The LA Unified School District (LAUSD) is one of the largest and most respected in the country. In fact, the LA Unified school district is the second largest school district in the entire United States. The district covers an area of 704 square miles and includes 28 cities and many of the 140 unincorporated areas in Los Angeles County. Currently, there are 906,758 students enrolled in the system.

The LAUSD t is so huge and serves so many students that the kitchen facility which prepares lunches for the schools in the district which do not have their own meal-providing facility is second only in size to the Navy’s meal center in California.

The total budget for running the school district last year topped $13.5 billion dollars, making it one of the largest employers in the United States. The district employs more than 34,000 full-time teachers plus almost 50,000 additional support personnel for a total of more than 80,000 employees.

The LAUSD faces many challenges. One of its challenges is the number of newly-arrived Hispanic and other students who do not have a complete grasp of the English language. This has caused a heated debate among educators, politicians, and the public about the best way to integrate these students into the mainstream of American life.

Currently, the social make-up of the LA school district is 72 percent Hispanic, 13 percent African American, nine percent Caucasian, with the remaining six percent comprised of a wide diversity of nationalities. Truly, the LA school district is a microcosm of the U.S.’ idea of a melting pot.

Yet, even with the challenges the LAUSD faces, including language barriers, students in the country score surprisingly high on the national Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SATs) and has an overall student-teacher ratio of 21.58 percent and an average district-wide class size of just 26.55 students.

Los Angeles is also home to some of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the world, including Cal Tech, UCLA, USC and Pepperdine University, among others.