Los Angeles Braces for Major Teachers’ Strike

This is truly sad. I feel for the teachers who are working in over crowded classrooms. The state was not budgeted for so many children. That is one reason we need the wall and immigration reform. The teachers are taking the grunt of the results of illegal alien children coming to this country. They do not contribute to the funds of running our state, including educating our children. I have seen the classrooms growing in size and ethnicity over the decades, and it is apparent that they do not speak English at home. This makes it even more challenging for the already short staffed teachers. We need to put an end to this and control this strain which many professions are feeling from teachers to prison guards to health professionals.

I just visited one of the LA charter schools today, and it actually is predominantly white and middle to upper middle class. So the Times statement might be valid on this point (not just re: private schools). The public schools in the exact same neighborhood are "PBAO" (predominantly minorities, although 2 of the schools are predominantly Asian/mixed and have very good repurations and scores).

Do I have point out the obvious? The reason they are underfunded is because of illegal immigrants, their children can go to tax payer funded schools. Instead of deporting them, or stopping further illegal children from entering schools which would cause class sizes to drop, and need for more nurses or teachers to disappear, they want to raise my property taxes. "NO!"

It really is bad when teachers have to travel and support multiple schools. I lived with some of that in the Chicago Public School system when I was a student in the 1960s and 1970s. Chicago traffic was bad then and I can only imagine how bad Los Angeles traffic is today. The idea of increasing staffing to eliminate that problem is a very legitimate request by the union.

Part 2: 1. Physical Resources: Schools are being held together as best as possible but we need a massive influx of monies to renovate and repair our schools. Many are a disgrace. 2. Curriculum: Project Based Learning/STEM/STEAM or variations thereof need to be the drivers of our teaching and learning. This way those who are not interested in more math, more reading, without any real purpose (as far as they can see) can begin to craft their own vision and create their best life after high school. Education needs to be hands on and driven by student interests not by Testing and Publishers. 3. Money: Look, we have the money but we lack the leadership and will to say less money for "defense" and more for education. Those who think teachers have it easy have obviously never taught. Pay needs to be much higher so we can continue to attract and keep the best. Starting pay of 50k and incremental increases which tops out at 100k+ after 10 years. Many I know leave the classroom for administration due to salary. There's many young, bright, and vibrant youth who want to teach but won't because the salaries are so low. When nurses, computer techs, and airplane mechanics make more than teachers we have a problem. We also have the solution staring us right in the mirror. Let's elect the next president and Congress that will put our future first. It is our youth and their education. Within this paradigm is the solution to all our problems and a better way forward. Thanks for reading!

Almost every commenter here brings their own petty axe to grind and totally misses the point: College educated LAUSD professionals entrusted with the most sacred obligation toIl for 50K a year in classrooms with over forty students present. Read that sentence again and then ask yourself what sort of vindictive and small-minded citizen does not stand with these educators? Probably someone who was “educated” in one of these overcrowded classrooms and lacks basic critical reasoning skills. I stand with our educators and will happily join their picket line once Buetners’ failed attempts to litigate in lieu of good faith negotiations fail.

People [my Parents] who bought their CA homes in 1956 and still live there- would have no way of paying property taxes at the homes current market value. So PLEASE be careful when talking about eliminating Prop 13.. It would ultimately uproot and destroy what's left of CA's retirees and middle class.

In the late 90's, Every Wednesday, I went not to my office but to Venice High, a deeply troubled inner school in LA. I worked with 'At Risk" teens, teaching them about the real world, it's demands and how to use their excellent problem solving skills to to solve the right problems. I saw even then, what underfunding was doing to these inherently bright children. By 'gaduating' with no skills we condemn them to a life without promise or possibilities. Then we complain when they fail. Teachers need to be the best, the school needs to tell them we expect great things and to provide them the tools to do so. Children will meet our expectations; it's in their DNA. If our message is. "We don't believe in you, that's exactly what we we'll will continue to get.

Get ready for an even greater exodus of residents if teachers pay is increased. They want a smaller class size but I wonder how many of those attending classes are the children of illegal immigrants? Where will this money come from? Higher taxes from the residents who are already paying some of the highest taxes in the country? The state has just gotten smaller.

