The 2025 Los Angeles wildfires reduced more than 15,000 structures to ash^[1] in a matter of days. Among the devastation were 11 public and private schools^[2] and 30 child care facilities. In all, the fires disrupted the education and daily lives of over 700,000 students^[3].

The fires first erupted on Jan. 7, 2025, in the Pacific Palisades, a small enclave of Los Angeles, and in Eaton Canyon, where the tight-knit community of...