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LAUSD parents stuck ‘in the middle’ as Los Angeles braces for a likely teacher strike
*Updated Dec. 10 As L.A. Unified and its teachers union ratchet up preparations for what is increasingly looking like the first teacher strike in 30 years, district parents are torn — and frustrated that the two sides can’t negotiate a solution. While parents love and appreciate their teachers, they also don’t want their children’s education...
By Taylor Swaak | December 9, 2018
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Antonucci: Fact-finding panel is finally seated; UTLA prepares for a January strike
Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. The contract dispute between LA Unified and United Teachers Los Angeles entered its final phase as the three-member fact-finding panel was finally seated last week. The panel now has 30 days to submit a non-binding report of its recommendations, after which the district may impose its final...
By Mike Antonucci | November 19, 2018
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LAUSD’s ‘signs of fiscal distress’ trigger two new warnings, including risk of going broke within three years
*Updated Nov. 9 LA Unified’s budget has been approved for now by its county overseers, but they gave the district a new deadline for it to address its structural deficit or face a takeover. In a letter delivered late Thursday, the Los Angeles County Office of Education said the district’s continued use of deficit spending —...
By Laura Greanias | November 9, 2018
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LAUSD sends new offer to its teachers union nearly meeting its salary demands, but class sizes keep the two sides apart
*Updated Oct. 31 LA Unified moved close to agreeing to all its teachers union’s salary demands, but the union called the new offer “insulting” for not matching its plan to lower class sizes. And the sweetened offer did not seem to put a damper on the union’s threats to strike. In a statement, its president...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | October 31, 2018
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New LAUSD guide tells parents how to prepare for a teacher strike and talk to their kids about it
As Los Angeles moved one step closer to a teacher strike, LA Unified this week released a Family Resource Guide to help parents prepare for the possibility of a teacher walkout. The guide, also available in Spanish, addresses questions parents have raised about what will happen at the schools and how to talk with their...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | October 16, 2018
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Los Angeles moves one step closer to a teachers strike
*Updated Oct. 12 with UTLA’s statement Los Angeles moved one step closer to a strike Friday when mediation efforts ended and LA Unified filed an unfair labor practice charge against United Teachers Los Angeles for refusing to participate in good faith. The two sides now move to a process called fact-finding. Each side has five...
By Laura Greanias | October 12, 2018
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Commentary: A teachers strike is bad for our students, families and economy
While a strike looms within our nation’s second-largest school district, the business community of Los Angeles urges the Los Angeles Unified School District and United Teachers Los Angeles to resolve their differences in a way that doesn’t put students at risk. As the organized, grassroots voice of the business community in Greater Los Angeles, BizFed works to...
By Hilary Norton and Tracy Hernandez | October 10, 2018
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LAUSD details 15% job cuts in central and local district offices to satisfy its financial overseers
LA Unified will eliminate $43 million in administrative salaries as part of an emergency cost-cutting plan to stave off its fiscal overseers. The cuts won’t be at school sites this year, but rather at the central and local district offices. The number of jobs that will be lost will be left up to each department,...
By Laura Greanias | October 9, 2018
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LAUSD sweetens its offer on teacher raises, continues to call for a new category in evaluations to identify highly effective educators
*Updated Sept. 27: After today’s first mediation session, LA Unified announced that the next session is set for Oct. 3. LA Unified sweetened its salary offer to the teachers union just before Thursday’s first mediation session, but it did not back down on teacher quality demands — including a call for a new category in...
By Laura Greanias | September 26, 2018
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Antonucci: This week, LAUSD and UTLA raise the curtain on their theater of mediation
Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. Representatives from the Los Angeles Unified School District and United Teachers Los Angeles will meet with mediators on Thursday to see if some settlement can be reached in contract negotiations. That’s the textbook description of what will take place. In this instance, mediation is nothing more than...
By Mike Antonucci | September 25, 2018