January 14, 2019 at 9:22 am
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — When school starts in Los Angeles Monday, teachers won’t be in the classroom – they’ll be outside, picketing with parents and students in the first teacher strike in 30 years.
In the first walkout since 1989, the 30,000 teachers represented by United Teachers of Los Angeles will go on strike after 21 months of failed negotiations. The strike will impact 480,000 students served by the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest school district in the nation.
Classes at all LAUSD schools began at 8 a.m. as usual, but picketing started at 7:30 a.m. State preschool sites, however, will be closed and early education centers will be open only for students with special needs.
At a 7:30 a.m. news conference, UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl addressed fellow union members, parents and students at John Marshall High School.
“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 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,” Caputo-Pearl said.
“So we’re going to have a normal day at school,” Superintendent Austin Beutner told CBS 2. Children will “be fed, they’ll be greeted by the same principal that greets them every morning at the door, and they will be learning.”
The district has hired 400 substitute teachers and is sending 2,000 credentialed administrators back into the classroom during the strike.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued the following statement Monday morning regarding the strike:
This impasse is disrupting the lives of too many kids and their families. I strongly urge all parties to go back to the negotiating table and find an immediate path forward that puts kids back into classrooms and provides parents certainty. Last week, I submitted a budget to the Legislature that would make the largest ever investment in K through 12 education and help pay down billions in school district pension debt. These historic investments will provide new resources for school districts like LAUSD, and it’s my hope this funding can help bring each side closer to a deal.
Beutner, a former investment banker and Los Angeles Times publisher who was named superintendent of LAUSD in May, says the district is unable to meet UTLA’s demands because there are limits on what the district can afford to do.
“Well, we’ve tried. We’ve said repeatedly we want to do everything we can to keep school open,” he said. “We want many of the same things, we want to reduce class sizes, we want to make sure we have more counselors, nurses, and librarians in schools.”
UTLA’s demands include a 6.5 percent raise that would take effect all at once and a year sooner, “fully staffed” schools with more nurses, librarians and counselors added to the payrolls, along with pledges to reduce class sizes. On Friday, the district revised its offer after Gov. Gavin Newsom released his proposed state budget. The new offer is roughly $24 million more than the district’s previous offer, adding 1,200 new teachers from the upcoming school year, an increase from the previous offer of 1,000.
“I hope UTLA comes back to the table because we have to bargain, we have to finish the contract negotiations, that’s how it gets resolved,” Beutner said.
Even as former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says he believes the strike is “wrong,” Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Janice Hahn says she will picket today with striking UTLA members at Dodson Middle School in Rancho Palos Verdes, while LA City Councilman Joe Buscaino says he will also walk the picket line at Dana Middle School, where his daughter attends and his sister teaches. A UTLA news conference is scheduled at John Marshall High School, 3939 Tracy St., for when picketing starts, and the union also plans a rally and march at 10:30 a.m. starting at Grand Park on Spring Street in front of City Hall, heading downtown to LAUSD headquarters, 333 South Beaudry Ave.
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