The Inglewood Unified School District Report Card: Community-Driven Participatory Action Research Investigating IUSD’s School Closure and Declining Enrollment Crisis is a data-driven, community-centered assessment of Inglewood Unified School District’s (IUSD) performance and governance under thirteen (13) years of state and county control. The Report Card documents steep enrollment declines, concentrated school closures near major developments, and persistent gaps in support and outcomes for Black, Latinx, and low-income students.
Key Report Findings
The Report Card’s key findings include:
- 48% of Inglewood’s 25 schools have closed since 2018: Twelve schools have closed in Inglewood in recent years under state and LACOE leadership, creating “school deserts” in communities.
- State oversight failure: IUSD district cycled through nine state/county administrators leading the district over 13 years of receivership. State mandated reports and agencies document repeated failure, fraud, waste, and recurring deficits. In 2022, FCMAT stated “it is highly unusual for a district to still be at this stage of recovery after nine years.”
- Teacher and staffing disparities: IUSD continues to operate with the highest teacher-to-student ratios in the county (33-to-1 in IUSD vs. 25-to-1 across LA County).
- Millions lost because of attendance: IUSD had the highest chronic absenteeism rate in LA County in 2023-24 with 43% students chronically absent. This was twice the state and county averages, and over 47% of students were chronically absent in IUSD in 2022-23. Rates like this cost the district $15-20 million in funding annually that could be used to serve students.
- Inglewood Exodus: Local families continued to be pushed out while student enrollment dropped 39% in IUSD in 10 years (2015-2025). Black student enrollment dropped by 45% rate over the 10 years.
- District budget patterns reflect long-standing underinvestment, neglect, resource inequities, deferred maintenance of school sites, uneven allocations, and more. Significant concern documented over the lack of follow-through with the hundreds of millions of dollars passed through local city of Inglewood measures K (1998), GG (2012), and I (2020)
- Widespread failure causes school closures: The report identifies at least 30 issues, policies, and failures related to school closures. Many of these have been documented in state reports and media
Policy Recommendations
Recommendations and demands are included for IUSD, LACOE, FCMAT, and policymakers. Some of these include:
- reopening closed schools,
- investing in community schools,
- forgiving IUSD’s loan,
- a roadmap restoring local control to the school board.