A battle over a state-run public STEM school proposed for Los Angeles is heating up with two votes scheduled for Tuesday. Two members of the LA County Board of Supervisors support the school, while two LA Unified school board members say LA is “already addressing the need for STEM education.”

Legislation to establish the school was proposed by state Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, D-San Fernando. Bocanegra has said the school would focus on teaching science, technology, engineering, and math to students from low-income and ethnically diverse communities. He is proposing that it be located in downtown Los Angeles and would serve 800 students in grades 6 through 12.

“…This California STEM School would give underrepresented students in the County opportunities to develop the knowledge necessary for a rapidly evolving world, and it would do so in a culturally competent manner to support a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse student body.”

Great Public Schools Now, which is one of the nonprofit organizations that give money to the district for specific initiatives, could be affected by the broad wording of the resolution regarding philanthropic resources. The school board is also slated on Tuesday to vote on plans for two district schools that are receiving $1.5 million in grants from GPSN to replicate their success on another campus. A GPSN spokesman declined to comment on the STEM school resolution.

Read the source article at LA School Report