It is hard to understate the impact of Proposition 13 in all of this, and the need for serious reform of the state (and national) tax systems. Corporations with indefinite life spans are paying taxes based on values assessed decades ago, and the assessed value doesn't change unless the property changes hands. This is crippling California public schools and exacerbating the racial and class inequalities. By going on strike and demanding better funding for our schools and smaller class sizes, LA teachers are fighting for all of us. They are taking a stand in favor of a public good that should benefit everyone, not just the wealthy who can afford to live in the best school districts.

Today is my first actual day of retirement after 33 years of classroom teaching--K-8, including 8 years in Los Angeles. I walked the line in '89 with my colleagues in LAUSD. We continue to have the same issues now as we did then not only in LA but in all our schools--I've also taught in Minnesota and Hawaii. First of all let me say that in every school I've ever taught, and I've been on staff at 6, the vast majority of teachers, 90%+, are in it because they love teaching kids and want to help prepare them for life. Secondly, the vast majority of students, 90%+ are in school to learn and are engaged and work hard to do their best. So what's the problem? ( Because I'm running out of characters, I'll post part 2 shortly)

Absolutely nobody wants to go on strike, it's awful and disruptive and draining on those who feel compelled to do so. So my solidarity is entirely with the teachers. I do not counter this was a "however..." and ultimately show my hand where i'd sooner they all die in poverty than pay slightly higher taxes. I find unions have a much harder time facing down liberal branded centrists then right wing ghouls in red states. At least in those states the GOP openly stated their contempt and were forthright and honest about their overwhelming antipathy to both the teachers and the students they faced. I worry that most Democratic Party organizations will mostly ignore this struggle because it's in a nominally liberal state, just like they did with the Chicago Teachers Strike. Expect a ton of hand wringing from various 'liberal' pundits who will say they support the teachers but will immediately turn around and declare the exact opposite. Watch this carefully and remember who your friends are. We're about to find out where they really stand.

Prop 13 is typical of conservative strategy: lie to ordinary people, tell them they can have something for nothing, get them to shoot themselves with the goal of saving tax money for rich people who don't need government services. Best way to do that is to demonize someone. But property tax is a destructive way to fund schools anyway; the whole system is designed to create rich area schools and poor area schools. The legislature can raise income taxes NOW and distribute them where they are needed.

Decades ago, California laid claim to the nation’s finest public school system. With the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, though, our schools were strangled by defunding. Currently, California ranks 41st in spending per K-12 students, according to Politifact. Yet, California spends more than any other state on incarcerating inmates. As a second career, I taught as a long-term high school substitute teacher at public high schools north of San Francisco. Even in supposedly affluent districts, I encountered crowded classrooms, checked-out administrators and, depending upon the school, lots of student behavioral issues, particularly within the lowest funded schools. I discovered that some of these school districts operated as independent fiefdoms, with little oversight and an utter disregard for basic labor laws, particularly among the lowest paid teaching staff (classroom aides). I also became aware that Administrators were far more highly paid than teachers and earn exceptionally lucrative retirement benefits. Forced to have to pay for their own classroom supplies, forced to tolerate abuse from students and demanding parents, and forced to deal with feckless, unresponsive administrators, is it any surprise that teachers are exiting this profession in droves? Bravo to the L.A. teacher’s union for demanding change! _

This is a very good thing. Unless Americans become dramatically more proactive, as these teachers are in this situation, the trend towards squeezing the life out of the middle class to enrich the privileged few will go unchecked.

It always astounds me to hear and see the callous disrespect and contempt that the public often articulates with regard to educators. I was one for forty-two years. With a bachelor's degree in pure mathematics, followed by a graduate degree in education/supervision, my career options were unlimited. It was a deliberate choice to become a teacher...a vision of leaving the world a better place by helping approximately 10,000 high school students become solid, successful citizens. As Christa McAuliffe so eloquently stated "I touch the future. I teach." FYI to those who dismiss the off-the-clock time that consumes teachers' time. I usually had six classes of 45 students. That's 270 homeworks, quizzes,and tests (which must be written and duplicated). We were expected to have three grades/week that's 810 papers a week to check and enter into the grade book. Many of us came an hour early for tutoring and, for most of my career, spent hours tutoring after the school day. As now, we were required to keep lesson plans, and continuing education was a requirement. Summers revolved around constructing curricula to conform with state standards while meeting the needs and creativity of those under my charge. Is a living wage really too much to ask? There is a public misconception about how per pupil spending is calculated. Special needs classes may have 1,2,or 3 students/teacher in addition to one-on one aides. Their cost is disproportionate but worthy.

