03/28/2024

Los Angeles Unified digs a deeper hole

The union that represents teachers in the state’s largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, is claiming that its six-day strike produced a victory, and local media are echoing that line.

It may be, however, a pyrrhic victory because it could drive LA Unified, which is already in a deep financial hole, mostly of its own making, even closer to insolvency.

United Teachers of Los Angeles settled for the same 6 percent salary rise over two years that the district had offered before the strike. Its victory claim rests mostly on the district’s agreeing to place more nurses and librarians in junior and senior high schools and reduce class sizes.

However, the district says the concessions will cost an additional $403 million over three years – money the district clearly does not have.

LA Unified Supt. Austin Beutner had previously declared that the district was already on track to spend $24 billion over the next three years while receiving just $22 billion in projected revenue.

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