Supposedly the "art of the deal" is the ability to walk away from any given deal: that is to say "have more bargaining power than the other side."
First off there's no "art" in that. Having more bargaining power than the other person is more mechanical & mathematical than it is art.
2nd, it turns out the "art" in the "art of the deal" is to have no ethics, principles or sets of loyalty, like to country & b willing to exchange treason for consideration.
Having said all of that: Maybe America will learn from teachers that in a society based largely on free contract what you earn is a function of your bargaining power & that bargaining power should never be given away to people who already have more, like the rich, than you.
According to Oxford Econ Historian Robert Allen, industrialization occurred only in those countries that had near universal education systems & that adopted Hamilton's standard system outlined in his 1792 Report on Manufactures to Congress. Most of Europe & Japan as well as the Northern U. S. adopted some version of this during the first half of the 19th century. One country did not do universal education: Mexico & so it stayed poor.
Teachers unions were some of the earliest in this country to get some traction in bargaining. This ensured that enough money went into education to ensure that we had the intellectual capacity to absorb technology so that industrial & technological revolutions could take off & impel our economy forward.
5
@Tim Kane, and now, Tim, unions seem to exist only to enrich the Union leadership who makes lots of money and donates to certain politicians. sad state of affairs.
2
@Joe Yoh
Is that a fact that you can support w/ citations or just an opinion?
Here's the issue:
Concentrated wealth is the destroyer of great civilizations, empires & societies.
Nobel Laureate & Econ Historian Doug North's "Structure and Change in Economic History" (p100-115) states concentrated wealth destroyed the Roman Empire. Wealth became so concentrated that 6 senators owned half of North Africa. The empire's tactical edge had thinned so it needed larger armies to protect its borders. The Wealthy & Powerful used their influence to avoid paying taxes. So the empire was starved for funds @ a time when the empire controlled all the resources of Western Civilization, including Turkey Syria, Egypt & North Africa. It lacked the political will to raise enough resources to protect its borders.
Similar story re-occurs in history: Byzantium, Medieval Japan, Hapsburg Spain, Bourbon France, Romanov Russia, the Great Depression, triggering Hitler, WWII, Holocaust. A history so consistent it's mechanical.
Scroll down to 2nd graph here:
https://goo.gl/w2btYa
From 1945 to 72 GNP went up 100% & so did median wage. Since 72 GNP went up 150% but median wage stayed flat.
Wealth follows bargaining power. So its necessary to distribute bargaining power. Unions do that everywhere in the 1st world (32 % of workforce) but here (7%).
The system has structural problems. It needs to be fixed not eliminated. History shows, as a matter of mechanics not opinion, we wont survive if we don't.
5
Offering a stock union diatribe describing the same perpetual grievances about pay and working conditions, while linking to a union funded lobbying organization (the Economic Policy Institute) as "proof" of those grievances, is yet more of the same dishonest effort to present an agenda of personal financial benefit as some sort of "justice" campaign.
CA public schools are producing poor and still declining student results. They have been worsening for decades and the same Democrat backed union cabal has been in charge the whole time. That's why parents that care about their kids have been fleeing to charter schools. The teacher's union is the problem, not the "solution."
Unionized teacher pay, benefits and the already lavish lifetime retirement plan should be frozen or reduced until results in the public schools mprove.
That's the solution.
3
So hostage taking DOES work? Congrats teachers and library professionals!
1
Conservatives hate anything public. They send their kids to private schools. They feel they should not have to pay taxes for public schools they don't use.
Also, by starving public education they keep more of the populace uneducated and easier to manipulate.
A country with no public education would be a dream for a true conservative. All private schools that they control, they set the tuition, they hire the teachers, they set the curriculum.
1
How I wish teachers would have fought for better conditions when I was in elementary school on Long Island in the 60s. A class of 45 was the norm. In fact until I was through second grade we only had half days of school, you either attended in the morning until noon, or your school day started after noon. And the classes still held at least 40 students.
2
In a hurry? Here are the only sentences you need read from this article:
As they announced the outlines of the deal, Mr. Garcetti, Mr. Beutner and Mr. Caputo-Pearl declined to give specific details on how the district would pay for the changes, but school officials said that they would need more money from local voters and the state.
Many of the changes — including class-size caps and full-time nurses at every school — would be phased in over time, officials said. Because those changes would occur over the next three years, the deal essentially punted on the question of how the district would come up with the $403 million needed to pay for the additional staff members.
While many educators and local leaders have called the strike a watershed moment for California public schools, it is far from clear whether there is a political willingness to change the statewide property tax laws.
1
Does anyone know how close the vote was, or what kind of a majority was needed? That's helps me evaluate the settlement, but I don't see that info in this article.
Next up, a national strike for adjunct college instructors (esp CC instructors). You think public education teachers have it bad? Do your research on who is teaching the majority of first-time college goers at Community Colleges. We can't pay rent, live on welfare while driving to multiple schools just to cobble together some type of living, get no unemployment in between semesters, get "bumped" a few days before the semester starts because our classes didn't "make" or full time faculty (of which there are very few) need the classes. Yet the administrative bloat in higher education is profound. The public needs to make a serious commitment to improving the lives of adjuncts (since we now make up to 80% of faculty at most CC's and an ever increasing presence in four year colleges) if it wants a decently educated electorate.
4
@Maggi: What is it about administrators? They seem to think they are God's gift to organization, not just glorified paper pushers. Maybe it's because they have an outsized say in who gets paid what.
1
It is amazing what these teachers did for their students! In what other industry do you see people striking for better conditions for the people they serve? I don't see strikes for lower costs in the pharmaceutical industry or cleaner foods in the food industry. Yet what these teachers ultimately wanted were smaller class sizes, librarians, nurses, and guidance counselors. Something all students deserve! While teachers usually play all of these school roles they need to be given the support to focus on teaching. This is not necessarily political, it is a shame that the democratically controlled LA and California allowed conditions to get this bad before a strike called attention to what is going.
5
Readers like “HapinOregon” misunderstand conservative views on public education. Many conservatives are arguably more pro-teacher and pro-public education than their liberal counterparts. Conservatives want the most qualified, intelligent, the greatest number of, and dedicated teachers for their children. Liberals, by their blind support of teachers unions, apparently do not. Teachers unions, by their design, protect teachers who’ve been teaching the longest. That’s it. Yet, the detrimental effects of this misguided mission are staggering - uninspired teachers allowed to phone it in, zero ownership toward raising the standards of teachers entering or currently teaching in the field, raises implemented district-wide regardless of performance, budget money reserved for highly-compensated tenured teachers that could be reallocated for two or more really talented new teachers, a nickel-and-dime culture about work hours, teachers who can’t be fired for poor performance. To add insult, teachers unions are tone deaf to the challenges their taxpayers (the people paying their salaries) face. Most taxpayers have to work more than 180 days, do not have guaranteed pensions, generous health benefits, raises, or even jobs. So, the next time you think a conservative isn’t pro-education, think again. Many conservatives love the promise of public education and the inspired teachers who enter the profession. It’s the teachers union they could do without.
