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Data now available on teacher pay, but not for LA Unified

LA School Report | July 25, 2014



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Teacher pay transperant californiaIt just became easier to find out how much your teacher is paid — unless, that is, the teachers works in LA Unified.

A California non-profit, the California Policy Center, made available this week pay and pension data of individual employees from 653 school districts around the state in a searchable database. That adds to the information it had already compiled for other public employees around the state.

But state’s largest district, LAUSD, has stalled in providing information. According to Robert Fellner, research fellow with the Center, LA Unified is “the only agency in the state of California that we encountered in this process to issue a flat out denial. ”

More recently, the district told the center that the information would be available at a cost, Fellner says, and a lawsuit is possible. “Right now,” he said, “we are considering our legal options.”

The organization filed pubic record requests with the state and local agencies earlier this year, and Fellner said most agencies have been responsive. Another 500 school districts are in various stages of complying.

According to a story in the LA Times, the California Teachers Association supports the release of salary information, but does not support linking salaries to individual teachers.

That data for LAUSD had been released once before in 2008, linking salary to employees names, and made available by the LA Daily News.

LAUSD is getting back to us with a response.

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