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 hundreds of specialized programs and dozens of charter schools run by separate nonprofits.

The default option is to attend the assigned 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 student who wants to enroll.

Families have told us the process of choosing a school for 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 elementary and middle school choices in LAUSD, but some of this information is also relevant to families looking for a high school or in another district. LAUSD also operates more than 80 preschools which have historically served low-income families — though that’s changing.

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 that on most days their stress is overwhelming compared with about a quarter of other adults.

In August 2024, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called parent mental health and stress an “urgent public health issue.”

There’s an underlying current of economic anxiety. Children born in recent decades are less likely to outearn their parents than those born in 1940.

“Too many fear they won’t be able to provide what’s necessary or their kids won’t be able to access what they need in order to lead a fulfilling life,” including sending them to the “right schools,” Murthy wrote.

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.” It can be done online or on paper. LAUSD had more than 40,000 Choices applications this past year.

There are two windows to apply— on-time and late.

• The on-time application usually opens about 10 months ahead of the first day of school.
• The late application consists of all the spaces left after families who applied on-time accept their offers.

Let’s say you’re applying for the 2026-27 school year. Here’s the general Choices timeline you’d be on for LAUSD:

• September 2025: School fairs start.
• October 2025: Choices application opens (on-time).
• Mid-November 2025: Deadline to apply online or by mail.
• February 2026:  Late applications begin.
• March 2026: On-time applicant results sent.
• Early April 2026: Deadline to accept or decline school offers for on-time applicants.
• April 2026: Late selection process begins.

Consider this a rough estimate. We’ll update the timeline when LAUSD releases the new dates, usually in early autumn.

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

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.

How to enroll: Collect the required documents (for example, 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.

How to apply for the 2025-26 school year:

• Applications open between April 21 and May 9, 2025. 
• The late application window is May 27 through September 12, 2025. 

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

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 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. The allowable reasons include:

• 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 a 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 protection: when a student is unsafe on their resident school campus. For example, they’ve been a victim of violence or bullying.
• Continuing enrollment: for students to continue to attend a school after moving out of the resident boundaries, but who still live within the district 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 and the district started accepting applications for the 2025-26 school year in March.

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

• The resident school and the requested school must separately approve a student's 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 (a magnet school) or be limited to a department within a larger school (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 specific campuses 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 typically due in mid-November and there is a late enrollment option early the following year. Apply online or in person at the school.

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 Hispanic, 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 four 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

These programs may also be known as dual language or immersion programs.

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.

In the 2024-25 school year, LAUSD offered more than 200 dual language programs in:

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

How to apply: Applications for dual language programs are typically due in mid-November, and there is a late enrollment option early the following year. Apply online or in person at the school.

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 within the district’s boundary.
• 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

These programs may also be known as accelerated or honors programs, or as Schools for Advanced Studies.

The district provides some form of “gifted and talented education” (GATE) programs at each school from TK through 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.

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 typically due in mid-November, and there is a late enrollment option early the following year. Apply online or in person at the school.

The eligibility criteria of SAS and Gifted Magnet schools is the same, but the prioritization of who gets in is different.

• Gifted magnet programs prioritize applicants based on the above-mentioned points system. 
• SAS schools randomly select eligible students based on the available number of spots in the following order of priority: 
  
  • Siblings of existing students within LAUSD’s boundaries.
  • Students within LAUSD’s boundaries.

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 2024-25 school year, 219 independent charter schools operate 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.

First, 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 typically due in mid-November and there is a late enrollment option early the following year. Apply online or in person at the school. When there are more applications than seats available, the school will conduct a lottery and must publish the date on its website. Students who are not selected join a waiting list.

Second, 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. 1 and April 30.  
2. Apply for an incoming inter-district permit from the desired school district.  

The reverse is true for students who live outside of LAUSD who want to attend a school in the district.

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 provides 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 two miles (middle through high school) from their school.
• Near an established bus route.

It’s best to inquire directly with the school your family is interested in to confirm what transportation may be available.

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 organizations to offer free before- and after-school programs, but there are not enough spaces for every child in the district, and it can be confusing to figure out what program your school offers and how many spaces are available.

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 2024-25 school year. 

Families must complete a separate application for before- and after-school programs.

What data can inform your decision?

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.

No one metric defines a great school, and 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.

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.

Also check 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 March, and families have until early April 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 in April 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, says former Atwater Village PTA president Lori Rosales.

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

Check out other ways to get involved in your child’s education.

Illustration: Olivia Hughes / LAist

California’s first-in-the-nation fast food council — created to give workers a voice on wages, safety and working conditions — has not met in over a year and has no chairperson.

Now the workers the council was built to protect, organized by the Service Employees International Union, are taking their concerns directly to the state, demanding that Gov. Gavin Newsom appoint a chairperson so the council can do its work, as required by law.