I don't know the particulars of the LA school system but here in the northeast teachers typically teach only 180 days a years and usually not even a full 8 hour day. On top of that they are able to retire in their fifties and leave with a pension far better than whats typically offered in the private sector. If my math is correct and you calculate it out to a hourly wage that teacher making $72k a year is probably making upwards of $60 bucks or more an hour. Annualized at that rate, what a typical employee in the private sector works over the course of a year and you're talking $120k or thereabouts a year. Yeah I know they say they must spend time at home grading papers, etc, etc (without pay they say) but welcome to the world of salaried (exempt) employees. There's plenty of us us out there that are salaried, not just teachers and many of us put in extra time to get the job done. And that 3 weeks off at Christmas is pretty sweet IMO, in addition having the whole summer off...

I have to say... Ms. Owens' salary might not come across as something to worry about. $72K is a good amount of money. But, as she says, the cost of living in LA is high. In fact, if it's compared to another location, say, Poughkeepsie NY, the cost of living in LA is roughly a third higher. So, her $72K salary equates to about $50K in Poughkeepsie. Still not unlivable, but not super, either, especially if you add in supporting as family. Remember that the median cost of a house in LA is about $680K. In Poughkeepsie, it's $223K. The average taxpayer doesn't understand how difficult teaching is. Teachers often spend hours every night working on things like grading papers and making lesson plans, and then at least a day on the weekends, too. And in the LA case, with such a high percentage of students who don't speak English as their native language, it must be incredibly difficult to make the K-12 curriculum decipherable to them. Yes, teachers deserve more pay and support. Just ask how many teachers need to work a second job over the summer to make ends meet. It will be interesting to see how this protest movement plays out across the country.

I'm a teacher myself, but I have very little sympathy for public school teachers, who often have degrees in "Education" (for instance, all of my public high school teachers) rather than in the subjects that they teach. Until we begin to require teachers to demonstrate not only mere competence but also expertise in their subject areas, our public education system will be a joke no matter how much money we throw at it. I've taught at two universities, one in Florida, the other in Washington, and I've seen firsthand how ill-prepared even those students who come to college are for the rigors of university education. I teach English, and in seven years of doing so, I've had perhaps two classes where a student could name the eight parts of speech -- both students were from China. I'm not comfortable taxing my fellow citizens at higher rates until we're also willing to demand that high school teachers come to the classroom with more than the nonsense they produce in the Ed Departments of state universities.

I love teachers and think good ones are worth their weight in gold. However, many of them make VERY good money even if their teaching skills and ethics do not warrant it. Many are seriously underpaid. The article says, Teachers and other employees in the Los Angeles Unified School District are demanding higher pay, smaller class sizes and more support staff like counselors and librarians. " Wealth inequality is making life for workers in many parts of OUR United States of America almost impossible. However, public unions and government workers at all levels seem to be doing much better than other mainstream Americans. I do not want to break unions. I want more unions that actually take care of workers instead of union bosses and management. The real problem with today's K-12 public education system is that it is top heavy. Too many administrators. Another real problem is the use of dollars to buy technology instead of books. Unions need to address the real issues and improve the pay of teachers at the bottom - who are often the best - stop giving tenure to unqualified people, demand smaller administration, buy new books, reinstate arts and music programs and put the emphasis back on TEACHING and preparing for the world instead of "how much can we get".

Not sure what the problem is. Just raise the taxes. Democrat policy for a Democrat state. How do you expect anyone to live on $72k a year for nine months of work from eight to three pm? AOC should get in there and get these teachers their money!

It is amazing that teachers (and their union) don't understand basic math!

The strike is about low pay and poor working conditions for teachers, yet the reporter does not write even one word about the student-teacher ratio or the contract pay scale range. Still, the reporter finds space to write about "just returning from a three week Christmas Vacation".

Is this sort of like a partial government shutdown?

Ban publicly-funded private “charter” schools. Prohibit corporatization of the apparatus of our curricula. Make all of our public schools “charter” schools by providing necessary personnel and resources to all equally. Fund the necessary infrastructure and its maintenance and pay our teachers a living wage.