1
Does Los Angeles have a map of school locations along with their performance scores? Would something like this be useful for siting potential charter schools and educational TIFs?
Prop 13 was definitely a huge thorn in the side of California school funding, but it did heighten how regressive the use of property taxes to fund schools really is, as it relies on the psychological dimension of perceived valuation, which almost begs to be exploited in the service of heightened inequality.
The funding of education through property taxes is something peculiar to the United States; in other nations they recognize it for the outstandingly stupid sociopolitical idea that it is, and fund education through a much broader base of tax revenue.
One more thing, as Columbo would say. Anyone who thinks that the charter school movement has the interests of children and their education at its center should take a good look at the supply, consultant, and contracting fees that are farmed out to private concerns in most charter schools and recognize the oligarchic privatizational greed that really motivates a lot of charter school supporters.
15
@Glenn Ribotsky: Prop 13 was a desperate attempt by California to square the circle between real estate profits and affordability. Basically it allowed a cadre of middle income people who already owned property to remain instead of being forced out by insanely high taxes driven by insanely high real estate values.
Many of those people are aging out now, and their replacements will have to pay taxes on wherever they live at the going rate. They'll need a lot more money (more than the 6% the teachers got) just to stay solvent.
That "one more thing" habit was one of my favorite parts of Columbo.
If charters really are more cost effective than public schools and want public funding, I have a simple solution. Cap the amount of $ charters get at 80% per pupil of what public schools get. Then set it up that charter is the default. That is, every child that lives within a charter schools range is automatically enrolled there first. If the parents want the child to go to public school, that parent must apply. Then, the public school can decide what kids it wants to admit and place a cap on the amount of students it will let in. You know, basically flip the roles each school currently plays, then see if Charters really are that much better than public.
1
As a former teacher I well understand and support the move to improve teachers’ pay and working conditions.
While a youth decades before the advent of the internet I eschewed TV and made heavy use of my local libraries (school libraries were extremely limited, even in CalIfornia).
However, in the twenty-first century with internet access all but ubiquitous it seems anachronistic and, well, even a bit silly, for schools to devote space and dollars to libraries and librarians. On the other hand, computers can’t join unions (at least not yet), while librarians can.
2
Rather, it's silly to ignore the benefits students derive from good libraries and professional librarians. Several studies have shown that, on average, students' academic outcomes are higher when they have these educational assets. Libraries heavily use digital resources, including subscription databases not widely available. Contrary to conventional wisdom, today's children are not born with good online skills. Today's librarians teach students to identify, evaluate, and utilize reliable information sources. They support both students and teachers and let educators spend time teaching content rather than context.
3
@Mon Ray
As a former teacher, you shock me by stating that it is silly for schools to have libraries and librarians. Have you even been in a library recently? I assure you that school librarians stay very busy. They connect students to books (which do still exist) and to modern digital resources, as well as working with teachers to enhance classroom education in many ways.
2
@Mon Ray you don't know what a modern library or librarian does, do you?
2
It has been my experience that most school boards are filled with people either trying to lower property taxes through budget cuts, or simply looking for a way into politics, and not to actually improve educational outcomes for the kids.
Thank goodness that more people are pushing against vouchers, which history has shown are just a way to segregate schools and siphon funding away from the schools that need it the most.
As a parent of an LAUSD student, I was disappointed that the teachers chose to strike. Not only because it deprived my son of a week of education (he would spend his days in the computer lab playing video games), but because I felt the school district administrators were trying to be fiscally responsible. I remember during the recession of 2008 that lots of teachers lost their jobs because school districts all over (not just LAUSD) simply didn't have a rainy day fund large enough to contend with the resulting loss of funding. I would rather have had long term stability with the status quo (which, at least at my son's school, isn't so bad) than short term gain that will just need to be rolled back during the next recession.
3
To me, the most interesting part of this is that very liberal, very high tax California spends relatively little on their schools. Where do they spend all of their money? You would think kids would be important to them, but, relative to other priorities, I guess not.
9
This story is pretty much all spin.
The salary raise is what the district originally offered.
No reductions in class size, only caps.
No turn-back of California's very liberal policy of adding charter schools.
Hardly a paradigm shift, as Randi Weingarten claimed.
7
@Mon Ray
Fortunately for their students, the LAUSD teachers do not have a sad-sack, negative, glass-half-empty attitude. Instead of standing on the sidelines and sniping, they pressed on to make things better.
1
Greedy, privileged teachers unions holding their students hostage for money under the guise of "caring for them ", what a sham.
Don't like the pay, go into a different professional field, you all have college educations......but either go back to work or quit already!
3
@There
The LAUSD teachers were working to get nurses, librarians and counselors into the schools. I'd say that pretty clearly indicates they care about their students. My view is that we need great teachers, so I don't want them to go into another professional field.
2
@There I was a teacher for 20 years. I challenge you to teach for even 1 year. Then come back on here and call us greedy. I chose to teach because I wanted to give back to the community. Greedy? I made much less as a teacher than I made in the private sector.
2
Perhaps, rather than fearing competition from countries like China to the degree that the US government is seeking to destroy the international trade system it so carefully set up after WW II in order to stifle it, it could devote more money to educating its children and its youth, so as to become a more formidable competitor ? Whence is the funding to come ? For a start, from the 5.7 thousand million USD Mr Trump is seeking to build a wall, or from the 716 thousand million USD appropriated for the US military in 2019 (the amount actually spent on the military amounts to close twice that). Now that would indeed signal a sea change in US politics !...
Henri
5
Any wonder why corporate America and Republicans have been at war with unions for decades? Unions work and the death of unions has meant the lose of our middle class and those who aspired to move up. The vast majority of American workers are marginalized and live paycheck to paycheck, have no retirement future and let's not even get into cost of health insurance let alone paying for medical bills...
6
I have never understood why any non business person would not support unions. Who is going to stand up for you when you need it? To assume that management is going to treat you fairly, is ridiculous. And if a business person is against unions, one has to wonder about their motives!!!
9
How many college educated professionals want to trade their salaries for a teacher's?
There are few professions that have as much of a profound impact on the future as teachers.
