Teacher Union Ends LA Strike With Deal That Could Bankrupt The System

Los Angles teachers will be back in classrooms Wednesday as The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and United Teachers Los Angles (UTLA) union came to a tentative agreement Tuesday.

The deal includes a 6 percent raise for teachers and “meaningful” class size reduction, LAUSD superintendent Austin Beutner said at a press conference Tuesday.

The agreement also includes community-based schools and improved support staff, according to Mayor Eric Garcetti, ABC 7 reported.

“We entered contract negotiations with four objectives and this agreement will achieve all of them: Provide educators with a well-deserved 6% raise, reduce class sizes and provide more support to students and educators including nurses, counselors and librarians……invest everything we can in classrooms while maintaining the fiscal solvency of @LASchools, and strengthen the voice of educators and provide more opportunities for collaboration for all who work in schools,” LAUSD said on Twitter Tuesday.

The district and UTLA have been bargaining since Jan. 17.

The negotiations lasted 21 hours, beginning Monday and ending early morning Tuesday, KTLA reported.

UTLA was still willing to go on strike Tuesday even if a tentative deal was reached on Monday.

“Every school across the city will be receiving investments in a scaffolded way over time that moves those class size caps lower and lower,” UTLA leader Alex Caputo-Pearl said at the conference.

UTLA’s demands could bankrupt the LAUSD system, however, according to KTLA.

The district is running on a $500 million deficit.

LAUSD is also projected to spend more than $300 million in health care benefits for retired teachers in 2019, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

The district was losing upwards of $20 million a day due to low student attendance during the strikes. Attendance determines district funding and less than 200,000 of the more than 600,000 students were in class each day.