There is a nationwide teaching shortage. Gee, I wonder why. Teachers are leaving the field in droves and fewer and fewer college graduates are choosing to teach. those who do choose teaching usually leave the field within a couple of years. I've heard it over and over again from Teach for America fellows and other teaching interns in statewide programs: "Teaching is WAY too much work for WAY too little pay." Teachers do not even get paid what skilled laborers with no college are paid. Pay is one major issue. Significant salary increases would definitely attract and RETAIN a caliber of teachers who love the profession and have a lot to offer. The second major issue is how to deal with student behavior problems. There is a higher percentage of bad or no parenting in urban schools, but there are broken families, severe stress, and addiction problems in suburban schools as well. Cell phones are an incredible distraction in a classroom, and one school after another caves to them because teachers can't teach if they're policing cell phone use in class. France recently had the guts to implement a nationwide ban on cellphones in school. I'm sure they'll see good results. Schools - good or bad - are at the cutting edge of society. We have to deal with every issue - sex, violence, gender identity (and what bathroom to use!), bullying, drug use,domestic abuse - and we have to deal with it right up front. And we also have to teach. Have some respect, America.

I come from a 3rd world country where teacher strikes in the public education system are common and have felt the disruptive effects on young people's education. For most of the youth, a four year university education in a public college usually extends to six years or more as a direct effect of incessant strikes. You cannot even begin to fathom the social and economic costs of such disruptions to the lives of the students, their parents and the country. Imagine where your entire life is in limbo because you cannot graduate. I never thought I would ever live to see the day when this would happen to the US but here we are. A country that does not proactively take care of its institutions and the people that underlay them - education, law enforcement, judiciary, healthcare, press freedom, common decency and civility will find itself eroded until it collapses. I pray this will not happen to America but given the last three years, I am less optimistic than I used to be. Sad!

Los Angeles has one of the most segregated educational systems in the country. Of those 600,000 students, only 11 percent -- about 66,000 -- are white in a city that is about half white. White parents have pulled their children from the schools because the schools are largely failing. So two things need to happen. Teachers not only need to keep teaching and not strike, as the idea of public employees striking is absurd. Also, the city needs to implement a tax of 1000% on private school tuition, and use it to supplement public education. That tax will also drive many white families to move their children back into public education, which will raise quality and bring more state funding.

Unless you have spent all day in a classroom, you may not understand what a huge difference class sizes make. Every additional student squeezed into the classroom erodes the quality of education that can be provided. Beyond a certain point, the job is impossible. Also, just to pick one example of what they are striking for, having a nurse in your building is so important. If you teach primary school, every single day little kids have things that need nurse attention. A kid gets something in their eye, or a splinter, or a stomach ache, or a suspicious rash, or you discover what looks like head lice. You can't expect the principal, or the school secretary to stop and deal with this steady stream of problems, because they are maxed out with other duties, even if they knew what to do. Even if you don't care whether Los Angeles teachers make enough to pay a mortgage, we should all care whether our next generation of citizens gets a decent shot at an education. This goes for our whole nation, from sea to shining sea.

My ultra liberal niece teaches in LA, and even she complains about HS students who cannot speak English and cannot read or write in any language. Some kids show up to maintain their immigration status, but show up is all they do. For her it is all about the lack of support staff for the tsunami of immigrants in LA public schools. As the article points out the state funds the schools. Maybe in all of these articles we are seeing lately lauding our mythic hero now ex governor, Jerry Brown, they could mention the failure of our K-12 schools under his watch. Developers and agribusiness he has served very, very well. For the folks at the bottom—nada.

after many years in LA and sending a daughter through the LAUSD, here is my take, and it is not pretty: the population is very divided economically, with a good segment, mostly white, wealthy or economically comfortable. this segment also encompasses many homeowners and many individuals and families without young children. tne kids from this cream almost always are taken out of the public schools are sent to private schools. tner is also an even karger part of the population that woukd be considred middle class or lower middle class or working class in many parts of America , but are economically marginal in LA. this segment has a lower percentage of homeowners, a higher percentage of immigrants, a seemingly lower interest in education overall, and has a higher percentage of kids. they go to public school (sometimes charters)because they have no choice. then, we have had the Prop 13 situation for years, starving the school system of funding for the benefit, mainly, of older, richer, childless property owners. you can see the conflict. the families with skin in the game are typically uninterested and focused on immediate survival. those who should be in the lead have opted out. LA has two types of charter schools, but the concept is mainly a union busting scam. any way you slice it, the kids, and our future, are the victims. really, the saddest part of LA life.