10
If you want to understand why people go into teaching when they could go into other jobs, consider the pension benefits. If you work in the market economy, when you stop, all you have is social security, which is to say, very little. Teachers have their pensions, many of which top 100K a year and until they die. Is this sustainable? No. Not if you expect the people without pensions to pay the skyrocketing property taxes that would be necessary to fund them. Read this: https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/20/california-teacher-pensions-are-not-sustainable-2/
So what are some of the caps on class sizes? I read there could be as many as 100 kids in a gym class. I know a high school English teacher in the district who teaches 150 students across five classes. That load makes it difficult to assign much writing.
7
Anyone tempted to judge these teachers based on student performance should take a good, hard look at the results of this strike. They had to resort to collective bargaining to obtain "a librarian for every middle and high school in the district by the fall of 2020."
Remember your school libraries? Remember all the assignments you worked on in those libraries, utilizing those resources? Hard to imagine how they would have functioned without librarians, isn't it? The kind of public education we received barely exists anymore - and sadly, that bar wasn't even particularly high for many of us. Even bright, motivated kids flounder when classes are enormous, and the entire school lacks classroom helpers, librarians, nurses, counselors, and any other form of individual attention.
Students are the ones suffering, and these teachers just fought tooth and nail on their behalf. That's incredible.
15
Cries of joy. Sighs of relief. Jumps of joy. We're going back to school! Thank you to the teachers of Los Angeles PUBLIC schools for making a tough decision to strike and the LAUSD for listening. compromising and working together with the teachers and parents to make a better public school system. There has been a real sense of "we are in this together". Time for Trump to follow our lead.
6
This strike was an example of how democracy works,
and i was proud to a be a part of it!
6
I'm sixty-six, and this was my first strike. Every day, I saw things that made me so proud to be a part of it, such as the group of high school students that marched with us in Grand Park, chanting "Our teachers - are here for us and we are here for them!" over and over. Parents from my school, who are dirt poor, stopping by with a home made hot drink of cinnamon, oatmeal and milk. 24 pizzas from the NFL Players Association, along with a note saying they know what it is to fight for simple rights. The list could go on and on.
I am so grateful that I was part of this successful push against the commercial charter movement. Democrats take note - it's time once again to support organized labor.
11
I hope we can all applaud the teachers for advocating for our kids. They did not get a pay raise in this settlement. They took a deal that only strives to improve the schools and classroom environments.
I hope it is just a start, and that we, in the most prosperous state of the most prosperous nation in all of human history, can now begin to fully fund a world class education system for all kids.
I support our school’s teachers, and most especially, my child’s first grade teacher. His first baby was born a week before the school year began. He opted to take his paternity leave in December, not in August, so that his new students could transition easily and comfortably. He literally put my kid ahead of his own. That’s the dedication these teachers show, day in, day out.
Hooray for our teachers. I hope you’re ready for tomorrow, because after a week of zero structure, my kids are feral.
13
This story is amazingly devoid of the actual details of the contract. I don’t see how the teachers can read it, and discuss it and seek clarification in 1 day. Seems like they will have to rely on hearsay to decide how to vote. I smell a big rat.
4
Voters refuse to fully fund it. As an adult I decided with my wife to involve ourselves in our Bar and Bat Mitzvahs in a process lead by our rabbi, Richard Rosenthal. He took out his copy of Moses Maimonides’(1200 AD) Mishnah Torah. We discussed education in Jewish Communities at that time. The maximum size of a classroom was 24 and when that was exceeded a new teacher was added to the faculty creating two classes of 12. The community paid for schools by tithing in proportion to their income.
Here in Washington State the Supreme Court demanded that the Legislature provide adequate funding for all public schools. They gave them several years to sort it out. The public put Democrats in charge last year, progress was made. The schools need to provide assistance for 3 year olds and older. As a grandparent with an autistic grandson the public system has worked hard to help him with special teaching support. He is now in the sixth grade and doing well with a lot of assistance from his parents and medical care. As you can see, we have a direct view of what is possible if funding is provided. Unfortunately, we do not think that is the general picture. Los Angeles area Public Schools have clearly declined sharply since I graduated from high school in Whittier, California. Charter Schools do not work because no matter how funded those folks with lower incomes do not get a fair shake. For 40+ years that is clearly the case here.
5
A nationwide strike to show our support for the unpaid Federal workers would be either an effective way to end the shutdown, or a way to mobilize and galvanize the next steps in the middle class in restoring sanity to our government and fiscal policies. When people call on Democrats to just give in to the demands for the wall, why aren't they demanding that it border security is such an emergency, why not roll back the taxes on the super-wealthy, who don't seem to be trickling down their fair share voluntarily. The current border and fiscal crises can all be solved -- along with health care and education for all, better broadband access, and infrastructure repairs by just rolling back the tax cuts. People hate to be inconvenienced, but too many are turning a blind eye to the furloughed Federal workers expected to give a hoot while unpaid.
6
@Brian wow, you must think everyone belongs to a union.
3
He says free "healthcare and education" Aaron... where are you getting any of what you just said from "healthcare and education"?
Only 6% of the students are white. The affluent liberals in CA don’t send their kids to public school.
10
Why can’t the tax dollars from legalized marijuana subsidize the schools? Lack of funding is always a concern and it shouldn’t be, especially in a large, wealthy state like California.
4
Higher taxes, with fewer choices if charter schools are brought to heel. Oh well, the teachers, and the residents, of L.A. are going to have to re-learn their former governor's dictum: "People vote with their feet."
7
A great deal for teachers and their pensions. Not so great for the students and the tax payers. Not a single Republican involved in this so what ever the problems they must have been caused by greedy Democrats. Simple solution, raise taxes. You've got the votes!!!!
5
@Bill so smaller class sizes, and nurses and librarians at every school is not so great for students?
Not enough! A 6% raise for teachers is a dishonor to the profession.
5
@citizennotconsumer
Not so. They were happy with their settlement.
1
The union continues to demonstrate its limited view by opposing charter schools. Having been involved in charter schools for over 10 years in Northern California including sending two children to such schools, I can say that 1) charter schools provide a great experience for the right student which they would not get in public schools; and 2) the 'competition' has pushed the local public schools into innovating and raising teaching standards that the union would have opposed.
Little of this was supported by local teacher unions. If you peel back the onion, you see portions of public teacher unions fighting for kids and portions fighting against better education and for job protection. It's sad.
1
@bluetomatoes
"...charter schools provide a great experience for the right student..." perfectly encapsulates why we public school advocates abhor your solution. How about joining the rest of your fellow-citizens and supporting the public schools that serve ALL of their students, not just the *right* one? Instead you just quit take your toys home because the game is just too hard for you.
