"Strategic Review of FY06 District & School-Level Resources". In Fulfillment of a Memorandum of Understanding between: The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and The Unified Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA). Phase II- Final ERS Report. An Executive Summary and Management Brief Series

In the fall of 2006, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the Unified Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that called for a third-party research firm to analyze resource use across the Los Angeles school system. Education Resource Strategies (ERS) was chosen to conduct this analysis. The study was organized into two phases. Phase I of the study called for a six-year historical review of spending in the district to examine how spending patterns had changed and specifically whether or not central expenses had grown while spending on teachers had declined. The findings of phase I were released publicly in November of 2006 and presented to the Board of Education of LAUSD. Phase II of the study explores spending and use of resources more deeply to identify opportunities for more strategic use based on research and comparison to other urban school districts. This management brief series presents Phase II key findings and recommendations. This document includes an executive summary that provides a concise summary of Phase II findings and describes the top 5 actions that flow from ERS's detailed recommendations. This summary is followed by three management briefs that supply detailed answers to key questions as well as additional recommendations and questions for further leadership discussion: (1) Brief #1--Distribution and Use of System Resources: Analyzes the overall funding level in LAUSD as well as the way time, people, and money flow to schools and students, focusing on questions of equity, strategy, flexibility, transparency, and efficiency, with comparisons to other urban districts; (2) Brief #2--Time, People and Money in Schools: Describes how LAUSD schools currently allocate their time, people, and money and compares findings with practices often found in high-performing urban schools; and (3) Brief # 3--Professional Development: Analyzes LAUSD's overall investment in professional development and compares it to patterns and practices found elsewhere, focusing on whether the overall mix of initiatives aligns with district needs. (Contains 7 footnotes.)