.

"These are veterans that are already financially distressed — they were already in trouble," he said.

Veterans like Scott Boyd are literally paying the price.

When Boyd was a teenager, his dad died of cancer. He said he saw the military as a clear path to start helping his family.

"My mom signed paperwork when I was 16," Boyd recalled. "I'm like, 'I'm sending my checks home to take care of my mom.'"

He started out in the infantry and saw combat. Later, Boyd worked in Army intelligence in some dangerous places. When he got out in 2002, he had skills that set him up for a career in tech. In 2021, he bought a house near Columbus, Ohio, using a VA home loan. Like other buyers at the time, he got a nice low-interest rate. "I felt very blessed," he said.

But a few years later, Boyd hit a crisis: He lost his job in a mass layoff, and he said his time in combat came back to haunt him in the form of PTSD. He checked himself into the Dayton VA hospital for treatment but fell behind on his mortgage.

Boyd and thousands of other veterans were pushed into much-higher-cost modified home loans. Hundreds are paying at least $1,000 more a month.

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Maddie McGarvey for NPR

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Most Americans can get help in a situation like this. Mortgage companies don't want to foreclose because both they and the homeowner experience losses. So they have levers they can pull to help people who've fallen behind on payments.

Boyd's lender told him that he didn't have to worry because the VA had a loan forbearance program that would allow him to pause his payments and provide him with an affordable way to catch up after.

"I later found out that wasn't true," he said.

It wasn't true because the Trump administration then shut down a key part of the VA's home loan program. It was called the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase (VASP) program. Without it, vets like Boyd were stranded with no option but a much-higher-cost modified home loan at today's higher interest rates.

In Boyd's case, he is now stuck paying $1,181 more — every month.

"This is outrageous," said Boyd. "I remember just thinking to myself, 'This is just so broken.'"

Some in Congress agree.

"The VA home loan program should not be making things worse and more stressful for that veteran, a combat veteran, who's been through hell," said Takano, about Boyd's case in particular.

Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., speaks on Capitol Hill in 2025.

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Rod Lamkey

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Illinois Republican Rep. Mike Bost, chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, did not respond to NPR's repeated requests for comment. NPR also reached out to Wisconsin Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a committee member who led the call to wind down the VASP program. He also did not respond to requests for comment.

The VA said in a statement that it helps thousands of veterans "retain homeownership and/or avoid foreclosure through programs like payment forbearance, loan modifications and individualized repayment plans."

The VA was warned this would happen

Before it was shut down, the VASP program was helping tens of thousands of veterans who had fallen behind on their home loan payments by rolling those missed payments into a new mortgage with a low 2.5% interest rate. That made the program a lifeline for vets in today's higher-interest-rate environment.

And Boyd said his mortgage company had been telling him that he too could use VASP when he was able to resume paying his mortgage.

" I would constantly ask them, 'OK, this is getting further and further behind,' and they were like, 'You have this last lever to pull.'"

This was in the spring of 2025, just months into the second Trump administration. Key Republicans on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee vocally opposed VASP, which the Biden administration created after its own VA home loan disaster. Republicans warned that VASP was putting taxpayers on the hook for thousands of loans to vets who had trouble paying.

"If the Biden version of VASP was allowed to continue, I fear that the home loan will not exist in the future for my fellow veterans," said Van Orden during a House Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing on March 11, 2025.

Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., speaks in Eau Claire, Wis., on Oct. 20. He is currently in a tight race for reelection.

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Ellen Schmidt

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But at the same hearing, as well as in letters to Congress and press releases, the mortgage industry and housing groups explicitly warned the Trump administration not to kill the program without first creating another viable option for vets. They said if the VA shut down the program before standing up a replacement, vets would be left with far worse options than other American homeowners. With interest rates up around 7%, they warned that the only option left would be a modified loan at the current higher rates, which would result in foreclosures for those who couldn't afford the higher payments. And that's exactly what has been happening.

" I was doing the math in my head as they were telling me, you know?" Boyd said about the loan modification he was presented with. "If I'm going from 2.75 to 6.75 … it seemed ridiculous," he said. Not only would that jump in his interest rate boost his payment by nearly $1,200 every month, but his loan term was extended to 40 years. So he went from about half of his monthly payment going toward principal to now more than 90% of his payment going to cover just the interest.

"This was a foreseeable outcome of abruptly ending a program without a replacement in place," said Matthew Douglas, of the Housing Policy Council. He represents the largest mortgage companies in the U.S. and was among those warning the VA not to kill VASP. Asked about NPR's findings, he said, "It's a mathematical certainty that borrowers are going to have those kind of shocking payment increases." 

Despite the warnings, the Trump administration ended the VASP program on May 1, 2025 — apparently in coordination with House Republicans, who announced the move before the Department of Veterans Affairs did, even though VASP was ended administratively, with no vote from Congress.

"We — along with many of our colleagues — had serious concerns about the impact VASP would have on not only the future of VA's home loan program, but the mortgage lending business as a whole. Today, the Trump administration rightfully put an end to VA's VASP program," Bost and Van Orden said in a joint press release at the time.

In his statement to NPR, VA press secretary Quinn Slaven wrote: "many leading voices in Congress supported the termination of VASP, which put the entire VA home loan program at risk."

The VA's new program slowly rolls out

Boyd lives with his partner and her four children, whom they are raising together.

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Maddie McGarvey for NPR

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At the same time Van Orden was calling for VASP to be scuttled, he had written a bill to replace it with a new VA Partial Claim Program (PCP). Congress quickly passed that bill with broad bipartisan support in the wake of the VA scuttling VASP. It directed the VA to create an option for vets behind on payments, enabling them to move their missed payments to the back of their loan term. That way, vets could keep their original mortgage and not be forced into a higher-cost loan.

