Howard Blume
Howard Blume tracks how education policy and power decisions play out in classrooms, with a focus on the Los Angeles Unified School District and statewide K-12 legislation. He connects internal district politics, state mandates and financial choices to concrete consequences for students, families and teachers.
Education power, accountability and LAUSD leadership
Blume’s core work follows leadership, governance and scandal in Los Angeles public schools, often centering on LAUSD superintendents, board dynamics and oversight failures. He covers high-stakes leadership crises, including the resignation of a district superintendent under federal investigation, and treats those stories as tests of how well school systems protect students and public funds. His LAUSD reporting frequently examines how board decisions, internal investigations and political pressure shape district priorities, contracts and reform efforts rather than merely relaying meeting summaries.
He writes in clear, direct language that foregrounds the stakes for students and families whenever district officials clash with prosecutors, auditors or watchdogs. His coverage treats LAUSD as a major political and financial institution, probing who benefits from key decisions and what they reveal about the district’s culture and governance. This emphasis on power and accountability distinguishes his education beat from routine school-features reporting.
Statewide education policy, legislation and mandates
Blume also explains state-level education policy, using bills and mandates to show how Sacramento’s choices will change what happens in California classrooms. He covers measures to reshape literacy instruction by requiring phonics-based, “science of reading” approaches, tracking how legislation would force districts to overhaul curriculum and teacher training in reading. He reports on efforts to improve school meals by phasing out ultra-processed foods such as chicken nuggets, corn dogs, frozen pizza, chips and sugary cereals, and on how long timelines and phase-ins will affect implementation on the ground.
Another recurring theme is civil rights and student protection in education law. Blume details proposals to create a statewide Office for Civil Rights focused on discrimination in schools, outlining how specialized coordinators for antisemitism, religious bias, race and ethnicity, gender and LGBTQ+ issues would work and how complaints would be investigated. He covers bills aimed at shielding children from sexual predators while clarifying school district liability, and he tracks efforts to end criminal approaches to truancy by changing state law. Across these stories, he breaks down complex legislative packages into concrete changes to instruction, discipline and student protections, giving readers a direct line from statute language to daily school life.
Curriculum battles, ethnic studies and discrimination
Blume often returns to the politics of what students are taught and how schools respond to discrimination. He reports on California’s ethnic studies high school graduation requirement, describing the state as an early adopter and explaining how the mandate was set to take effect before the governor quietly withheld funding, effectively stalling the rollout. In these pieces he shows how ideological debates over curriculum intersect with budget decisions and administrative capacity.
His coverage of anti-discrimination efforts in schools similarly moves beyond general rhetoric to the mechanics of enforcement. When he writes about new civil rights structures and anti-bias requirements, he specifies how state offices would field complaints, prepare learning materials, support districts and coordinate responses to harassment, bullying and discrimination across protected categories. The through-line is a focus on who is responsible for protecting students, what tools they are given and how those tools might work in practice.
Screen time, school climate and the student experience
Alongside high-level policy and governance, Blume covers how district and state decisions shape the everyday student experience. He reports on LAUSD moves to limit student screen time through new policies, treating technology use as a health, learning and discipline issue rather than a neutral tool. He pays attention to how such policies are framed, what limits they set and how they might change classroom management and homework expectations.
Across this work he links policy and climate: reading mandates are tied to literacy gaps, food rules to student health, discrimination frameworks to students’ sense of safety and belonging, and screen-time limits to attention and social behavior. His reporting consistently translates abstract rules and resolutions into the rhythms of the school day, which sets his coverage apart from more general political or budget reporting on education.
Role and craft
Blume covers education for the Los Angeles Times and is the paper’s lead reporter on the Los Angeles Unified School District. He is an award-winning journalist who has received the top investigative reporting prize from the L.A. Press Club as well as a print journalist of the year honor. His work combines investigative instincts with policy fluency, sustained beat knowledge of LAUSD and an emphasis on clear, accessible explanation of complex education systems.
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Adria Iraheta
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Alan J. Borsuk
Alan J. Borsuk stands out for connecting what happens in schools to the policy and political decisions behind them. He writes in-depth K-12 education analysis for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and serves as a senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette University Law School. His work focuses on Milwaukee Public Schools, school choice, literacy, teacher pipelines, and school accountability. He uses long-range perspective, detailed reporting, and structured analysis to explain how reforms unfold, why they stall, and what they mean for students and leaders. He has also written on vouchers, Teach for America, discipline, and teacher evaluation, drawing on decades as a reporter and editor on education and public policy.
Alexandra Hardle
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