Why is LAUSD spending $70 million to boost capacity at a school in Silver Lake, when nearby schools have thousands of empty seats?

It’s the feel-good story of the year for the Los Angeles Unified School district campuses. L.A. .Unified recently broken ground on a beautiful new $70 million renovation of Ivanhoe Elementary in Silver Lake, adding a shiny new building that will boost permanent capacity at the school.

Ivanhoe is one of the shining stars of LAUSD with over 80% of the children reading at grade level. In an era of rapidly declining enrollment across L.A., Ivanhoe has bucked the trend, showing a 31% increase in enrollment from 2009 to 2019.