5
Among other conservative traits that I have never understood is the conservative disdain of public education. Part of being a "patriot" is concern of the nation's future in an ever changing world. America's children ARE the nation's future. An ill-educated populace is not a means to an an end. An Ill-educated populace is the end.
114
Los Angeles has only Democrats in elected government positions and a Democratic Governor and legislature and yet teachers in Los Angeles earn 60 cents on the dollar compared to New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maryland.
12
@Rick Prop 13, and the resulting strong anti-property tax sentiment, not to mention several Republican governors, The Great Recession, and an increase in the number of charter schools (aka the great education rip-off), have had a lot to do with that.
With public education, everyone mistakenly thinks the cheaper the better. Sadly, such is not the case. I’ve been a public school teacher for going on 30 years. It’s been heartbreaking to watch the way public schools, free education for everyone and the true shining light of our nation, has been decimated here.
21
@Rick
Prop 13, 1978...
Removing school tax from the property tax and putting it in the general fund tax pool did severe damage to public school funding. Part of the conservative plan?
Oregon did the same thing 12 years later, with the same results...
8
It was an honor to walk the picket line with my union brothers and sisters the last six days in Los Angeles.
If you’re an American worker whose pay and benefits are lacking, yet you find yourself staunchly against these brave teachers and trade unionism, I’ve got two questions for you:
1. Whose twisted propaganda are you watching?
2. Why aren’t you organizing right now?
Unions built this country. We could take it back if more of us were willing to stop acting against our best self interest. Congrats to UTLA for holding these elected officials accountable.
151
@Dan
Were you picketing with us at Venice High? If yes, thank you for your support - and also for the nice welcome for the scabs.
If you're a different Dan, thank you regardless. The fight is not over - we will need your support in the immediate future.
In solidarity,
ARM (Venice High School)
1
Bravo especially for getting full-time nurses in every school, caps on class size (though reduced sizes as well would be better), and more student support services such as (hopefully well- and fully-qualified) librarians, resource specialists (ie for the diverse needs and rights of special education students), etc.
Hope OAKLAND, CA teachers can get at least the same, preferably without a strike!
51
@Parent
Yeah, let's show California's taxpayers who's in charge! Not just Oakland but every teacher in the state deserves a massive raise and more resource specialists. If they don't deliver the $, we'll shut 'em down just like we did in LA.
7
My mother was a member of the brand new Los Angeles Teachers’ Union when they went out on strike for some very basic needs. By my recollection, it took over a month for the powers that were at that time to take the strike and the teachers seriously.
I was a high schooler then. Many of us picketed with our teachers and made sandwiches for their lunches. Fairfax High had a high show of force. I was very proud of our teachers. They were demanding most things for us and we understood that. The parents understood that. Eventually, the government got the message.
I can’t help thinking that the male dominated opposition were thinking they could wait out an organization of mainly women. This was in about 1970. Small improvements. This time it only took a week.
35
A great day for education -- and hopefully a setback for the privatizers and profiteers who run the charters and rob the public coffers.
58
@Dr. J. Charter schools are publicly funded. What profiteers?
@Lisa
Many of the supporters of charter schools seem to be so not due to any particular concern with children's education, but for the business contracting/supply opportunities they offer for various oligarchic businesses.
6
As I drove from West Olympic Blv to Century City I saw teachers, parents, kids, etc at Shelby Ave and Olympic with drums and signs. This is what DEMOCRACY looks like!
59
Is $16,000 per pupil per year not enough?
Apparently not. The 'teachers', with an unbroken record of failure in the public schools, and the luxury of getting paid for 12 months while 'working' for 10, will never be satisfied.
Yes, they'd like a property tax increase on commercial property; and when they've wrung the last drop of blood out of that, they'll come for private property.
The interests of the state are served by giving children a chance to learn, not by guaranteeing an overpaid, underworked, failing bunch of union workers that they'll always be taken care of.
And if you think the schools do a good job, take a look at the TIMSS and PISA results.
And for spending, see this:https://medium.com/@DavidGCrane/ca-to-spend-16-000-per-pupil-in-2018-19-dca698d42bb3
7
As a public school teacher I get the impression you haven’t set foot in a classroom for a long time. Teaching is a profession, like being a doctor or a lawyer. We can hang on to every hope our students ( in a way, patients) will have some skin in the game and listen to what we have to offer. A doctor can tell a patient countless times to quit cigarettes and fried food, but it is solely up to the patient to take heed. Same goes for students. Speaking of only teaching 10 months out of the year, most of us take grad school classes, work summer school, continue our second jobs, or attend professional development courses. I haven’t taken a serious vacation in decades. My spouse and I live below our means. Perhaps you believe teaching is a “woman’s “ job, like some men might say of housekeeping, and not deserving of higher pay?
Heck. The other day I saw a semi truck advertisement and the first year salary. More than I make. Which is more important- logistics or educating our children??
12
@Wendy M:
I don't think you actually countered any of the points I've raised, have you?
The U.S. spends more money per pupil than any other country in the world, and we get precious little for it. Are you disputing the TIMSS and PISA rankings? If so, what do you disagree with?
Yes, you can blame the students/parents/administrators etc., but you can't argue with the success, for example, of KIPP. What do they do differently? They recruit from good schools, they don't have unions, they work hard. Why can't you produce similar results?
To compare teachers to doctors and lawyers is a joke. I have no particular regard for doctors and lawyers, the vast majority of whom make their (substantial) living off the misery of others, but at least they go through a grueling selection process. The teachers, at least in CA, go through the CBEST; look it up, and then tell me why they fail in droves, while my then 6th-grade son sailed through it.
If you can qualify for a truck-driving job, go for it; but I think you'd be hard-pressed to adapt to the lifestyle.
Finally, is $16000 per pupil per year not enough? How much would you like? And is $578 million for a high school in LA appropriate?
And what about the 'rubber rooms' in NY? Would you say flat out that they're not OK/
I need to move to California
1
is it just me or does this reporting sound a bit like whoever wrote it maybe isn't a huge fan of public schools and thinks charter schools are better? "alternatives" to "factories of failure" and increased standardized testing "keeping students and teachers accountable"? um, that's your opinion and not those of the teachers, students and parents supporting the strike. let bret stephens write that one...elsewhere.
3
Teachers are overpaid have too much time off and can't even keep the schools safe . To many shootings with the kids. The parents need to home school the kids at least they will be safe and away from being bullied or worse.
