Hope, sadness and uncertainty follow after Carvalho resigns as LAUSD superintendent 

By Mallika Seshadri for EdSource
Originally published on June 22, 2026

With Alberto Carvalho’s resignation now official, Los Angeles Unified faces a new challenge: finding a superintendent to lead the nation’s second-largest school district through mounting budget deficits, declining enrollment and political uncertainty.  

Acting Superintendent Andrés Chait will continue leading the district in the interim, but board members have not yet outlined a timeline or process for selecting a permanent replacement.  

The board said it remains committed to “ensuring stability, continuity, and continued progress through strong leadership.” Its focus, according to a statement, “remains unchanged: providing every student with a high-quality education, supporting our dedicated workforce, and maintaining the trust of the communities we serve.”

Carvalho announced Sunday night that he would formally step down amid an ongoing FBI investigation that appears to concern his relations with AllHere, a now-defunct company that developed the district’s AI chatbot with which LAUSD entered a $6.2 million professional services contract. 

In February, two days after the FBI raided Carvalho’s home and LAUSD headquarters and searched a residence in Florida, the school board placed him on paid administrative leave. He continued to receive his annual salary of $440,000 and other benefits. It remains unclear whether his departure will include a negotiated settlement with the district. 

Around that time, Carvalho denied any wrongdoing, and his attorneys at Holland & Knight LLP said they hoped he would be reinstated. 

Now, Carvalho says he’s stepping down to avoid further disruption to the district and allow LAUSD to focus on serving students.  

In a letter released through his attorneys, Carvalho thanked students, families, educators and community members for their support during his tenure.  

“The successes we have achieved belong to you. I will miss all of you and will continue to pray for the success, health, and wellbeing of every student and family in our District,” he said.

Federal authorities have not publicly disclosed details of the investigation, and it remains unclear when additional information may become available. 

What happens now?

Chait will continue to serve as acting superintendent while the school board determines its next steps. 

But John Rogers, the associate dean for research and public scholarship in the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies, said he wishes the announcement of Carvalho’s resignation had come earlier to give the school board more time to conduct a search to find a new, permanent superintendent before the start of the next academic year. 

Community groups and education advocates say the district cannot afford prolonged instability. 

“At a time when the district is dealing with federal attacks on public education, declining enrollment, budget pressures, attacks on our most marginalized communities, and persistent inequities, prolonged uncertainty in its leadership has only made it harder to work towards real solutions,” read a statement from Reclaim Our Schools LA, a coalition that works to improve access to Los Angeles public education. 

From fiscal challenges to community and political concerns, the next superintendent will have a lot to navigate. Stability, experts and community members agree, is essential. 

This year, the district is also losing two of its academic chiefs: Deputy Superintendent of Instruction Karla Estrada and Chief Academic Officer Frances Baez. 

“Research shows that when you have these turnovers, the biggest issue is around organizational instability, when someone new might come in and shift priorities or stop reforms,” said Julie Marsh, a professor of education policy at USC. “That can lead to lower staff morale and challenges to sustaining programs and policies, and that becomes quite disruptive.” 

Rogers said he hopes the district casts a broader net and conducts a nationwide search for the next superintendent. Marsh and other community members feel the board should look within first. 

“One of the things we know about new leaders is often they want to make their mark, and be able to put their stamp on an organization,” Marsh said. “And that may not be the time for it right now for us to see someone new come in with all new ideas.”

Nicolle Fefferman, a longtime LAUSD educator and co-founder of the Facebook advocacy group Parents Supporting Teachers, stressed the importance of transparency in a future leader, and said Chait’s leadership appears to be encouraging — noting LAUSD doesn’t “need a racehorse. What we need is a workhorse.” 

Finding a superintendent who listens to parent and student voices is also key, said Elena Price, who has two children in district elementary schools. 

“Leadership comes and goes. Our students remain,” Price said. “And my hope is that L.A. Unified uses this transition as an opportunity to strengthen its partnership with parents and stay focused on what matters most: student success.” 

Carvalho’s report card 

Carvalho became LAUSD’s superintendent in 2022 after leading Miami-Dade County Public Schools for 14 years. 

Assuming the role as schools were emerging from pandemic-era disruptions, he made recovering learning loss and reducing chronic absenteeism central priorities. 

During his tenure, student test scores improved to prepandemic levels. Attendance numbers improved and the share of students completing A-G coursework required for admission to the University of California and California State University systems increased, according to district data. 

“I reflect on Carvalho’s tenure as a time when there were some improvements laid out across the district, and I credit the entirety of the district for those improvements — and have to acknowledge that Carvalho was a leader during that time,” said Rogers.

Carvalho also earned praise from many advocates for immigrant students and families, particularly as he publicly challenged policies and actions of the Trump administration that he viewed as harmful to immigrant communities.  

“He understood the immigrant experience,” said Evelyn Aleman, the founder and CEO of the nonprofit parent group Our Voice/Nuestra Voz, which previously called for Carvalho to be reinstated. 

“Being an advocate at L.A. Unified for four decades now, I have never seen a superintendent take on the cause of immigrant families and vulnerable children… He was really trying to raise the bar in terms of the quality education that these children received.” 

As much as LAUSD gained under Carvalho’s leadership, his tenure was marked by controversy. Critics questioned the district’s handling of arts education money, the dismantling of the district’s former Primary Promise intervention program, several cyberattacks and data breaches, and aspects of its response to the 2025 L.A. wildfires. 

“There have been numerous occasions over his tenure where we witnessed what we thought were grave derelictions of responsibility to our children and to our schools,” said Fefferman of Parents Supporting Teachers, which was early to call for Carvalho’s removal. 

“Finally we can be done with this part of the LAUSD story, and hopefully move on to something better.”

Rogers added he wasn’t “sure that Carvalho always created the most supportive environment for educators in the system.” 

Carvalho’s fall 

Ultimately, Carvalho’s downfall came — at least, in part — from dealings with AllHere Education. 

The district entered into a $6.2 million contract with AllHere on July 1, 2023, and unveiled a chatbot, Ed, as a virtual assistant designed to help students navigate school resources and services the following year.

The project quickly unraveled. The company’s founder and CEO Joanna Smith-Griffin left and was arrested in November 2024 and charged with securities fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Most employees were furloughed. 

Carvalho announced a taskforce to examine what went wrong, but no progress or outcomes have been publicly disclosed. 

During the raids, the FBI also searched a residence in Southwest Ranches, Florida, in Broward County. The residence is reportedly linked to Debra Kerr, an AllHere contractor with ties to Carvalho from when he was superintendent in Miami-Dade. Kerr’s son, a former AllHere employee, told The 74 that he had pitched the company to LAUSD.

“Most district leaders around California and around the nation are at a little bit of a loss trying to figure out how to navigate this new AI landscape,” said Rogers. 

“This is not to take responsibility away from Carvalho for the decisions he made, but I do think many educational leaders don’t have sufficient information and are trying to figure out in a context of rapid change and insufficient information how to move forward.” 

Last week, leaders of the largest LAUSD unions — United Teachers Los Angeles and SEIU Local 99 — expressed a desire for Carvalho to be replaced, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“After months of uncertainty around district leadership, the news of Superintendent Carvalho’s resignation does not come as a surprise,” UTLA said in a statement. 

“The next superintendent must ensure that district resources are invested where they matter most: in our schools and classrooms, not in billions of dollars’ worth of outside contracts.”