Los Angeles is the second-biggest school district in the country, serving nearly 500,000 students across 900 public schools. And on Monday, 30,000 teachers, librarians, school nurses, and counselors walked out in the first teachers' strike that the city has seen in 30 years. The Los Angeles Times reports that an "estimated 400 substitutes and 2,000 staffers from central and regional offices fill in for 31,000 teachers, nurses, librarians and counselors. At 10 schools, nonteaching employees will take part in a sympathy strike, which will create additional headaches as administrators struggle to manage such tasks as preparing and serving meals." This comes six years after a massive teachers' strike in Chicago, and not even a year after large-scale strikes in states across the country. But unlike with the strikes in Kentucky and West Virginia, the two sides in L.A. aren't actually that split on salary—in fact, the district would prefer if the negotiations were entirely salary-based. And the union, United Teachers Los Angeles, has already won an extra $130 million from the district to reduce class sizes. But the sticking point for the union is a commitment to more hiring—like librarians, counselors, and a full-time nurse on every campus—and that the new positions be funded for more than a year. The strike in L.A. is also different from last year's strikes because those all happened in Republican-dominated states, not in reliably blue California and Los Angeles. But Democrats are often just as aggressively pro-privatization of public schools as Republicans are, underfunding education, then using the ensuing crises as a justification for even deeper cuts. In an interview, Arlene Inouye, the secretary for UTLA, described the strike as a "struggle to save public education," saying that originally the union was also pushing for “common good” demands, "such as the establishment of a teacher training program; more green space in schools; an end to the discriminatory security wanding of students, which made students of color feel criminalized; housing possibilities in LAUSD; free bus passes for LA students; and the establishment of an immigrant defense fund to pay for undocumented parents’ legal costs." Ultimately, the union dropped the "common good" demands, since the district said they were outside the legal scope of contract negotiations, but they're holding firm to their demands for more staff support and smaller class sizes. While the pressures on teachers have only multiplied in recent years—including the expectation that teachers start firearm training—nearly 30 states spend less on education than they did in 2008. That includes California, home to Silicon Valley and the bulk of the film industry, and the fifth largest economy in the world if it were its own country. According to NPR, 81 percent of the city's public-school students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. There are few other places in the world with such glaring inequality and so much wealth that could do so much good.<doc-sep>(CNN) — A massive teachers’ strike calling for millions of dollars more in school funding may have also cost the school district millions of dollars, the superintendent said. But the Los Angeles teachers’ union isn’t backing down. In fact, it wants to “show such a massive presence that (it) disrupts business as usual in downtown LA.” An estimated 32,000 Los Angeles teachers and staff members hit the picket lines this week, demanding lower class sizes, higher salaries and more counselors and nurses in over 1,000 schools. This was the view of City Hall just before tens of thousands of striking teachers, students, & their supporters marched through downtown. We are demanding smaller class sizes for our students as well as a full-time nurse and counselor in our buildings 5 days a week.#utlastrong pic.twitter.com/itewxUdxmX — United Teachers Los Angeles (@UTLAnow) January 14, 2019 “We have 46, 45, 50 students in a class. It’s unacceptable,” said Andrea Cohen, a teacher at John Marshall High School. Even though the Los Angeles Unified School District said all students should keep going to school – and possibly be taught by substitute teachers or reassigned administrators – many did not on the first two days. Only about 1/3 of the usual number of students who go to school on a rainy day actually showed up Monday, Superintendent Austin Beutner said. And because the state funds schools based on daily attendance, day one of the strike was extremely expensive. “The district on a day like yesterday would lose approximately $25 million in funding,” Beutner said. Of that, the lost wages of UTLA members not at work Monday was approximately $10 million. Attendance was up Tuesday by about 14,000, or 8% of those absent the prior day, he said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon. None of that matters to members of the United Teachers Los Angeles union, who are also taking a personal financial hit as they strike. “I’m not rich. This is a sacrifice for me,” said second-grade teacher Wendy Ron. “I am not getting paid while I’m out here.” Beutner said he was willing to participate in negotiations. “If it’s necessary, I’ll be anywhere or anytime with UTLA leadership to resolve this. We want