Former Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto Carvalho resigned Sunday, amid an ongoing federal and FBI investigation into a controversial multimillion dollar contract awarded to a failed education technology company.
Federal authorities are investigating Carvalho’s interactions with AllHere, a Boston-based tech company that was hired to develop an AI-powered student chatbot known as “Ed.”
Here are key dates in Carvalho’s career:
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1965: Albert Carvalho is born in Portugal, the son of a custodian and his wife, a seamstress; he is one of six children.
1980s: An undocumented immigrant, he arrives in the U.S. Early on, he works at construction sites and in restaurants while attending Broward College and Barry University.
1990: Carvalho graduates from Barry University with a bachelor’s degree in biology.
1990s: The newly minted educator teaches physics, chemistry and science at Miami Jackson High School in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools system. After four years of teaching, he is promoted to the role of assistant principal at the school and, later, becomes a communications officer for the district.
2000: Carvalho is transitioned out of the classroom to take on his first administrative role in the Miami-Dade district.
September 2008: Carvalho becomes the superintendent of the district, the nation’s fourth-largest. He would go on to serve 14 years in the job.
February 2014: The American Association of School Administrators honors Carvalho as National Superintendent of the Year.
2017: Carvalho bans federal immigration agents from Miami-Dade’s self-declared sanctuary schools.
March 1, 2018: Carvalho appears to be close to accepting the job of superintendent of New York City’s school district. But he spurns the offer from Big Apple schools during a Miami board of education meeting on live television.
2019: According to the education website 74, Carvalho’s proudest moment in the Florida district arrives when no schools in the system were declared as “failing” by the Florida Department of Education from 2017-2019.
2020: A nonprofit he founded to support Miami schools drew scrutiny after it solicited a $1.57 million donation from an online education company doing business with the district. The district’s inspector general later determined the donation didn’t violate state or district ethics policies but did create the “appearance of impropriety” and should be returned, according to The Miami Herald. Instead of returning the funds, the foundation distributed the money to Miami-Dade teachers in the form of $100 gift cards.
February 2022: Carvalho officially starts his role as superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
March 2024: Los Angeles Unified School District launches a deal with an educational technology company named AllHere to develop an AI chatbot named “Ed” to assist students. LAUSD secured the $6 million contract. Development of the “Ed” AI chatbot was championed by Carvalho. But about three months after unveiling the technology and paying the company $3 million, the district dropped its dealings with AllHere, which collapsed into bankruptcy. Months later, founder Joanna Smith-Griffin was charged with securities and wire fraud, along with identity theft.
September 17, 2025: Carvalho was riding high and was reappointed by the Board of Education to a second four-year contract. He does not seek a raise, but continues at his $440,000 annual salary.
February 25, 2026: FBI agents raids Carvalho’s office and home. The federal investigation is tied to the district’s contracts, particularly the $3-6 million artificial intelligence chatbot venture developed by the ed-tech startup AllHere. The FBI also searches a third location near Miami. The Miami Herald reported the Florida property belonged to Debra Kerr, who previously worked with AllHere.
February 27, 2026: LAUSD places Carvalho on paid administrative leave. On that same day, the LAUSD Board of Education appoints longtime district administrator Andrés Chait as acting (interim) superintendent.
On March 10, 2026: Carvalho insists he has done nothing wrong and formally requests that the school board reinstates him to his job.
April 14, 2026: With Carvalho still on suspension, LAUSD officials eluded a devastating strike by reaching a tentative two-year agreement with the union representing most of its teachers.
June 22, 2026: Following months on paid leave, while the federal probe continued, Carvalho resigned from his position as LAUSD superintendent.
The Associated Press and City News Service contributed to this report