Luna Mondragon, who works at a Carl’s Jr. in Milpitas, told CalMatters through a translator that she started out as a cook but has done many other duties in her five years there. After she joined the fast food workers union, she said she began speaking up, especially when she started to experience aches and pains from her job. Since then, she said she has been retaliated against, including with fewer shifts.

“If we don’t have our health we can’t accomplish anything,” she said, her voice choked with emotion. “It’s so important for them to appoint a chair. We need the council.”

The council was created as part of a 2023 compromise that also set a $20 minimum wage for fast food workers. It has the power to set standards on wages, health, safety and working conditions — and to raise the minimum wage annually for hundreds of thousands of fast food workers at chains with 60 or more locations nationwide.

The council — composed of four members representing the businesses, four members representing labor and a chairperson who’s an “unaffiliated” member of the public — must, under state law, hold at least two meetings a year, though the law does not specify who should enforce this provision.

The council only held those meetings in 2024; last year it held two subcommittee meetings, the latest in February 2025. Shortly after, the council’s chairperson, Nick Hardeman, resigned when Newsom appointed him to a different state position. When reached by CalMatters, Hardeman said he did not want to speak on the record about a council he has not chaired in a while.

In 2022, the Legislature raised fast food workers’ minimum wage to $22 an hour. The industry fought back, gathering signatures to repeal the law. Workers across the state went on strike. In late 2023, the SEIU and the industry reached a last-minute compromise: Workers dropped a ballot fight in exchange for a $20 minimum wage and the establishment of the council. The SEIU-affiliated California Fast Food Workers Union launched the following year — lacking the collective bargaining rights of a traditional union but acting as an advocacy and membership group for workers.

Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for the governor, would not answer questions about the council, instead referring CalMatters to the state’s Labor & Workforce Development Agency. Crystal Young, a spokesperson for the agency, confirmed that there is no chairperson and the council’s meetings are on hold. The council’s four-person staff continues to respond to inquiries and prepare for future meetings, she said.

On April 16, marking about two years since the council’s first meeting, workers delivered a 96-page book to the governor’s office, describing more than 100 complaints filed with CalOSHA, the state labor department and different city agencies since the council’s formation, alleging wage theft and poor working conditions. The union estimates there are about 630,000 fast food workers in the state, about 75% of whom are people of color and 20% of whom are immigrants.

“Employers feel newly empowered to threaten us with calling ICE when we ask questions about paid sick leave or [workers’ compensation] or report health and safety hazards,” Angelica Hernandez, a McDonald’s worker who is a member of the fast food council, said in the book.

Rich Reinis, a member of the council who represents employers and is a former franchise owner, said he has no knowledge of when meetings will resume and is waiting. In his view, the council should have been discussing “fire and ICE.” The phrase refers to the effects of last year’s L.A. County fires on the fast food industry and its workers, some of whom lost their homes, and what businesses and workers need to know about immigration enforcement.

Reinis also wants the council to order a study of the wage increase’s effects on prices and employment. Competing studies by UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz have reached opposite conclusions, and the question of affordability remains unresolved, he said.

A Los Angeles Times columnist who analyzed the competing studies concluded the debate over the wage's effects is likely to continue. Hernandez, the councilmember, rejected the industry's claims the wage increase has hurt business. “The sky didn’t fall on the California fast food industry,” she said.

The council is also required to submit a performance review to the Legislature every three years — a deadline approaching without a single full meeting in the past year. Before he resigned, Hardeman, the former chairperson, said it was hard for the council to reach decisions.

“The staff will have to write a report without having any meetings,” Reinis said. “How the hell are we supposed to do that?”

Chris Holden, the former California assemblymember who authored the law that raised the workers’ wages and created the council, told CalMatters the council was “groundbreaking” and “needs to address the challenges that were the genesis of the council in the first place.” He said he hopes the governor is doing his due diligence to identify a new chairperson.

“I want to tell [the governor] to finish the job he started,” Julieta Garcia, a cook at a Pizza Hut in Los Angeles, told CalMatters through a translator. “Leave a good legacy for this generation and the future generation, so you can be recognized as a leader who gave fast food workers a chance.”

Young, the Labor & Workforce Development Agency spokesperson who was speaking on the governor’s behalf, confirmed that Newsom’s office received the workers’ book.

The governor's office has not said when — or whether — Newsom plans to appoint a chairperson to the council.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Nearly 20 years after founding a successful environmental and safety consulting services company, Robin Thorne said she still gets checked for being a Black woman in the construction industry.

“I've had situations where people, they don't even make eye contact, and then the male has to step back to say, 'She's running the show,'" she said.

Robin Thorne (in pink jacket) founded DemoChicks to help women of color land jobs in construction industries.

