Los Angeles public schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho resigned effective June 21, 2026, following an FBI search of his home and the Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters. The investigation appears to center on a $3 million contract the district awarded to an education technology company, AllHere, whose leader was subsequently indicted for fraud.
Carvalho had been placed on paid leave by the district’s Board of Education less than 1 year ago, two days after the FBI served the search warrants. In his resignation letter, Carvalho stated his desire for schools to remain focused on students and learning “without distraction,” citing what he called “historic progress” during his tenure.
The Cost of Privatization
The district’s dealings with AllHere involved a contract to create an AI chatbot named “Ed.” Carvalho heavily promoted this deal in 2024, but the district terminated its relationship with AllHere about three months after unveiling the technology and paying the company $3 million.
AllHere later collapsed into bankruptcy. Months after the district dropped its contract, founder Joanna Smith-Griffin was charged with securities and wire fraud, along with identity theft.
Authorities have not accused Carvalho of any crimes related to the investigation. His legal representatives, Holland & Knight, previously stated that Carvalho “respects the rule of law and the investigative process and has always acted in the best interests of students and within the bounds of the law.”
Managing the Contradictions
Carvalho became superintendent of LA schools four years ago in 2022, on a four-year contract with an annual salary of $440,000. He began a new four-year contract earlier in February of the same year, just weeks before the FBI raid, maintaining the same salary.
The district, which serves more than 500,000 students, stated it was cooperating with investigators following the search of school headquarters. The Board of Education, upon receiving Carvalho’s resignation, affirmed its “steadfast commitment to ensuring stability, continuity, and continued progress through strong leadership.”
Andrés Chait, who has been acting superintendent, will continue in that position until a permanent decision is made by the Board. This ensures the uninterrupted management of the public education system, despite the ongoing federal investigation into its former head.
A Pattern of Appearance
Before his tenure in Los Angeles, Carvalho spent nearly 14 years leading Miami-Dade County Public Schools. During this time, he garnered national praise for improving graduation rates and academic achievement among Black and Hispanic students.
Six years ago, in 2020, a nonprofit Carvalho founded to support Miami schools drew scrutiny. It had solicited a $1.57 million donation from an online education company that was actively doing business with the district.
The Miami-Dade district’s inspector general later determined that while the donation did not violate state or district ethics policies, it did create the “appearance of impropriety” and recommended the funds be returned. Instead of returning the funds, the foundation distributed the money to Miami-Dade teachers in the form of $100 gift cards, a fraction of the original sum.
In February of the same year as the LAUSD search, the FBI also searched a third location near Miami. The Miami Herald reported this Florida property belonged to Debra Kerr, who had previously worked with AllHere, the education technology company at the center of the Los Angeles investigation.