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Analysis: From the high court to the picket line — how the Janus case emboldened teachers unions & made strikes key to their survival
Los Angeles Unified School District teachers made national headlines this week when they brought operations in the nation’s second-largest district to a screeching halt. The first work stoppage in the district in 30 years capped a nearly two-year-long negotiations process that saw very little movement on the more than 20 issues brought to the bargaining table. The strike...
By Bradley D. Marianno | January 17, 2019
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21 black pastors call on UTLA to return to the table to end LAUSD teacher strike because ‘the fortunes of African-American children do not improve on a picket line’
*Updated Jan. 16 Nearly two dozen African-American pastors urged United Teachers Los Angeles to return to the negotiating table because “the fortunes of African-American children do not improve on a picket line.” The letter, dated Tuesday, was addressed to UTLA’s President Alex Caputo-Pearl and released by L.A. Unified on Wednesday. “While we support the exercise...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero and Laura Fay | January 16, 2019
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Beneath the LAUSD teacher strike, the quiet anxieties of parents facing a multitude of fears
*Updated Jan. 16 On the first day of the Los Angeles teacher strike, the sights and sounds were loud and flashy: Teachers with picket signs at a thousand schools. Car horns honking their support. At least 20,000 people shouting and marching downtown. Reports on every newscast. Under the radar were the parents of 140,000 students...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | January 15, 2019
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Antonucci: UTLA agreed to the ‘dreaded’ class size provision in every contract for at least 18 years
If you have been paying any attention at all to the issues that have led to the Los Angeles teacher strike, you have heard United Teachers Los Angeles demand the elimination of a provision in the contract that allows L.A. Unified to waive class size restrictions. The collective bargaining agreement contains a table with maximum...
By Mike Antonucci | January 15, 2019
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LAUSD teacher strike begins after nearly 2 years of failed contract talks
*Updated Jan. 15 Teachers went on strike Monday in Los Angeles for the first time in 30 years, driving down attendance at many schools as parents wrestled with whether to bring their children past picket lines — if they could afford the choice to keep them home. Thousands of protesters weathered heavy rain to picket...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero, Taylor Swaak and Laura Fay | January 14, 2019
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LAUSD could lose control of its finances if it agrees to a teachers contract that depletes reserves, county warns
*Updated Jan. 14 L.A. Unified could lose control of its finances if it signs off on a heftier contract agreement with its teachers union that drains its reserves past the mandated minimum level, County Superintendent of Schools Debra Duardo told LA School Report. “If [L.A. Unified and UTLA] did come to an agreement that was...
By Taylor Swaak | January 11, 2019
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L.A. teachers are borrowing the #RedForEd hashtag and talking points. Here’s how their strike would be different from last year’s red state walkouts
*Updated Jan. 14 A series of massive teacher walkouts rocked six states in 2018, drawing national attention to teacher pay and working conditions. While not all of the teachers had the same concerns — West Virginia teachers mostly wanted a pay raise, while those in Kentucky wanted to reverse a change to their pensions — the Red...
By Laura Fay | January 11, 2019
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Commentary: We need a resolution — our kids need us to build bridges, not walls, in L.A.
If LAUSD teachers go out on strike, thousands of Los Angeles students will lose days or weeks (or more) of learning time, and local public schools will lose millions of dollars in funding. But that’s not all; a strike will also produce immense anxiety among teachers worried about the fate of students they’re committed to...
By Allison Bajracharya | January 10, 2019
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Experts: Crippling long-term debt isn’t leaving L.A. schools much wiggle room to avert a teacher strike — and may doom the district to takeover
*Updated Jan. 14 The looming teacher strike in Los Angeles, no matter how it’s sliced, comes down to money — but not the salary raises and cost of new hires that have kept the district and its teachers union apart during nearly two years of contract negotiations. The real money problem, experts say, lies with...
By Taylor Swaak | January 9, 2019
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Commentary: Is education a right?
2019 hasn’t even started yet and it’s already become the year of education in Los Angeles. UTLA is poised to strike for the first time in three decades. LAUSD leadership is launching a new initiative to “reimagine” public education while simultaneously attempting to stave off bankruptcy and a state takeover. And a March special election...
By Spencer Burrows and Ben Austin | January 9, 2019