But after ending VASP, it took the VA more than 13 months to design and announce the details of the new program, which it did in June of this year. And the industry was then given another 180 days to implement it. Most mortgage companies still do not offer it.

In that gap, thousands of veterans got modified loans with higher interest rates and payments. The VA's new PCP program won't do anything to help those vets — they'll remain stuck in those modified loans.

Congress could help

Boyd holds a challenge coin from the Department of Defense that was given to him during his military service.

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Maddie McGarvey for NPR

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NPR asked the VA about the vets who fell into the gap between the two programs. Slaven, the VA spokesman, said in his statement that the VA home loan program "is based on the premise that while Veterans may need some assistance, they must generally be able to make their mortgage payments."

Industry groups say raising a struggling homeowner's payment makes it more likely for them to redefault and face foreclosure. Foreclosures on VA loans rose to a 10-year high after VASP was killed, according to industry data. Experts warned in a congressional roundtable in September that time is running out for the government to help these vets or a wave of foreclosures is still to come.

Rep. Takano told NPR that the VA, if it chose to, could put these vets back into lower-cost mortgages or that Congress could pass a law to do it.

"We could do something for those veterans who saw a jump in their interest rates," Takano said.

Hanging on to home 

Boyd says he feels defeated after receiving worse loan options from the VA.

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Maddie McGarvey for NPR

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Outside Columbus, Ohio, Scott Boyd is still managing to make those higher mortgage payments.

When he bought the home, he said, it felt like a guarantee of shelter and stability for him, his partner and the four kids they are raising together.

" I made a commitment, saying no matter what, I want to build a home that is big enough. …  I wanted to get them in better schools and things like that," he said.

He was even able to help when his father-in-law became ill recently; they moved him into the finished basement, where he got home hospice care.

So when he was presented with the terms of that loan modification, he had not only kids in the house but his dying father-in-law too. He'd just gotten back on his feet financially and was being told his options were the loan modification or foreclosure.

"My job was still new, and that still felt shaky. … My PTSD was shaky. … It seemed like the right thing to do was just to take the modification," he said.

Two weeks after Boyd signed the loan modification, the VA launched the new Partial Claim Program that would have allowed him to keep his original loan terms with the same monthly payment and low 2.75% interest rate. It took two more months before the first mortgage company offered vets access to the PCP, and most of the industry is still working to stand up the program before the deadline that the VA gave it of Nov. 28.

Boyd said that he doesn't often talk about his service and that he doesn't feel entitled to be treated better than any other American. But he did not expect the VA to give him worse options than those of people who never served.

" I really felt hurt more than anything. I wasn't angry. I was just like, I felt so defeated," Boyd said.

"Everything that I've done for this country and the things that I've been through, the things that I've seen, the things I've had to deal with … it's come down to, 'Yeah, I'm sorry — it's not in our systems yet. … There's nothing we can do about it.'"
Copyright 2026 NPR

Very early on Wednesday morning, Dover, N.J., Councilwoman Sandra Wittner started getting messages about immigration agents. A dozen or more were gathering outside a Walgreens, according to the messages she was getting. Throughout the day, neighbors in north New Jersey saw a spike in Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity.

And New Jersey is not alone. In the weeks ahead of the midterms, various cities and states across the country are reporting a notable rise in ICE activity, according to reports gathered by NPR and its member stations.

"The tactics that the administration has been deploying in communities really appear to be designed to try to intimidate voters," says Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School. Despite that, early turnout is surging.

"There was definitely a lot of apprehension and fear," Wittner recalls. "We just really weren't sure if something huge was about to happen. People were not feeling very comfortable or safe."

Wittner is not sure who was detained or where, which is unsurprising: these days it's difficult to report on ICE crackdowns as they happen, because the Department of Homeland Security no longer publicly shares timely information on its operations.

NPR wrote to the agency to ask if there has been a recent surge. It responded: "ICE agents uphold our nation's immigration laws in all 50 states, seven days a week, 24 hours a day."

And yet NPR and its member stations have received tips from rural Illinois, Oregon, Detroit and California about surges in ICE enforcement throughout October.

An official within New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani's office who was not authorized to speak publicly confirmed that they have noted a surge in ICE activity in the city.

"We're certainly witnessing an uptick in activity, and have been since the summer," says a member of a volunteer group of neighbors in New York. She asked that NPR not use her name, as she is worried about retaliation. Her group goes to the scene where an ICE operation is happening, documents it, reminds those being detained of their rights, and alerts neighbors.

"In the past few weeks we've seen numerous large operations, or what we call cluster raids, multiple agents going to one spot and then the next," she said.

On the other side of the country, Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Troy Brynelson has reported on a similar trend. "What we were seeing in early October and what we've seen continue, at least anecdotally throughout this month, is that ICE activity has really picked up in Portland." Brynelson says it seems to be concentrated in commercial areas. "I'd say it's a noticeable uptick compared to what we've seen over the summer."

Juan Proaño of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), a civil rights organization, says he's concerned because this is happening so close to the midterm elections. "It's not about ICE at the actual polling station, it's ICE at the perimeter of the polling station," he says.

"Mass enforcement actions could be away from the polls, but with social media and the news, it could be enough to dissuade somebody from actually going out to vote."

Weiser of the Brennan Center says there's no indication the raids are affecting turnout. On the contrary, she says there has been a surge in early voting in minority communities across the country. "The good news is: it isn't working. Americans are tuning this out and we are not seeing a significant impact on participation. And we are actually seeing huge surges in participation in communities of color, and in Latino communities, and in all the communities that have been targeted by ICE and DHS."

Even so, she says that intimidation at the polls is illegal, and should be reported.
Copyright 2026 NPR