Second Largest School District Faces Teachers Strike
- LAUSD School Board
Having gladly accepted the title of “a gadfly at the school board meetings”, I have a natural tendency to be suspicious of the LAUSD’s marketing materials. This is particularly true when the document is titled with the very 1984 sounding “Just the Facts.” However, recognizing that the union’s first priority is to represent the best interests of the teachers, I realize that their contract demands are not going to automatically line up with the needs of families. With this in mind, I dove into the gap that divides the two sides. I have broken the issues down by what the District states the UTLA claims are:
L.A. Unified won’t schedule a mediation date and is stalling.
The District makes this statement without providing any reference to where they found the information so it is impossible to determine what the union actually said. However, the timeline of events does not seem to support the District’s terminology.
In July, UTLA did formally declare that “contract talks between LAUSD officials and the teachers union had reached an ‘impasse.’” According to the union, the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) “confirmed that talks with the district are at a deadlock [and] appointed a state mediator.” While initially “district officials disputed the claim that negotiations had reached impasse”, their fact sheet states that they have now accepted PERB’s findings and a mediation date has been set for September 27.
L.A. Unified is only offering teachers a 2% raise.
The LAUSD states in its fact sheet that they have already reached agreements with the three other major unions that “included raises totaling about 6%.” It also states that “The Superintendent told UTLA in a letter dated August 15, that ‘L.A. Unified aims to reach a similar…
