Embattled LA Unified Superintendent Alberto Carvalho Resigns

The superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District, Alberto Carvalho, resigned Sunday, months after the FBI raided his home and office in February in connection with a criminal inquiry into the district’s dealings with an artificial intelligence startup.

The superintendent was a well-known education leader who was hired in 2021 to lead the nation’s second-largest school district. He had been on paid leave since Feb. 27, when the board of education suggested he step back to quell mounting turmoil over the investigation.

It was not immediately clear who would replace him. A veteran Los Angeles Unified administrator, Andres Chait, has been the acting superintendent since Carvalho’s paid leave began.

Carvalho’s resignation, which was effective immediately, was conveyed in a letter to the district and members of the school board.

His resignation was first reported by The Los Angeles Times.

Carvalho did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

School Board Meets Wednesday

In March, his lawyers issued a statement saying that he had committed no wrongdoing and that he looked forward to returning to his job. The statement at that time added that “no evidence has been presented by prosecutors supporting any allegation that Carvalho violated federal law.”

The school board plans to meet on Wednesday to discuss its next steps.

The federal inquiry into Carvalho stems from a district contract with AllHere, a tech startup that later collapsed amid fraud charges. A longtime associate and friend of Carvalho’s, Debra Kerr, was a consultant for the company, which was based in Boston. Kerr, who lived in Florida, met Carvalho while he was the superintendent of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, where he served for more than 13 years.

AllHere collapsed financially in July 2024. Four months later, its chief executive, Joanna Smith-Griffin, was indicted on charges that she had defrauded investors.

The FBI searched Kerr’s home in Broward County, Florida, in late February, on the same day that they searched Carvalho’s Los Angeles office and home.

School district officials have indicated that the government’s focus is financial in nature and aimed at Carvalho and Kerr, rather than at the Los Angeles school system.

But they also noted that after AllHere collapsed, the school board commissioned an investigation by outside counsel to look into Carvalho’s role in the contract and found no criminal wrongdoing on his part.

LA Unified Is Investigating Contracts Under Carvalho

The district, which has started its own internal review of contracts approved during Carvalho’s tenure, has been cooperating with the authorities. District records indicate that after Carvalho’s arrival, Los Angeles Unified contracted with at least two other companies that Kerr promoted.

Carvalho had otherwise been highly regarded in education circles, and some defended him in the wake of the investigation, suggesting that the Trump administration, which has clashed with California’s Democratic leaders repeatedly, may have targeted him.

Carvalho, who was born in Portugal, has been outspoken about the administration’s aggressive crackdown on immigration, and has publicly defended the rights of immigrant students. He also has been open about his own experience as a transplant to the United States, including a period when a lapsed visa rendered him in the country illegally for a time.

Past Scandals

Nonetheless, his career also has had moments of scandal. In 2008, leaked emails suggested that he had a romantic relationship with a reporter covering Miami schools. According to The Miami Herald, Carvalho denied having an affair with the reporter, but said that the emails he wrote were inappropriate.

In 2018, he accepted what some consider to be the most prestigious position in public education, leader of the New York City school system, but then abruptly backed out of the job on live television.

In Los Angeles, he clashed repeatedly with the superintendent he succeeded, Austin Beutner, and dismantled popular academic programs that Beutner had championed. Last year, Beutner and a group of Los Angeles Unified students filed a lawsuit accusing the district and Carvalho of misusing more than $76 million in art and music education funds.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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By Shawn Hubler and Dana Goldstein/Philip Cheung

c.2026 The New York Times Company

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