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Courtesy DemoChicks

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Thorne runs CTI Environmental, a multi-million dollar company that was contracted by the Army Corps of Engineers to do debris removal after the L.A. fires.

She’s been an engineer for decades and knows fewer than one of four workers in architecture, construction and engineering industries who are women — and much fewer are women of color.

That proportion is low considering 47% of the U.S. labor force are women.

That's why she’s organized a “Women in STEM Signing Day” at Long Beach City College on Saturday, May 30. The event’s meant to create the type of excitement normally associated with young people signing up for college sports teams.

She wants younger women to tap into their drive to succeed

There were far fewer women in these jobs when Thorne was growing up in Philadelphia, but she didn’t let roadblocks, including those in her personal life — like being a single mom on public assistance — stop her.

DemoChicks helps give young women of color exposure to construction-related jobs.

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Courtesy DemoChicks

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“When I thought about being an engineer, I didn't think about it being male-dominated. I just knew I wanted to be an engineer,” she said.

She added that some women do give up on similar dreams or fail to find the spark that allows them to see themselves doing these jobs. That’s why Thorne started DemoChicks seven years ago. She wants young women to see her and think “engineer,” as well as connect with women who are already working in these industries.

Mentorship, examples, and money

The organization is called DemoChicks because demolition is one of the jobs that keeps Thorne’s company busy. More women are entering architecture, construction and engineering jobs than before, but the percentage of women in each industry is still low:

15% in engineering
26% in architecture
11% in construction

These are mostly stable jobs with good entry-level wages, jobs such as safety coordinators, project managers, project engineers and construction managers.

Beyond giving teen girls IRL examples of women in construction industry jobs, DemoChicks supports their academic efforts, which often means helping them out meet college expenses. DemoChicks gave out $1,000 scholarships to eight women last year (35 applied).

A third generation Latina truck driver from South LA

One of those scholarship recipients in 2024 was Ana Terrazas. She recalled growing up in South L.A., not as a latch key kid, but as a truck cab kid.

Ana Terrazas as a teen at her mother's construction job. Terrazas now works for a large construction company as a project engineer.

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Courtesy Ana Terrazas

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 ”My mother… was a truck driver,” Terrazas said, driving belly dump trailers on construction sites. Terrazas would help her mother change tires and lend a hand with any mechanical repairs. Her grandfather was a truck driver too.

“Since then I've always been obsessed with job sites, and also the superintendent, the one that would tell everybody where to go, how to do their job, and organize everything,” Terrazas said.

Two years ago she was working hard to finish her two majors — civil engineering and construction management — to earn her bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly Pomona. She applied for and was awarded a $1,500 scholarship from DemoChicks. That help, she said, had a big effect.

DemoChicks founder Robin Thorne, right, presents Ana Terrazas with a scholarship.

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Courtesy Ana Terrazas

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“I didn't have to take as many hours of work to be able to focus more on my studies and also in my internship during that time,” Terrazas said.

The internship, at Swinerton, a nationwide construction company that's more than 100 years old, turned into full time work as a project engineer.

Terrazas paid it forward earlier this year, inviting Thorne and a dozen DemoChicks to a Swinerton work site during Women in Construction Week. She urged the women to tap into their drive to succeed and lean on people like her for help.

“As long as they're driven and this is what they want, there shouldn't be a reason for them to not be able to get a job here,” Terrazas said.

With LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries just steps away, it may be easy to forget that we have the richest Ice Age fossil site on Earth right here with the La Brea Tar Pits.

But the museum and research facilities at the tar pits are also scheduled for a multimillion dollar renovation.

Built in 1977, the George C. Page Museum at the tar pits has a special place in the hearts of Angelenos who’ve ever taken a field trip to see its massive mastodon skeletons or dire wolf skulls. Or have maybe shed a tear at the sculptures of the mammoth family in distress in the Lake Pit out front.

All that stuff is staying, museum educator Kay Lai told LAist, but new interactive exhibits will allow visitors to better understand the science that’s happening in their own backyard.

A rendering of the new outdoor amphitheater at the La Brea Tar Pits.

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Courtesy the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County

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The transformation

“This museum, as beloved as it is, definitely needs that refresh,” Lai said. “And I’m really excited for the next generation of kids that gets to grow up and make new memories here with this new space.”

Lai said the museum refresh will include a new focus on Zed — the 80% complete Columbian mammoth found here — and other notable animals they’ve unearthed over the decades. The mammoth’s bones will be reassembled and Zed will “stand tall for the first time since the Ice Age,” according to the museum’s website.

“We’re able to focus on the very first saber-toothed cat fossils that we’ve ever discovered ... As well as some of our Ice Age survivors ... like Pebbles the Puma ... Pebbles would have been the ancestor of some of the mountain lions that still live in Los Angeles today, including P-22 that passed away a couple years ago,” Lai said.