this resolved now,” he told reporters. ’We just don’t believe those numbers’ The months-long impasse between the UTLA union and LAUSD comes down to two issues: how much money to spend on more school staffing and teachers’ raises, and whether the school district actually has that kind of money. Beutner noted that an independent fact-finder agreed that the district doesn’t have the money to cover UTLA’s demands. “The experts have all said we do not have the ability to spend more than we’re spending,” he said. LAUSD has offered $130 million toward what the union wants, but UTLA rejected that proposal. Today @LASchools presented UTLA with a new offer to significantly reduce class size and ensure no increase in any class size, increase nurses, counselors and librarians at all schools, along with a 6% salary increase and back pay for the 2017-2018 school year. pic.twitter.com/jchW2fCHsm — Los Angeles Unified (@LASchools) January 12, 2019 The teachers’ union has a whole different take on the numbers. UTLA says the school district should tap into $1.8 billion in reserves to fund more desperately needed staff members, as well as increasing teachers’ pay. The superintendent says that the $1.8 billion is already earmarked for education spending during this three-year budget cycle. At this rate, LAUSD said, it might not even have enough money to meet a required 1% reserve by the 2021-2022 school year. But UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl said the school district has “always been wrong in their projections, so we just don’t believe those numbers.” “The district’s three-year projections have always been wrong,” Caputo-Pearl said Tuesday. “Three years ago, they predicted a $105 million reserve; they ended with a $1.86 billion reserve. They were off by $1.7 billion.” But is the union fighting the right battle? Beutner said the state actually provides 90% of the district’s funding, not LAUSD. The union president acknowledged that much of the requested money would have to come from Sacramento, and said it’s taking steps to try to get it. “We have been a big part of the fight for more state funding,” Caputo-Pearl said. “We’re in conversations with the governor’s office – that is a part of the puzzle. But that $2 billion reserve belongs with our students in classrooms. And that’s an LAUSD issue.” Student calls school a waste of time now While the adults keep struggling to find a resolution, students are still going to school minus their regular teachers. With 32,000 educators on strike, LAUSD has hired about 400 substitute teachers and reassigned more than 2,000 administrators to help educate the 600,000 students. Several parents at the school district’s news conference said their children were watching movies in classrooms all day. In some cases, students were told to go to the auditorium instead of a regular classroom. CNN affiliate KCBS-TV said students at a South Los Angeles elementary school Monday were outside playing board games. One student told KCBS that going to school Monday was a waste of time. Another said Tuesday that the impasse was a waste of time, and she needed a quick resolution so she could continue to prepare for the SAT. Many people wonder why LAUSD doesn’t just close schools, with so many teachers missing. The superintendent said that for many low-income families, school may be the only safe place where children can go during the daytime and get a hot meal. “I was asked yesterday by someone why I didn’t just join teachers on the picket line, close our schools, and go to Sacramento (to) fight for more funding. Ninety percent of our funding comes from Sacramento, after all. … It’s a fair question,” Beutner said Tuesday. “Then I thought for a moment about Virgil Middle School and Telfair Elementary School.” At the middle school, “100% of the students in Virgil come from families living in poverty,” Beutner said. And about 60% of those students went to school on the first day of the strike – much higher than the average for the rest of the district Monday. At Telfair, about 40% of students came. And about 20% of that school’s children are homeless, Beutner said. “They came for shelter from the rain. They came for a warm meal and a secure, welcoming environment,” he said. “And yes, they came to learn.” Holly Yan reported and wrote from Atlanta, and Stephanie Elam and Rosalina Nieves reported from Los Angeles. CNN’s Alexandra Meeks, Stella Chan and Amir Vera contributed to this report.