There seems to be some new money on the table and the UTLA to keep public support must address the issue and not automatically reject. With the entire teacher nation supporting wearing red yesterday, the change to Monday cost some momentum. Here is today's report from LA.
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/UTLA-LAUSD-to-Hold-More-Negotiations-Today-504222571.html?fbclid=IwAR0Ym4ZqKPmQ0yen8klBsTnRlrbnQ8G4md_ryurjqmX_tNK-d_WLDVPqD6g
Los Angeles Teachers Reject Latest LAUSD Offer
By City News Service
Published Jan 11, 2019 at 10:57 AM | Updated 20 minutes ago
The
union representing Los Angeles teachers rejected the LA Unified School
District's latest offer as a looming strike is expected on Monday.
School
district officials are hoping to stave off its first teachers strike in
30 years as they presented a new contract proposal Friday to the
teachers union that included additional funding to reduce class sizes
and provide more support for teachers.
LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner said the revised offer was crafted after Gov. Gavin Newsom released a proposed 2019-2020 budget increasing public education spending.
If
no 11th-hour agreement is reached, United Teachers Los Angeles plans to
go on strike beginning Monday. Reducing class sizes has been one of its
demands, although disagreements about a pay raise, charter schools, the
staffing level of nurses, counselors and librarians, and other issues
have also been areas of conflict in more than two years of contract
negotiations.
The
budget Newsom released Thursday would spend a record $80.7 billion on
kindergarten through 12th grade schools and community colleges, up from
the roughly $78 billion included in the previous spending plan.
"Yesterday,
we spoke with state leaders in Sacramento about our shared commitment
to public education, and the budget announced today by the governor is a
strong statement of those values,'' Beutner said Thursday. "All of the
legislative leaders we met with yesterday expressed their commitment to
public education.
"We expect the
final budget adopted in June will reflect these values and provide
additional funding for Los Angeles Unified. Our commitment to our
students, families and educators is to invest this additional money in
reducing class size and supporting classroom educators. We hope UTLA
will work with us to resolve the remaining contract issues so we can
keep kids safe and learning in school."
Newsom's beefed-up education budget comes amid a flurry of activity this week surrounding UTLA's planned strike.
"We
go in with an open mind every day," UTLA Alex Caputo-Pearl said when
asked if he was hopeful about the pending offer. He added that Beutner's
behavior "does not inspire great confidence, but we will go in with an
open mind with hopes that we will see a proposal."
"If
both sides wish to see that, we'll do it, but what I did today I hope
makes an impact," Newsom said. "We just submitted a record budget for
our K-through-12 education system; $80.7 billion, hopefully, will take a
little bit of pressure off the district ... and maybe that will just
help enhance a little bit of their negotiation."
A
judge Thursday gave UTLA -- which represents more than 31,00 teachers,
counselor, nurses and librarians -- the green light to proceed with a
planned strike Monday, rejecting a bid by the district to obtain a
temporary restraining order. UTLA had originally planned to start the
strike Thursday, but announced Wednesday that it was pushing the date
back due to legal action by the district.
Teacher Strike Hotline Opens for Concerned Parents
A round of talks between UTLA and the LAUSD is scheduled at 1 p.m. at LAUSD headquarters.
Caputo-Pearl has said the strike would occur Monday unless the union sees a "serious" proposal by then.
Los
Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino and County Supervisor Janice Hahn
both said Thursday they would join teachers on the picket line if they
do strike.
"I urge both LAUSD and
UTLA to negotiate around the clock to reach an agreement to avoid a
strike," Hahn tweeted Thursday. "However, I want to make perfectly clear
that come Monday I stand with teachers and will gladly join them on the
picket line."
Union and
district leaders met face-to-face at district headquarters for about
five hours Wednesday but emerged still far apart on key issues.
The
district and the teachers remain at odds over the size of a proposed
raise, along with how much money should be spent to add support staff,
reduce class sizes and other issues.
Fact Check: LAUSD Vs. UTLA Ahead of Possible Strike
The
LAUSD has offered teachers a 6 percent raise spread over the first two
years of a three-year contract, while UTLA wants a 6.5 percent raise
that would take effect all at once and a year sooner.
UTLA
also says it wants "fully staffed" schools with more nurses, librarians
and counselors added to the payrolls, along with pledges to reduce
class sizes.
On Monday, the LAUSD
raised its previous offer by $75 million to add more than 1,000 staff
members to schools and help decrease class sizes, up from an initial
offer of $30 million. Caputo-Pearl argued the offer would not make a
significant impact because it would only add roughly one person at each
campus, and it might actually end up raising class sizes. He also said
the proposed spending increase would only last one year.
"Our
kids don't need fulltime nurses for just one year. They need it for
their school career, and they need it for their life," Caputo-Pearl
said.
Caputo-Pearl also said the
district's proposed salary increase for teachers would be contingent on
cutting health care benefits for future union members.
Another
disagreement between the two sides is over a reported $1.8 billion
district reserve. UTLA argues that the reserve could be tapped to pay
for its demands, while Beutner has said the reserve has already been
fully earmarked, including for the potential raises for teachers. He has
argued the UTLA demands would push the district into insolvency.
"We cannot accept those demands. They know that," Beutner said. "Our regulators will not allow us to accept those demands."
Caputo-Pearl
said a commitment of at least 15 percent of the disputed $1.8 billion
reserve dedicated to class size reduction could satisfy the union.
On
Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Office of Education appointed a team
of fiscal experts to work with the district to develop a fiscal
stabilization plan. The office has the power to take over financial
decisions from the LAUSD school board, and threatened late last year
that it may do so if the district's finances don't improve.
Beutner
said the county's move means it is "deeply concerned about our rate of
spending versus the amount of resources that we have." Union officials
said they do not trust the county's assessment of the district's
finances.
As the second largest
school district in the nation, the LAUSD covers an area totaling 710
square miles and serves more than 694,000 students at 1,322 schools,
although 216 schools are independent charter schools, most of which are
staffed with non-union teachers that would not be affected by the
strike. The district says about 500,000 students and 1,100 schools will
be impacted by the strike.
About
80 percent of the district's students come from low-income households
and qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch, and around 25 percent are
learning English. The district says it intends to keep all of its
schools open in the event of a strike while it also continues to serve
around 1 million meals each day.
The
district also says it intends to attempt to keep some instruction going
for students during strike. Four hundred substitutes have been hired
for the task and 2,000 administrators with teaching credentials have
been reassigned. However, with more than 25,000 teachers expected to
strike and a total of more than 31,000 UTLA members set to walk out, the
district is expected in many cases to do no more than supervise
students during the day in auditoriums and other large spaces.
The
district has established an information hotline for parents at
213-443-1300 to answer questions about the planned strike and its
possible impact.
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