1
@D.j.j.k. You have a space before your period in the first sentence. "To" is a preposition; "too" is an adverb. And connecting sentences without a conjunction might be part of your home school curriculum, but it's certainly incorrect in professional quarters.
Honestly, disgraceful.
13
@Matthew
I'm with you. If D.j.j.k. homeschools anyone, the poor child doesn't stand much chance of learning how to write well. And as for safety, we all know that commas (or lack thereof) can kill.
3
Congratulations, L.A. teachers, for fighting for your students and carrying the day. Shame on the education system which makes such actions necessary.
10
Good! Unions work.
11
I ran the figures roughly, and it seems like Los Angelenos can, with a little sacrifice, pay that $403 million price tag for smaller class sizes and more support professionals like nurses and librarians. But it will be revealing if they vote against taxing themselves. Sentiments of support for teachers and public schools need to be followed by political leadership statewide and civic engagement by all of us. From its website, Los Angeles Unified School District serves approximately 695,000 students and draws from a 4.8 million overall population area. That translates into roughly $580 per student more or $83 tax per person living in the district area. Of course, a portion of that 4.8 million are non-tax paying children or destitute persons, so the parcel tax would fall on fewer payees than that.
2
For such a high profile news story there is a lack of accurate information. This article's first paragraph refers to 'more than half a million students. The LAUSD says since 2012 K-12 enrollment has fallen from 581,445 to 484,642 students. The number of teachers for the LAUSD is given at 31,000. With any of the preceding student numbers, the student/teacher ratio is well below 20 to 1. Why do some classes have more than 40 per teacher? Is management that bad? Are union rules that odd? What is the 'real' news?
6
Yes, I'm so happy that teachers unified to bring forth some change, but I feel like they should not be so overjoyed with the results. These are minimum gains. The teaching profession is in crisis across the United States. We need more support for the needs of teachers, thus creating support for students.
9
See! Unity works
Perhaps government workers could all join in a total strike? Perhaps the rest of us could Jon them?
Is there a possibility?
9
@Beth BastaschGovernment been shut down for 4 weeks.Have you missed it?
1
Blaming Prop 13 is pretty pathetic. I worked for a company that into the 1960s blamed its problems on World War II shortages 20 years earlier. But people are still blaming school problems on a law passed 40 years ago. I’m glad that teachers got a little boost, but they are paid much less than in New York and other states because Californians are cheap and don’t care about education standards in a district that’s 72 percent Hispanic.
4
Californians aren’t cheap, on the contrary... The reason the district is 72% Hispanic is that so many people in LA who can afford to send their children to private school do. A K-12 private school education can cost in the $350000 range for one child. The problem is that most of the underperforming school districts have been treading water in terms of improving their quality of education that wealthy parents aren’t willing to risk it. If they did improve and rich folk stopped blindly believing that private school is always better, the schools would get more funding and the percentage of minority students would look more similar to the overall population.
1
What is so heartening in reading about what these teachers accomplished with their strike is not the 6% pay increase they gained, which seems minimal actually...especially for Los Angeles, is that the major concessions they received will most positively and profoundly benefit...students.
Smaller class sizes, more nurses, counselors, and psychologists - sure this benefits teachers - but most of all it benefits students and their families...dealing with myriad day-to-day challenges beyond the comprehension of most of us.
This is the power of standing up to power...I am inspired L.A. teachers, thank you.
45
Only 23 percent of non-charter public school students in the LAUSD can read proficiently at grade level. ( The charter schools, which are not unionized, are more successful.)The strikers want standardized exams abolished because they don’t want their failures quantified. Read the comments on the UTLA Facebook page. Very telling.
7
@DrRH
What is the percentage proficient among the charter school students? Additionally what are the comparative percentages of English-language learners in the non-charter public schools and in the charter school? And what are the percentages of special education students in the public schools and the charter school? More data needs to be provided and more variables need to be considered.
20
@DrRH
Any chance the charter schools get to select who they enroll? Any chance they get to expel low performing students?
Lets try to compare apples to apples doctor. You should know that.
13
@Bob Hillier Yes, all relevant questions, with multipart answers. Concisely, special education and ELL students are certainly welcomed at charter schools, which are open to all children. When there are too many applicants, a lottery is held. There is s great effort to discredit charter school success, though even some very liberal Ed. Depts. promote their meaningful reform.
1
" Los Angeles public school teachers reached a tentative deal with school officials on Tuesday to end a weeklong strike that had upended learning for more than half a million students...."
"Upended learning"???
That is only true if you believe that a group of people, taking large risks for a worthy cause, do not provide an essential life lesson for their students.
The young people around this divided nation who have watched their teachers unite in a solidarity to improve their educational experiences in countless ways have learned much more than academic subjects.
They have been given an important lesson that can serve them well: there is great potential for good when people come together and speak truth to the powers-that-be, when people fight and struggle together for what is right.
24
So with the low scores coming out of the LAUSD, does this mean that the teachers were not giving it thier all until they get paid what they feel they are worth? Also this is only a 2 year deal and they will be asking for more again soon. You could double the salaries of all involved and test scores and graduations rates would not rise, and if they did....that shows the teachers are truly only in it for the money.
3
@bob roberts
So teachers shouldnt want to earn good money? Somehow wanting to be paid well makes them worse than you?
And by the way, do you know anything about the impact of poverty on the ability to learn?
5
Go teach in a large, mult-cultural, multi-income level city like LA for a while, and then comment.
6
In it for the money? Are you joking? What a ridiculous comment.
4
Congratulations to the public school teachers of LA for achieving something both the major American political parties have denied them for so long: better working conditions, proper funding, and a respect for the public system and those who work in it.
31
It’s stunning to me that getting a full time nurse in a school system requires a strike. That shouldn’t be a concession in a negotiation. Children are our future, right? If we can’t even put a nurse in school by default, there is something terribly wrong with the tax rate structure and attitudes about domestic spending in this country. Despicable, as it sure seems like the children of more politicians than not will never have to participate in public school systems, or Medicare or exorbitant rent costs, for that matter.
24
Congratulations to the teachers and their representatives. This is a necessary move in the right direction. But, while necessary, still insufficient.
"Stayed tuned" and getting a non-binding pledge about limits on and oversight of charter schools is not solid progress.
Charter schools and school choice are the toxic fungus that will eventually kill public education. Temporary gains in teacher pay and class size are wonderful outcomes, but the insatiable beast of "education reform" marches on, fed by billions of dollars from America's plutocrats.
14
The raise is the same offered by LASD before the strike. All the union won was a provision that allowed the system to halt class size reduction in hard times. Most of the actual hiring was planned before the strike. The remaining only happens if the city is able to pass a parcel tax. The tax will drive more of the "taxpayers" out of the city. Additional parcel tax will mean increased rents or fewer maintenance. The union also won establishing more "Art" schools.
