HUNDREDS of teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will receive layoff notices this month, under a new budget plan approved by the Board of Education on Tuesday, March 10.
The vote does not necessarily mean the teachers will lose their jobs, but it allows LA Unified the option of “releasing” them if needed. Instructors and other employees with teaching credentials will have to be notified by law of a possible layoff by March 15.
The letters to about 600 employees come during contract negotiations with the teachers union. The district, which has a general fund budget of about $6.2 billion, is still developing a spending plan for the next year, which will depend on revenue from the state.
Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines said that the state has slashed funding for adult education, and LAUSD can no longer afford many of these valuable programs for adults. The adult education division has already suffered substantial cuts from the department in recent years, and could lose up to 261 positions.
Others affected may include 104 elementary school teachers, 63 psychiatric social workers, 59 counselors, 41 math teachers, 29 foreign language teachers, and 18 business teachers. Administrators with teaching credentials, including school principals, mid-level and senior managers, will also receive the notices.
Early last year, school district officials and the teachers union settled a landmark lawsuit over schools that were disproportionately affected by layoffs, agreeing to give more counselors, administrators, and teacher training for nearly 40 schools. However, the rules for laying off teachers when budget cuts or other factors cause staff reduction were not changed.
Seniority rules—based on when a teacher was hired—will still govern who gets laid off.
Board members Bennett Kayser and Richard Vladovic, who are both running for re-election, voted against the layoff letters. Tamar Galatzan joined the majority in approving them.
Teachers union President Alex Caputo-Pearl challenged the need for layoffs, reciting a list of California school systems that have avoided them.
“It is not right or reasonable that they are occurring in LAUSD,” Caputo-Pearl said. “This doesn’t make sense. Let’s turn this district around together—that’s what we’re interested in doing.”
The United Teachers Los Angeles union, which is looking to settle on a new contract, is asking for a one-year increase of 8.5 percent as well as more staffing and class-size reduction, among other things. The union has more than 30,000 members.
Cortines countered that the district must give teachers a raise, but it cannot afford all of the union’s demands.
Officials said that LAUSD’s financial resources were weakened by sharply declining student enrollment, substantially due to the growth of independently operated charter schools. The district has also been unwilling to slash programs, such as adult education, even after state funding was completely cut. Other factors they mentioned include the increased cost of pensions and benefits and state mandates to create new programs.
(With reports from Los Angeles Times)
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(LA Weekend March 14-17, 2015 Sec. A pg.9)
