Thousands of Los Angeles Unified School District educators and support staff organized five rallies across schools, including the district headquarters.
They’re fighting for smaller class sizes, more counselors, and better-maintained campuses.
KNX News’ Nataly Tavidian reports that union leaders said LAUSD is sitting on $5 billion in reserves that should go toward students.
“We need to go ahead and make sure that our families are being supported with what's going on on the streets with ICE,” Maria Vargas, who’s a teacher and part of the bargaining team for United Teachers Los Angeles, said. “We need support for immigrant students and our families and in terms of retaining educators, we need to support educators with competitive salaries to fill vacant positions and retain our educators.”
LAUSD said it’s already spending more than it takes in. The district pointed to an enrollment decline over the last decade, which has strained the district’s finances.
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“Over the last 7 years, class sizes have already been reduced each year with most academic classes decreasing by 7 to 9 students (~25%),” an LAUSD spokesperson said in a statement.
“LAUSD has offered wage increases to UTLA of 2% for 2025-26 and 2% for 2026-2027, as well as an opportunity to negotiate additional increases for the 2027-2028 school year. The proposed amounts are aligned to the State COLA received by the District, and follow a 4-year period of historic wage increases, totaling more than 29% increased compensation between July 1, 2021, and January 1, 2025, for all UTLA bargaining unit members, as well as additional increases for nurses, special education teachers, bilingual and dual-language teachers, and special services providers. During this same time period, the District has lowered class sizes and increased services and support for students and families.”
The district said it’s bargaining in good faith.
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