The Irvine Unified Council PTA plans to host a forum for candidates of the IUSD Board of Education beginning at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 9.

An IUSD school board member has been named the 2012 Business Person of the Year by a prominent business group.

Vehicle shade structures outfitted with energy-producing solar panels will be added to the parking lots of nine campuses, saving the district an additional $305,000 a year, following a vote this month by the IUSD Board of Education.

At its final meeting before the start of a new fiscal year, the IUSD Board of Education this week voted unanimously to adopt a spending plan for 2012-13.

At the direction of its Board of Education, the Irvine Unified School District has mailed out thousands of fliers encouraging local residents to weigh in on a proposal to add vehicle shade structures outfitted with energy-generating solar panels to a dozen Irvine campuses.

Capping a year’s worth of meticulous planning with input from hundreds of local stakeholders, IUSD has completed a long-term “facilities roadmap” that will help guide construction and modernization decisions over the next 10 to 20 years.

The IUSD Board of Education on Tuesday approved an expanded communications plan to solicit feedback on a proposal to harness solar power at up to 12 additional Irvine campuses.

BY SUPERINTENDENT TERRY L. WALKER Every May, for better or for worse, the budget picture becomes a little clearer for school districts, as the state begins to solidify its spending plan for the next fiscal year. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case this time around.

Calling for a greater effort to notify neighboring communities, the IUSD Board of Education continued a proposal to add canopies topped with solar panels to the parking lots of 11 Irvine schools.

It's been more than a year since IUSD held an activation ceremony to mark the installation of solar panels at 13 schools and a pair of support facilities, and the data that's been gathered over the last 12 months is