<doc-sep>A teachers strike in the nation’s second-largest school district was set to begin Monday in Los Angeles after union and district officials sat out last-minute bargaining sessions. The decision, described by union officials Sunday as a “last resort,” came after nearly two years of failed efforts to negotiate a new contract for educators in the Los Angeles Unified School District, as well as a flurry of offers made by the district last week that the union described as inadequate. “We have not received a proposal over the weekend,” United Teachers of Los Angeles secretary Arlene Inouye said in a Sunday news conference. “We will be striking tomorrow.” United Teachers Los Angeles leaders, joined by thousands of teachers, march past the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles last month. Damian Dovarganes / AP file Union officials declared an “impasse” in negotiations on Friday, saying an offer from the district to raise salaries, cap class sizes and hire 1,200 additional staff was good for only one year. Nor had the district followed up on a promise, they said, to examine what union president Alex Caputo-Pearl called an “existential threat” — the impact of non-union charter schools on the city’s public schools. Shannon Haber, a school district spokeswoman, could not say Sunday whether the district offered to resume talks over the weekend. But she did say that district superintendent Austin Beutner has said he would meet with union negotiators “anytime, anywhere.” In a statement Sunday, the district said instruction would continue at elementary, middle and high schools throughout the strike, though preschools would be closed and early education centers would be open only for special needs students. “Los Angeles Unified did not want a strike,” the statement said, citing its offer of 1,200 additional staff members. “Los Angeles Unified remains committed to contract negotiations and will continue to work around the clock to find solutions to end the strike which will hurt students, families and communities most in need throughout Los Angeles." Teachers have described Monday’s strike as a last stand against decades of defunding public schools, a point emphasized by union officials Sunday. “We’re in a battle for the soul of public education,” said Pearl-Caputo, whose union represents more than 30,000 teachers. The strike, which will mark the first teachers walkout in Los Angeles in three decades, is scheduled to begin Monday at 7:30 a.m. with a march from Los Angeles City Hall to the school district’s headquarters, one mile away.<doc-sep>
Los Angeles (AFP) - More than 30,000 public school teachers in Los Angeles walked off the job on Monday to press their demands for better pay, smaller class sizes and more educators. The strike -- the first in 30 years -- is affecting some 500,000 students in the nation's second largest school district, with intense negotiations in past weeks failing to lead to a breakthrough. The action is being watched closely by teaching unions across the country that are engaged in labor negotiations and also considering strikes. "Here we are on a rainy day in the richest country in the world, in the richest state in the country, in a state that's blue (Democrat) as it can be -- and in a city rife with millionaires -- where teachers have to go on strike to get the basics for our students," Alex Caputo-Pearl, the head of the United Teachers Los Angeles union, told a news conference. "Here we are in a fight for the soul of public education," Caputo-Pearl added. "The question is: do we starve our public neighborhood schools so that they (become) privatized, or do we re-invest in our public neighborhood schools for our students and for a thriving city?" Although the teachers' union and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) agree that class sizes -- some at more than 40 -- must shrink, teacher salaries must improve and more support staff are needed, they differ on funding. School district officials insist they have taken great pains to avert a strike and negotiate with the union and say the district simply doesn't have enough money to meet all of the demands. A revised offer submitted on Friday and calling for roughly $24 million more in funding and 1,200 more teachers for the upcoming school year was rejected. - 'We'd like to resolve this' - LAUSD superintendent Austin Beutner on Monday said his office had reached out to the governor's office and the mayor's office to see if they could help broker a deal. Story continues He said the teachers' demands would cost about $3 billion and push district into insolvency. "We remain committed to resolve the contract negotiations as soon as possible," Beutner told reporters. "We urge (the union) to resume bargaining with us anytime, anywhere, 24-7. We'd like to resolve this." Despite the walkout, the 1,240 schools in the sprawling district remain open, he said, with classes taught by administrators and substitute teachers. Last spring, a strike by teachers in the state of West Virginia over low wages and rising health care costs set off a wave of similar action in several other states and garnered strong public support. The walkout in Los Angeles could have a similar effect. In Denver, Colorado, for example, the teachers union has threatened a strike unless an agreement can be reached by the end of this week on salary conditions. Teachers' unions across the country offered support for those striking in Los Angeles, with many educators and parents wearing red T-shirts in solidarity. Red became the signature color of striking teachers last year after an early demonstration called on them to wear "Red4Ed." Monday's strike action also drew support from Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren. "I support @UTLAnow & LAUSD teachers who are for fighting for better pay, smaller classes, & better resourced schools for our kids," she tweeted. "When we fail our public school teachers, we fail their students – and we fail our future. I'm with our teachers all the way.