FBI raids LAUSD superintendent's home and office

Federal agents searched Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters and the San Pedro home of Superintendent Alberto Carvalho on Wednesday morning, the Department of Justice confirmed.

The reason for the searches is unknown. A DOJ spokesperson said the agency has a court-authorized warrant but declined to provide additional details. The FBI told our media partner CBS LA that the underlying affidavit remained under court-ordered seal.

What LAUSD has said

LAUSD published a statement online saying the district was aware of "law enforcement activity" at its headquarters and the superintendent's home.

"The district is cooperating with the investigation, and we do not have further information at this time," the district said.

The scene at search locations

Neighbors told LAist they first noticed officers at Carvalho's home around 6 a.m. One of them, John, said an officer told him to stay in his home. LAist agreed not to publish his last name out of fear of reprisal.

At LAUSD's downtown headquarters, multiple district staff members told LAist they were unaware of the raids until they saw the media gathered outside.

Carvalho has been superintendent of LAUSD since 2022, and the board renewed his contract in 2025.

Prior to coming to L.A., Carvalho had worked for the Miami-Dade County school district for decades, 30 years as a teacher and the last 14 years as the district's supervisor. WLRN, the NPR station in Miami, reported Wednesday that the local FBI searched a residence in Southwest Ranches, a town west of Ft. Lauderdale, "as part of this matter and have since cleared the scene." James Marshall, spokesperson from the FBI in Miami, did not provide additional information in an email to WLRN.

What we know so far

It remained unclear Wednesday afternoon what the cause of the investigation was or if it is in any way related to previous issues between the district and the Trump administration or the superintendent's time previous to LAUSD.

Carvalho and the district’s elected board have expressed unanimous support for immigrant students, staff and families since President Donald Trump was elected to a second term. The superintendent also has spoken openly about his own journey as a former undocumented immigrant.

The district's first major conflict with the administration began in February 2025, when agents from the Department of Homeland Security attempted to enter multiple LAUSD schools but were rebuffed. The DOJ also recently petitioned to join a lawsuit alleging the district discriminates against white students.

Carvalho's time at LAUSD has included a number of wins for the district, including gains in test scores and participation in AP classes.

But it's also had rocky moments, including the failed 2024 rollout of an AI chatbot, Ed, which was designed to be a "personal assistant" to students that would point them toward mental health resources and nudge students who were falling behind.

Within three months of its debut, the company behind Ed, AllHere, furloughed the bulk of its staff; its CEO was later charged with fraud. The district defended the process it used to debut that chatbot, which cost $3 million.