Los Angeles Unified Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who had been under FBI investigation for four months, resigned Sunday night as leader of the nation’s second largest school system, bringing a stunning end to one of the district’s most consequential and high profile tenures.
Carvalho’s legal team confirmed that he submitted a resignation letter late Sunday to the Los Angeles Unified School District and to individual members of the Board of Education.
“It has been a great honor to serve you,” Carvalho wrote at the beginning of a letter addressed to “the students, families, teachers, staff, and community of LAUSD.”
However, his resignation does not bring closure to an embarrassing episode for which the LAUSD Board of Education has consistently refused to take ownership.
The Los Angeles Unified School District faced intense scrutiny following the controversial extension of Carvalho’s contract. Despite mounting concerns and growing pressure from parents, teachers, and advocacy groups, the Board voted to extend Carvalho’s contract for four additional years while the district grappled with significant financial and academic challenges.
Before the October 2025 contract renewal, several issues had already raised serious concerns:
The Failed AI Chatbot Project “Ed”
The $6 million initiative was widely criticized by parents and teachers as a costly failure, prompting calls for Carvalho’s dismissal.
Response to the 2025 Wildfires
Carvalho kept schools open in evacuation zones, raising questions about student and staff safety.
Allegations of Financial Mismanagement
The district faced a lawsuit from former Superintendent Austin Beutner, who alleged that nearly $77 million in voter approved arts education funds had been redirected to cover general operating expenses.
Despite these warning signs, Carvalho dismissed many of the criticisms, further straining relations with advocacy organizations and community stakeholders.
Parent and teacher groups, including Parents Supporting Teachers, criticized the Board for what they described as a “quiet renewal” conducted behind closed doors without meaningful public input or a formal performance evaluation.
Leaders of United Teachers Los Angeles also expressed frustration, accusing Carvalho of prioritizing social media branding over support for educators and school staff.
On September 17, 2025, the LAUSD Board voted unanimously, 7 to 0, to extend Carvalho’s contract through February 2030. Board members cited academic gains, leadership stability, financial management, support for vulnerable students, and operational success as reasons for their decision.
“Over the past four years, together, we have made historic progress, gains that belong to our students, our educators, staff and our communities,” Carvalho wrote in his resignation letter.
What the letter did not mention was the embarrassment surrounding the FBI investigation and the allegations involving questionable contracting practices that have continued to cast a shadow over his administration.
In February 2026, the FBI raided Carvalho’s home and office as part of an investigation reportedly focused on financial irregularities connected to the failed AI chatbot project, “Ed.” The development placed the School Board under increasing pressure to explain both its oversight and its decision to extend Carvalho’s contract.
Yet Board members largely chose to distance themselves from the investigation rather than publicly address the circumstances surrounding the contract extension. Several members successfully sought reelection during the primary elections while avoiding substantive discussion of the controversy.
Some parent advocacy groups initially expressed a willingness to give Board members the benefit of the doubt. Whether that trust was justified remains an open question.