1
Bravo to the Los Angeles public school teachers and their union!
It's good to read that some concessions were made to limit the incessant testing that students are currently subjected to, and at least a gesture made toward limiting the amount charter schools are permitted to bleed money from the public school budget. Governor Newsom will hopefully be brave and tackle the provisions of Proposition 13 so that more revenue can flow the public schools' way.
The schools will be the better for such improvements as having actual librarians and nurses on duty and putting better limits on class size. And teachers, hard pressed to find affordable housing in the L.A. area, will have some more money in their paychecks to be able to do so.
10
Yay, teachers!!!
16
The teachers in LA went on strike, and seem to, at least on the surface, accomplished what they set out to do. If the superintendent really wanted to “spend every nickel” on the kids, he wouldn’t have forced a strike. Next time listen to the experts, and check your venture-capital baggage at the door.
Meanwhile, government workers?
I have a great idea...
36
@Corbin
Louder, please!!!
1
As a UFT, Brooklyn, public school teacher, I am thrilled!!! Go teachers and hurrah to the union!
29
California public math doesn't work. Good luck! Just another excuse to leave.
7
For New Jersey? Seriously?
1
I'm glad California is making progress. I wish we could do the same in Texas, but they don't allow teacher unions or strikes here.
My mom taught biology and earth sciences throughout her career. Texas has become increasingly hostile towards teachers, and science education in particular.
She eventually retired because of high school class sizes of 40+ students, a ban on letting teachers customize the curriculum to fit the needs of the students, textbooks that deceive students nationwide (1), and the state government's official opposition to critical thinking (2).
Then, the state drove their hatred of teachers further home by taking away her social security after retirement, saying married teachers are "double dipping" because their spouse also earns social security.
-----
(1) https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/06/21/how-texas-inflicts-bad-textbooks-on-us
(2) https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/texas-gop-rejects-critical-thinking-skills-really/2012/07/08/gJQAHNpFXW_blog.html
37
@Victor I. Teachers in California are also prevented from claiming spousal Social Security benefits. Even individuals who are second career teachers and who earned Social Security benefits in their first career are "accused" of gaining a windfall and must be subjected to a pension offset as a result. A person who teaches for 20 years after working elsewhere for 20 years cannot earn both a teacher pension (based on 20 years) and Social Security (based on 20 years); furthermore, teachers are not entitled to collect survivors benefits if their spouse pre-deceases them. On the other hand, 40 years of work in either teaching or a job that pays into Social Security would have resulted in a substantial increase in take-home retirement funds and teachers who spend more than 30 years in the classroom are still entitled to collect Social Security based on previous employment.
3
how nice it must be to walk out of your job, take your employer hostage, neglect your duties, and in return get a 6% raise and less kids to teach. I was in the wrong business!
These cowards should have fired them all. Privatize the system, schools with competent leadership can bid for contracts, schools with useless fat need to be cut. The problem with public anything is the insistence to cater to the lowest common denominator. Some people are not meant to be successful, and some are meant to struggle, that is fine. You get back what you put in. deal with it.
7
@tom
I’ve started and deleted a response to you several times and I just can’t even begin to explain how wrong I think you are. If you haven’t walked a day in the shoes of a teacher you have absolutely no right to pass such opprobrious judgment. Here’s to the LA public school teachers, and to all of us who give so much to and get so much back from the students who are lucky enough to have us in their lives! I might be able to put this more eloquently had I not spent my day teaching and interacting with kids, planning lessons, meeting with colleagues, meeting with parents; cognitively draining but it is how I give to our children and our future. Our role is multifaceted, and eradicating ignorance has never been so important (obviously!)
17
Some people are meant to struggle and that’s fine? What a terrible outlook. Sure, not everyone is cut out to be an engineer or doctor. But why should we condemn those who aren’t meant for “prestigious” careers to a lifetime of struggle? In a well functioning society everyone has a place and should be able to live a comfortable life regardless of the caliber or prestige of their profession.
We can debate the merits of charter schools, class sizes etc. But unfortunately it’s not currently true that “you get back what you put in”. If that bootstraps narrative were true there would be very few people living in poverty. Unless of course you believe all poor people are lazy . . . Free public education should be one of the great equalizers in our society. Let’s have real substantive discussions about how to get the system to work better for ALL children and educators instead of throwing in the towel and accepting that it will fail many.
6
@tom Let's start with trimming all the fat in the US Military: that is a socialist organization. Plus, all that fat could be used for other, more worthy domestic needs. Infrastructure repairs? Clean water in Flint?
5
yet again, unions choose politics over students, and politicians pander to union big money. LA is almost bankrupt and we are.... keeping kids out of school, punishing working families with daycare headaches and withholding schooling
5
Good! Unions work.
48
At last — some good news!
5
now if only Trump, Mich, and Nancy can reach a deal.
Remember this the next time some right-winger tells you that unions are an evil Communist plot to deprive you of "choice" and "freedom." The next time someone extolls the virtues of a "right to work state" where it's every individual employee for themselves against the employer.
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will." And without organizing, employees are usually in no position to make any demands.
33
If public school teachers feel so affronted by charter schools, perhaps they should take a few lessons from the charter schools. A 2014 report on charter schools in Los Angeles by Stanford University showed far greater gains compared to the non-charter public schools. (https://credo.stanford.edu/pdfs/Los_Angeles_report_2014_FINAL_001.pdf)
I don't know enough about the strike to be happy for the teachers or not, but the fact that charter schools outperform public schools in LA is not in question.
11
@Casey L.
Charter schools pick and choose. They can expel students who habitually disrupt. Public schools can't.
Charter school students and parents self select for admittance-- that is, they try to do better. Which schools would you think would do better?
5
@Greg Try reading the study before commenting on it.
The authors of the study controlled it by comparing students head-on; that is, public school students and charter school students with similar academic profiles and tracked them over four years to see how each student did in their respective environments. The charter school students did demonstrably better.
2
@Greg I think you made the point for why charter schools are an option that makes sense for parents. Even if they could not expell kids, the fact that parents and kids need to try to gain admittance, and therefore probably care more about education, is a great thing. As a parent, wouldn't you want to have your child in that environment?
I think there are many challenges for public education and it would be beneficial if there could be a discussion that was not about jobs and pay, but about how to find a better structure. Yes there should be free public education, because we are a democracy and an uneducated electorate is not a good thing, but how do we get the biggest bang for our tax payer dollars?
