From L.A. Times by Stephen Ceasar and Dalina Castellanos:
The Los Angeles Board of Education approved the first use of the controversial parent trigger law in the city Tuesday, clearing the way for sweeping changes at 24th Street Elementary School in the West Adams neighborhood.

The board also moved to purchase tablet computers for 31,000 students in the first phase of an ambitious effort to improve technology in schools. And the board approved the first charter for a group of downtown Los Angeles parents seeking to open a new campus for their children in the growing neighborhood.

Parents at 24th Street Elementary are the first to use the trigger law, which allows parents to petition to overhaul a campus with new staff and curriculum, close the campus or convert it to an independent, publicly financed charter.

The law has been steadfastly opposed by teachers unions, which view it as a way for charter operators to weaken them and wrest control of public schools.

The 24th Street parents' petition campaign proceeded relatively smoothly compared with similar efforts in Compton and the High Desert city of Adelanto, which were snarled in legal battles and conflicts. Supt. John Deasy had appealed to the parents and said their goals were similar: creating strong academically performing campuses.

In other action, the board voted 6 to 0, with member Bennett Kayser abstaining, to approve the $50-million plan to purchase tablet computers. Deasy's goal is to equip every teacher and all 650,000 students in the district with a tablet computer to support the move to new technology-based standards.

The pilot program will be funded entirely by bond revenue from Measure Y, R and Q until the 2015-16 school year, when about $3.6 million from the district's general fund will be used to pay for technical support each year going forward.

District officials said the tablets meet the criteria for using bond money that calls for addressing unmet school facilities needs.

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