Although school officials referred to the recently adopted belt-tightening budget as a “tough compromise,” the district’s teachers union and some education activists weren’t pleased with the outcome.
In June, the second-largest school district in the country approved a $18.8 billion budget, avoiding teacher layoffs by using teacher retirement funds. Following the expiration of federal COVID relief funds and reduced state funding linked to declining enrollment, school officials argued it was essential.
The budget was unanimously approved by the LAUSD school board. However, United Teachers Los Angeles, a powerful organization that represents 35,000 educators and teachers in LAUSD, wasn’t pleased.
Because the new financial plan does not account for the future wage increases that UTLA is advocating, the union opposed it.
At a June board meeting, UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz stated that stability requires hiring personnel who are dependable, familiar, and experienced. A budget that increases pay is what we need. We must hire and retain teachers.
After years of battling for salary increases, UTLA won a contract in 2023 that increased teachers’ salaries by an average of 21%. However, another round of difficult negotiations will be necessary when that contract ends in 2025.
Although he sympathized with the teachers’ union, Carvalho claimed that LAUSD has never gotten the state and federal funding it requires. According to Carvalho, those are the offenders.
Carvalho declared that he would not permit layoffs or furloughs this year. However, he stated that when he and the board revisit the budget in December, they will reevaluate staffing reductions.
Nobody is going to lose their job. However, Carvalho stated, “We do have a problem for FY27, and we will be revisiting this issue.”
The groups were against the district’s proposed budget because it included money for school police, according to Joseph Williams, Executive Director of the non-profit Students Deserve and a partner of the Police Free in LAUSD Coalition.
Before every single police position is destroyed, we firmly believe that no educational positions should be touched, Williams stated.
The new budget included some of the proposals made by the teachers’ union and Williams groups.
For instance, Myart-Cruz of UTLA requested Carvalho to reduce money for off-campus consultants and district operations in order to maintain teacher funding.
Carvalho took action to fulfill that desire, cutting $200 million from budget for central operations.
The district then used that money to fund initiatives backed by community organizations like Williams and the union.
The Black Student Achievement Plan, student centers, early education, LGBTQ+ support groups, and arts in schools are just a few of the initiatives that Myart-Cruz and others had requested the district to fund.
