Among the findings is that LAUSD made a good faith offer to UTLA in September 2018. Among other things in the report, the crux of the report is this:
The state appointed, neutral Fact Finder issued a report (Report) which is consistent with Los Angeles Unified’s offer to United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) of September 2018. The main elements of the offer included:
- Six percent salary raise with no contingencies and back pay to 2017
- $30 million of additional funding to reduce class size and hire additional counselors, librarians and nurses
- The formation of a working group for Los Angeles Unified and UTLA to agree on replacement language in the contract which deals with class size
The Report also confirmed Los Angeles Unified has a large and recurring budget deficit and recommends Los Angeles Unified and UTLA work together with the state legislature and the Governor to secure additional funding. Ninety percent of the funding for Los Angeles Unified is provided by the state legislature in Sacramento, the remaining 10 percent by the Federal government. Los Angeles Unified is already working on this effort with its other labor partners and community organizations.
Given this report, it seems that UTLA should pull back on its efforts to strike and should begin working with the district to lobby Sacramento for more funding. I am guessing that it will not do that though and here’s why. It’s not really about raises or more nurses, etc. It’s really about UTLA wanting to do away with charter schools. Let’s see what the response from UTLA is. But, I said it here first.
One more thing, expect UTLA to answer back with some smug and vile personal attack against Superintendent Beutner. I’ll be watching the union’s twitter feed for this.