Then there’s the fish bowl: you know, the fossil lab with windows where you can watch researchers at work?

An even better fish bowl

“So we’ll still have the fish bowl, but it’s going to be much more interactive and there’ll be much more discussion of what’s going on inside the fossil lab,” said Regan Dunn, assistant deputy director and curator at the new Samuel Oschin Global Center for Ice Age Research.

A digital rendering of the new fish bowl at the Samuel Oschin Global Center for Ice Age Research.

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Courtesy the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County

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Dunn explained that the area where they store their collections of fossils and other specimens is getting major updates too.

“Super valuable, millions of specimens, will be in upgraded systems where there’s climate control. There’ll be enclosed cabinets and be under much better maintenance. And also allow for much more research to happen,” she said.

The La Brea Tar Pits are still very much an active paleontological research site. Dunn said any time a hole goes in the ground in the Hancock Park area, a new discovery is made.

With new outdoor classrooms and a 1-kilometer pedestrian pathway that will take visitors past excavation sites, the idea is to make the research going on here more visible to the public.

Your last chance to visit the tar pits before its two-year transformation is July 6.

A digital rendering showing the aerial view of the updated La Brea Tar Pits grounds.

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Courtesy the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County

)

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

In the face of the nation's highest gas prices, California lawmakers approved a bill to ease restrictions on E85 conversion kits — devices that let conventional gasoline cars run on a cheaper, mostly ethanol fuel blend.

Assembly Bill 2046, dubbed the “Access to Affordable Gas Act” by its author, Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom, a Stockton Democrat, advanced through the Assembly on a 59-0 vote with no debate or opposition.

The measure is the latest example of Sacramento lawmakers scrambling to respond to gas costs that have soared amid the Iran-Israel war, which has rattled global oil markets and pushed California pump prices above $6 a gallon. It now heads to the California state Senate and would need Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approval before it becomes law.

“Californians consistently pay more at the pump than drivers from other states, and gas prices are once again climbing across the state,” Ransom said on the Assembly floor Thursday. “For commuters and working families, [the proposal] offers a practical way to save money.”

If approved in its current form, the measure would exempt manufacturers of E85 converter kits from an approval process by the state’s primary climate regulator, the California Air Resources Board, which requires companies to demonstrate the devices do not increase a vehicle's emissions. The bill would leave in place a separate federal certification process run by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“Members in Sacramento are looking for ways to try to reduce costs — or appear to reduce costs of driving — and so this is a way to do that,” said Aaron Smith, a UC Berkeley economist and fuels expert.

The converter kits, which cost between $800 to $1,250, according to a legislative analysis of the bill, would let drivers convert their cars to run on both gasoline and E85 fuel.

E85 is a blend of up to 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline; the share of ethanol typically is between 55% and 85%, said Smith, the Berkeley expert.

Jeff Wilkerson, government affairs manager for Pearson Fuels, the largest E85 fuel provider in the state and a bill supporter, said E85 — much of which is made from Midwest corn — is largely insulated from overseas oil shocks that drive California gas prices. The ethanol blend has sold for $2 or more less per gallon than gasoline during recent price spikes.

While E85 is typically priced lower than gasoline and can reduce petroleum dependence and carbon emissions, it delivers 20% to 30% fewer miles per gallon, according to the air board, meaning drivers only save money when E85 is priced at least 20% to 30% below gasoline.

About 1.3 million vehicles in California can currently use the fuel, which is sold at about 640 stations statewide — just 3% of the state’s more than 15,000 fuel pumps, according to the bill analysis.

Ransom said more E85 pumps would be built if the state loosened restrictions and encouraged demand for the fuel blend. She stressed that her bill would present E85 as an alternative.

“For some people, it may not be a wise choice, but at least now it’s going to be a choice,” she said.

Environmentally, the fuel is rated cleaner than regular gasoline by California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard. But that rating has critics. Smith, the Berkeley economist, said the benefits of ethanol are likely overstated. Official numbers likely understate emissions from land use as rising corn demand for ethanol pushes farmers to clear forested land.

The state’s own certification record offers a cautionary tale. Lindsay Buckley, a spokesperson for the board, said the agency has received only five applications from companies for E85 conversion kits since 2008 and that none has cleared the certification process, which is designed to ensure modified vehicles still meet their original emissions standards. Supporters of the proposal argue the board moves slowly and its regulations are burdensome.

But loosening that standard carries its own risk, cautioned Aaron Kurz, senior consultant on the Assembly Transportation Committee, especially now.

As the federal government has stripped scientific expertise from regulatory decisions, he wrote in his analysis, “this committee should consider if the state should cede authority over an inherently scientific process and set a precedent for transferring approval authority to the federal government.”