It is an inconvenient truth that not all students have the same potential or the same aptitude, especially at the same time (when did grouping kids by age ever make sense for education?). There could be many reasons for this: nature vs nurture, socioeconomic status, emotional development (or lack thereof), who knows, I'm not the expert.
Add in that we're caught in the endless race to learn more sooner because tomorrow's jobs demand more and you can see why things are not working out.
Instead of taking on the bigger challenge of how to educate our kids for the next century (or even next decade), we're talking about higher pay and smaller class sizes for the same broken machine we've been patching along for the last 100 years.
1
The same public employee union backed crowd has been in charge of the CA public school system for nearly four decades. In that time the CA public school system has gone from one of the best in the nation to one of the worst. Charter schools were an option demanded by parents who could longer tolerate the violence and terrible teaching their kids were forced to endure in the horrifically bad public school system. A significant percentage of those parents demanding charter schools as an option are minorities.
The teachers demanding more pay in LA already make on average $75k a year, with a benefits package worth another $30k a year. Their retirement plan is more generous (by far) than anything offered in private industry for comparably compensated emplyees. It is the huge amount of money necessary to pay already retired teachers 90 % of their salary (for life) that is crimping school budgets...not Prop 13.
The "class size" arguement is also a red herring and has been used for decades to confuse voters in CA who are too easily swayed by the deliberately false nonsense peddled about "overworked" and "underpaid" teacers... a major voting block continuously pandered to by the single party Democratic political machine that dominates state politics.
The public school system in CA has ceased being about education and instead had become a political patronage job protection racket for the teachers unions which dominate it. Charter school provide needed competition.
12
@Fred Rick If you think class size is a 'red herring,' you clearly know nothing about the subject, and have never taught a class yourself. Everything the teachers asked for was to benefit the students. That includes their own modest pay raise. If it's not a good enough job, then there will be a high rate of turnover, and that hurts students as well.
3
"Everything the teachers asked for was for the students."
Does "everything" include the lifetime healthcare and pensions at 90% of salary for the teachers?
How is that "for the students?"
The public employee unions in CA and their Democratic politician enablers have been feathering their own nests at the expense of tax payers for decades. They have pay, benefits and retirement packages unmatched anywhere in private industry, yet whine continuously about how they are underfunded.
Meanwhile the public schools are horrible and been getting worse for decades. That's why charter schools are in such demand by parents that care about their kids.
Those parents are fleeing the grossly over-funded and incompetent public school system for good (and obvious) reason.
2
Sorry, but you are clueless about teaching in a high poverty school district. Walk in their shoes!
4
50% of the budget is for healthcare and pension obligations. That’s a lot.
4
For me, this strike highlighted 3 things:
1) We Americans need to stop accepting the notion that public services can be starved to death. We need to insist that our tax dollars are used for public service.
2) We need to stop accepting the normalization of public funds being funneled into private enterprises for private profit.
3) We need to stop accepting the false narrative that employers can't afford health benefits and retirement. Until we have universal health care and a universal pension (CA teachers do not receive Social Security), benefits and retirement should be the price of doing business for large employers.
We need to stop accepting neo-liberal ideas that are poison to a working middle class and a healthy democracy.
40
I say - we send these representatives of teachers union and administrators to Congress to educate them how a shutdown could end.
Compromise, split the difference - and move on.
Madame Speaker could have her staff go down their on commercial airlines since she cannot fly on Air Force planes any more as security requires.
Time for Congress to look around in their own country and see how good folks are resolving their differences and moving on.
1
My 5th grade son and I were picketing alongside our teachers in the pouring rain all last week. This is such good news for our students, teachers/staff and city!
11
NO! What's needed is a far different attitude towards the educators of our kids. Along with that, ALL teachers must be at the top 1% - 5% of their college graduating classes. Once selected these people will be paid starting salaries ranging from $75,000 to $80,000 a year with built in solid pay increases along the way. Where will the money come from? BUSINESS property! Where do these business owners think their next employee is coming from? Prop 13 was a political joke on the teacher. This writer is no educator, but I know the importance of an excellent education delivered by the cream of the crop PUBLIC school teachers. Bring it on! We do NOT return to our posts.
2
Don't tell me the a person who drives a $30,000 car or SUV can't afford to pay more taxes to support schools.
7
@RealistGood news...They will pay more taxes to fund a system that is completely inundated by students from low income families that pay little or no taxes. A system that has distorted demographics with the student population very different from the funding population is not going to get a lot of support. Just a fact. The kids in Westwood and Beverley Hills can always go to private schools. That's the problem in Chicago. 90% minority student population with little concern or support from the taxpayers. Sad but true.
1
@Bill
Are we to be satisfied with under-educating the majority of our future workforce and electorate because their parents happen to be brown or poor or both?
https://www.statista.com/statistics/241530/birth-rate-by-family-income-in-the-us/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/241514/birth-rate-by-ethnic-group-of-mother-in-the-us/
I’m dubious that Prop 13 is to blame, as home prices have skyrocketed in the urban school systems of California, dramatically increasing property tax revenues for these large urban school systems. The LA Times itself enphasized huge pension liabilities and too many administrative staff (vs teachers) alongside declining enrollment as the cause of the funding shortages.
1
Rework pensions as 401k, turn over existing pensions to teachers Union for management, and the whining about pension cost as an excuse for under funding schools goes away.
6
The easiest way to solve a problem is by throwing money at it. That doesn’t always mean the thrower is brave and heroic. It often means, instead, that he or she is throwing someone else’s money, and knows that he or she won’t be around to deal with the consequences. Let’s assess whether this a prudent solution five years from now.
4
@Rjm
From what I have been reading lately about teachers' salaries in the USA I don't think you can call giving them a 6% increase or limiting class sizes to 30 is "throwing money at it".
5
@Rjm
If the root cause of a problem is not enough money, such as the LA schools, be best way to solve it is to "throw money at it."
California is awash in money. No one can say providing a decent education to the state's children was beyond their financial means.
2
Hey - some good news. Bravo/a to all the strong, brave, caring teachers and all who supported them.
2
As an ex-LAUSD teacher who left teaching because of the constant fight for better conditions for students and teachers, I wholly support the strike and the teachers.
I first began teaching in 2002 and had many classes with over 40 students. I can't believe this is still going on. What I saw then, and what I see now, is a bloated bureaucracy and unnecessary consultants taking up entirely too much money. New curriculums, along with new texts and useless practice tests were thrown at us every year or two. Along with these came the endless teacher trainings that would take us out of the classrooms for weeks.
The only way to earn decent money was to go into administration...first school administration, then mini-district, then district level. It's a career racket that penalizes teachers and promotes those least willing to stay and help the students.
