Before L.A. schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho resigned, the Board of Education warned him in a confidential letter that it had potential grounds to dismiss him, citing several allegations, including that Carvalho allowed a district contractor currently under federal investigation to pay for his travel to Washington, D.C.
Issues raised by the board in the letter sent to Carvalho included a 2023 trip to the White House allegedly subsidized by AllHere, the company at the center of an ongoing FBI investigation that also involves the former superintendent, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the letter.
The school board’s letter raised the possibility that Carvalho could be terminated “for cause” based on alleged financial benefits he did not report on required disclosure forms, said the sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak officially about the matter.
Details of the letter and other correspondence were described to The Times by two district sources who reviewed the document. A representative for Carvalho also confirmed the contents of the board’s letter.
Carvalho’s spokesperson said each of the issues raised was offset by mitigating factors and that none of the cited actions — individually or collectively — would have justified Carvalho’s dismissal.
While Carvalho’s resignation was widely reported — and precipitated the appointment of Andrés Chait as the new superintendentthree days later — there was no indication at the time that the school board had been pressuring Carvalho to step down. The seven-member school board placed Carvalho on paid leave two days after a Feb. 25 FBI raid of his home and office.
In his resignation letter, which Carvalho made public, he said he was leaving “because I believe our schools must remain focused on students and learning without distraction.” And that remains his position, his representative said: Carvalho wants to avoid counterproductive acrimony.
Carvalho’s resignation letter focused on accomplishments. In L.A., just as in his previous superintendent post in Miami, Carvalho has received widespread praise for accelerating student achievement.
In response to the issue of alleged unreported financial benefits, Carvalho’s representative provided responses and clarifications to questions The Times submitted in writing.
The board’s letter to Carvalho outlined at least three activities for which Carvalho allegedly received an undisclosed financial benefit, the three sources said. The sources did not disclose the total amount allegedly paid for the benefits cited in the letter.
These alleged benefits included:
- AllHere’s alleged underwriting of an August 2023 trip to the Biden White House.
- A ticket and possibly other perks allegedly related to at least two baseball games/events at Dodger Stadium.
- Travel to an education-related conference in Denver.
In addition, the board letter questioned Carvalho’s alleged personal use of a district car and driver, resources set aside only for work-related activities, the sources said.
District officials declined to provide the correspondence with Carvalho, instead assigning the request to the district’s Public Records Act unit, where some requests for records have taken years to resolve.
In a statement Saturday, the district declined to comment on the exchanges between the school board and Carvalho, calling it a “personnel matter.”
“The District is committed to the highest standards of ethics, accountability and transparency,” the statement said. “The District takes seriously its responsibility to conduct due diligence when we are made aware of any allegations of wrongdoing and takes appropriate action when necessary.”
The AllHere connection
Law-enforcement sources have confirmed that a main element of the investigation is Carvalho’s connection to AllHere, a now-defunct technology start-up hired to create an ill-fated artificial intelligence chatbot named “Ed.”
On Aug. 4, 2023, Carvalho featured AllHere’s chatbot in his high-profile annual superintendent’s address at Disney Hall. He promised a revolution of personalized education.
Four days later, Carvalho had hustled across the country to speak on August 8 at a White House cybersecurity summit, with AllHere allegedly paying for the airfare and hotel accommodation, sources told The Times.
By that point AllHere already had won a contract to develop the chatbot, a deal that could have paid up to $6.2 million. The company carried out $3 million worth of work before it collapsed less than a year later.
The bidding process that won AllHere the contract had concluded months before the Carvalho travel to Washington, D.C. But additional potential long-term deals were possible.
For example, AllHere was to play an ongoing role in monitoring questions received by the chatbot and the answers it provided, while continuing to refine the tool. Carvalho talked about a marketing partnership — with AllHere and L.A. Unified licensing their shared product around the country.
In the latter part of 2023, apparently unknown to L.A. Unified, AllHere was, behind the scenes, struggling to stay afloat and misleading investors, according to prosecutors who filed fraud charges against the company’s founder Joanna Smith-Griffin.
Smith-Griffin has denied wrongdoing. Based on the account of prosecutors, the AllHere deal with L.A. Unified could be viewed as a last-ditch gambit to salvage a desperate financial situation.
As part of its strategy, AllHere allegedly promised a $600,000 commission to Debra Kerr, an education sales consultant and Carvalho friend from Florida. Her role was to help secure the deal with L.A. Unified, according to Kerr’s account during AllHere’s bankruptcy proceedings. Kerr said she did her job, but was never paid.
