Amid persistent budget woes and increasing political pressure, Los Angeles schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines confirmed on July 22, his 78th birthday, that he plans to step down next spring as head of the nation’s second-largest school system, the Los Angeles Times reports. The news was not unexpected: Cortines had said he expected to serve two to three years when he took the job in December 2008, but this week he became somewhat more specific. Cortines, whose high energy and endurance frequently outlasts that of his staff, had talked recently of being tired and said the political intrigues and public battles sometimes get to him: “Yes, I get frustrated. I am human.”