Teacher-run schools and districts with teachers developing the curriculum and policy would help tremendously. Treat teachers like the professionals they are and you will see results.
118
@Lori my two cents is that all education administration (not talking about non-education staff like facilities folks) should be required to teach one class a year to stay in the classroom and always have a sense of what is happening on the ground.
1
@Paul and @Lori
Right on, guys! You nailed it. The discrepancy between administrative and teaching salaries is a disgrace -- one that is never addressed.
Only teachers should be hired by the district, with those who then opt for administration to still be required to teach or sub at least one class a year.
1
It is not generally known, but the idea for charter schools was first proposed by a UNION leader, Albert Shanker, the president of the American Federation of Teachers in 1988. But these were quite a different sort of school than we have today.
In his charter schools, teachers would be given the opportunity to draw upon their expertise to create high-performing educational laboratories from which the traditional public schools could learn.
Mr. Shanker believed deeply that unions played a critical role in democratic societies and wanted charter schools to be unionized. But he also wanted to take democratic values to an even higher level: Students would see workplace democracy in action firsthand in charter schools because they would see teachers who were active participants in decision making. Likewise, students in economically and racially integrated schools would learn on a daily basis that we all deserve a seat at democracy’s table.
Today, only about 12 percent of the nation’s charter schools afford union representation for teachers. What’s more, an astounding 24 percent of charter school teachers leave their school each year, double the rate of turnover in traditional public schools.
Smarter charter schools could move us beyond stale debates and back toward the original purpose of charter schools: to build powerful models from which the larger system of public education can learn. Charter schools cannot be seen as hostile to traditional public schools.
3
@Len Charlap
The main problem with charter schools is that they siphon off public tax dollars into private entities and with little oversight from school districts that can least the loss of tax dollars.
Furthermore, charter schools frequently operate perform below par in school districts that perform below national and local standards.
On just these grounds alone, charter schools are hostile to traditional public schools that serve the public and the public good, not private interests that have little oversight or accountability. And if you have an exceptional child with special needs...well, good luck with that at a charter school.
19
@Len Charlap This nation is as bad in education as in health care.
2
@Len Charlap that is interesting history, but charter school’s have morphed into a huge public swindle, accountable to shareholders. Administrative costs far exceed teacher salaries: for instance, the CEO of Primavera online charters has awarded himself a salary of somewhere in the vicinity of eleven million dollars annually- it is hard to find reliable data. Charters drop students who fail AP and standardized tests. Check out the much praised Basis school franchise- it is more selective than a diocesan or possibly a private school. Charters also, in my opinion, encourage white flight from integrated public schools. They destroy rather than build a local community school, and are, despite some decent magnet schools, a waste of resources and a sadly unjust scam perpetrated against students, families, educators and the public at large. Education is a public trust and responsibility.
3
LAUSD spent so much money on iPads and then there's just not enough resources to go around. Even after it was labeled a debacle, our Baltimore County, Maryland superintendent was determined to spend a lot of money on technology and the result has been fewer support staff, larger class sizes, unsafe buses and food insecure kids without food to eat. Kids need their basic needs met.
31
I have lived in Los Angeles since 1970, Proposition 13, referred to in the article, was engineered by the largest businesses/landowners in the state, i.e., the railroads, to limit the property taxes they pay. They were able to get it passed by also including a limitation on the amount of property tax increases on non-business real estate, i.e., people's homes. Proposition 13 is the scourge that has destroyed California's once best-in-the-nation public school system, but it has been considered the third rail of politics in the state. I had hoped that Gov. Jerry Brown would have taken it on given his popularity and the acclaim he was given for his economic policies that gave the state a huge surplus. However, for some reason, he didn't. I hope that Gov. Gavin Newsom will not be afraid to do so, perhaps toward the end of his first term, or once he gets re-elected for his second.
The obvious way to end the devastation caused by Prop 13 is to leave it in place for people's homes, but eliminate it for business property.
64
@CA Reader
Prop 13 was at least partially designed to allow people to stay in their homes despite crazily rising property values and increasing tax bills. When a house or other property is sold, the tax value is recalculated. Elderly people were being forced out of their homes after 30+ years because of the property tax bills.
4
@Me
You are confusing what Prop 13 was designed for — enriching the already rich by beggaring poor children — with how it was sold.
2
@CA Reader - As with the (R)egressives repeated rounds of Trickle-Up federal tax "reforms". Huge tax cuts for the pluto-corporatocracy sold by throwing some orts to the Worker Bees.
Wright State University faculty in Dayton Ohio went out on strike today for, surprisingly, many similar reasons. Financial problems caused by years of mismanagement and neglect by the board of trustees. The administration attempted to solve them on the backs of the faculty and students. After being stone walled for 21 months the local AAUP finally was reduced to no option other than surrender or strike.
The fight to preserve quality education sadly is not restricted to elementary and secondary public schools. It is very much an issue at our public universities as well.
50
Prop 13 in 1978 gave business property owners a huge windfall but it won because it also capped rate increases on residential properties.
California voters can remedy that via a new referendum or initiative: keep homeowner protections, but let business property taxes rise with inflation.
77
@expat from L.A.
Good education benefits everyone and all should pay. Property taxes are regressive, so maybe at least a significant portion should be paid through income taxes.
4
Superintendent Beutner is saying they are spending every nickel they have? That may be true, who knows? But Administrative bloat and huge class sizes are directly related. If there are more than 30+ students in a class it is very close to just policing the students and hoping that some are actually paying attention. LAUSD has quite a few bureaucrats and way too many lawyers taking home large salaries to enforce the status quo of 30+class sizes. And, Site Principals should not be receiving extra pay for covering the classes that the work stoppage caused.
25
Good for the Los Angeles teachers who deserve all the public support, living wages and reasonable class sizes that any decent civilization deserves.
"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."
- Robert Orben
135
@Socrates, I’m speechless. A week of picketing in the pouring rain has now been officially validated with your approval. Thanks, I’ll pass this on to my fellow teachers when I go back to school at 5:00 this afternoon to vote to accept the tentative offer from the District.
3
@Socrates
We have ignorance. That is why the Government is shut down.
5
@Socrates
The definition of ignorance resides in our White House, believing itself to be our President, tearing our dying Democracy apart, dividing the population, turning people against each other, seeding anger and distrust at an increasing rate, for the economic benefit of the Masters of Mankind.
Have a listen to Noam Chomskys' documentaries, including the following part 1 -
https://chomsky.info/05082016/
Main Chomsky site -
https://chomsky.info
4