It was in this context, that AllHere, in corporate financial peril, allegedly paid for Carvalho’s travel to the White House gathering, where Carvalho was featured, sources said.
The FBI investigation exploded into public view in February when agents carried out an early morning raid, with guns drawn, taking Carvalho and his wife into custody during the search. Kerr’s home in Florida was raided by the FBI on the same day.
Kerr has not responded to requests for comment. In March, Carvalho issued a statement denying any wrongdoing and saying he wanted to return to work.
Neither Carvalho nor Kerr have been charged, and authorities have made no official statements about the investigation. The contents of affidavits in support of the warrant and the warrants themselves are under seal.
Carvalho’s representative said this week that the district has long known about AllHere’s contribution to Carvalho’s work-related travel. When AllHere collapsed in mid-2024, the district — with Carvalho’s support — launched an internal review. At that point, if not earlier, Carvalho’s travel costs were reviewed by senior officials and the district’s legal unit, which took no action, Carvalho’s spokesperson said.
It’s not clear to what extent the Board of Education was briefed about the travel costs prior to the raid.
As is standard practice, L.A. Unified has been cooperating with the federal law-enforcement inquiry, managing the interaction with the assistance of the outside law firm Jones Day, sources said. These attorneys also have briefed district officials on any information that is turned over or otherwise uncovered, the sources said.
The cooperation comes as the Trump administration has opened at least three investigations into L.A. Unified — one related to its Black Student Achievement Plan, another over extra resources provided to schools that are at least 70% nonwhite, and the third over the handling of sexual misconduct cases. Carvalho had emerged as a Trump critic and outspoken defender of immigrants. The board also was under pressure from union leaders who said they wanted Carvalho to be replaced.
Carvalho’s financial disclosures
Under California law, senior public officials — including school district superintendents and school board members — are required to make financial disclosures through a document called a Form 700. This Statement of Economic Interests allows the public to track potential conflicts of interest.
Under state law, any single gift — or multiple gifts from the same source that add up to $50 or more during the annual period — must be disclosed.
The total dollar amount that a senior public official can receive from any one source over the annual reporting period ranged from $520 to $630 during Carvalho’s years in office.
Carvalho filed an “assuming office” Form 700 when he started work in February of 2022 and then filed annual updates. He has not yet filed one for the school year that just ended. He also has not yet filed his “leaving office” Form 700.
In Carvalho’s “assuming office” form, which covered the immediate period before he became superintendent, Carvalho “overdisclosed” providing more information than was required, a testament to his good faith in following the rules, his spokesperson said.
Carvalho’s later Form 700s — for the entire period of his superintendency — are nearly blank. The only disclosure is “executive coaching” he provided for Denver schools Supt. Alex Marrero for a fee between $2,000 and $10,000.
Carvalho’s representative said the events and gifts in question were work-related and carried out in public despite the lack of Form 700 disclosure.
Carvalho’s representative acknowledged that entries should have been included on Carvalho’s forms, but an appropriate remedy, for example, would be for Carvalho to amend and correct the forms — and be subject to a fine.
Form 700s are filed under penalty of perjury.
What is known about other citations in the letter
The Dodger stadium event was apparently an annual gathering sponsored by the California Credit Union — and later by an affiliated foundation — to honor deserving new teachers as “Rookies of the Year.” Carvalho participated in honoring the teachers, as did school board President Scott Schmerelson in 2024.
The Dodger Stadium event was essentially an extended work day, given Carvalho’s role in the ceremony, his representative said.
Other district administrators were at the 2024 Denver conference with Carvalho, his representative said. It, too, was a work-related trip.
The two district sources did not disclose what entity allegedly paid for or subsidized the Denver trip.
As far as the use of the district car and driver, Carvalho is willing to reimburse the district for these costs if asked to do so, the spokesperson said.
Exit talks
According to the sources, when Carvalho began to consider stepping down, he initially proposed a settlement for more than $1 million and legal indemnification, under which the district would pay his legal costs.
The district countered with an offer of several months pay in exchange for giving up the right to indemnification, the sources said.
Then the board sent the letter, raising issues that could be cited in a dismissal for cause.
Under Carvalho’s contract, if he was dismissed “for cause,” he would not be entitled to a settlement payout. If he was dismissed without cause, his contract provides for a minimum 12-month payout. Under either scenario, including a resignation, he’d be entitled to receive compensation for unused vacation days.
Carvalho’s new four-year contract took effect 11 days before the FBI raid. Like his initial contract, the new one was to pay him $440,000 a year and also provided a $50,000 annual payment into a retirement annuity.
A district spokesperson said this week that there is no settlement or exit agreement between Carvalho and L.A. Unified.
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