“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” - Robert Orben Time to reform the state’s property tax laws and the unintended effects v of Proposition 13. Pay the teachers a living wage; raise taxes. The future costs of NOT properly funding public education are much greater than the costs of funding it.

In a corporate state like the U. S., "public schools" may soon be a thing of the past. Nobody will even know what it meant in years to come. Privatize everything is the watch-word of our corporate hegemony.

The article raises some very good points. However it fails to mention that teachers in LA have a terrific health care plan, something many of us do not enjoy. They also get very good pensions and as we all know pensions in the private sector are increasingly rare. They should give up their future pensions to get more current pay.

More of the wreckage of austerity. Prop13 and Jerry Brown’s education cuts have brought about a crisis - but Pelosi is still pushing more austerity, in the form of Pay/Go. We need to develop a third party or seriously reform the Democratic Party.

Wait, this can't possibly be happening in the utopian People's Republic of California where Democrats control the political and social agenda. With the highest state taxes in the union, how can teachers be underpaid, how can classrooms be over crowded, and how can schools be failing the children? Could it be that the golden state is not so golden?

The US has a class and racial based education system. Well off families send their kids to private and charter schools, while working class and mostly minority children go to underfunded and starved public schools. This is structural inequality and helps to undermine our democracy and economy. We always find money for wars and failing banks, but poor and minority kids can go to the back of the line. No wonder people are turning to socialism.

there is massive waste, fraud, and abuse in LAUSD. with that said, there is massive waste, fraud, and abuse in LAUSD charter schools. charter schools are not the solution! Instead of destroying UTLA, a federal oversight committee needs to come into LAUSD (not a state) and assist with an organizational restructuring that includes such things as dismantling and redesigning Staff Relations (the division in LAUSD that oversees all matters related to school administrators) as well as a truly independent Office of Inspector General (one that is not cosy with Staff Relations and the General Counsel office. I also see the erosion of good governance in lausd as a failure of the LATimes who had done very little investigative journalism into such an important civic institution as lausd is to the city of Los Angeles.

If California were a country it would be the fifth largest economy in the world, with a gross economic output of $3 trillion. So, how come children are the ones suffering? California used to be among the finest public school systems in the world, ranking fifth in state funding in the country, falling to #47 in 2009. Meanwhile, there's a housing crisis. Nobody can afford to buy or sell since assessments skyrocket when you do and affordable housing is too expensive, thanks to Nimbyists, to build. The one area where California could invest and get the best return is in education. The homeless and poor are so numerous they overrun the place as if it was Hamelin, instead of California. The state that used to be at the edge of history needs to pay attention to the present and the future, for a change and pay your teachers and build schools.

White flight all over again. Add in the publicly funded private schools (aka charters) who get to select their students and parents and it's little wonder that the public schools are hurting.

Good for the teachers to go on strike for better conditions to teach children. They are on the front line and see how under investment in education is hurting our children. Education is the only reliable key to improving the lives of our inner city citizens and strengthening our country in a competitive world. Putting dollars into schools has a far better return than another B2 bomber. Let the DOD have a bake sale.

Paying teachers more may be necessary. But let’s not pretend it will make even the slightest bit of difference in the quality of education or test scores. The majority of Children of broken or dysfunctional families will not be successful no matter how well paid and happy the teachers are. Until sexual morality and the resulting increase in numbers of nuclear families is incentivized, public schools in large cities will fail the children.

"[D]istrict officials say that they do not have the money to meet all of the demands..." That's an understatement: "California state and local governments owe $1.3 trillion as of June 30, 2015. The total includes bonds, loans and other debt instruments as well as unfunded pension and other post-employment benefits promised to public sector employees..." https://californiapolicycenter.org/californias-total-state-local-debt-totals-1-3-trillion/ California is broke. Where will the money come from? Soaking the rich? The day of reckoning is approaching for California as well as the United States. Our debt is unsustainable. And yet neither major political party will address the crisis.

There are no easy answers here, and I sympathize with both sides. In short, if we want to be an educated society, then we need to create and prioritize a culture of education. And this means putting aside many of our current distractions.