LA teachers threaten strike; policy expert says ‘broke’ district can’t afford raises, accuses union of playing politics

The Los Angeles teachers’ union is under fire after authorizing a strike next month if the nation’s second-largest school district won’t meet its demands.

United Teachers Los Angeles’ 37,000 members, along with bus drivers, teacher aides, custodians, cafeteria workers and other roles covered by the Service Employees International Union, voted to strike April 14 unless the Los Angeles Unified School District grants demands including a 17% pay raise over two years, no layoffs, smaller class sizes, AI protections, and agrees to hire more student support services personnel such as mental health counselors.

Some say the strike appears to be part of a larger, coordinated effort by the California Teachers Association to gain political power. Across the state, more than two dozen districts are striking or threatening to strike because of expired contracts.

CTA President David Goldberg denied it was a coordinated effort, but acknowledged the association is working on a ballot initiative to increase public school funding.

8% raise not enough

In Los Angeles, the district is offering an 8% raise plus a one-time bonus, but the union cites inflation and housing costs to justify its demands, the Los Angeles Times reports. If a settlement isn’t reached, nearly 400,000 students and 32,000 adult learners will be put out of school as 60,000 workers walk off the job.

A bigger issue, however, may be whether the district has the resources to pay the raises.

According to the California Policy Center, LAUSD is running an $11.4 billion deficit, and enrollment is declining, giving it little chance to turn around its fiscal situation.

“As one of the most fiscally distressed school districts in America, drowning in an $11.4 billion unrestricted net deficit, hemorrhaging students, and still without its own superintendent due to ongoing legal troubles, it is absurd to demand a 17 percent raise over two years for results that would embarrass most private-sector employers,” writes Lance Christensen, the center’s vice president of governmental affairs and education policy.

“But the teachers’ unions have no shame, only contempt for the students they’re failing to serve while they abandon them yet again.”

3rd strike in 7 years

The union last struck in 2019 for six days, which yielded a 6% raise, a reduction in average class sizes and a commitment to hire more staff. The teachers’ union joined SEIU for a three-day walkout in 2023 that resulted in raises and increased benefits for support staff.

Acting Superintendent Andres Chait, who is filling in for Alberto Carvalho, who is being investigated for alleged wrongdoing, said that “nobody wants a strike.”

“Strikes are not good for students,” he said. “They are not good for our schools. They are not good for our families. I truly believe that our labor partners also do not want a strike.”

He added that the union’s demands must be balanced with the district’s ability to pay and said the 8% raise is “among the highest offers in the state.”

Christensen, who ran for state superintendent of public instruction in 2022, called the union’s tactics “a shakedown.”

“UTLA’s demands read like a parody of public-sector excess,” he wrote in a piece published in the Orange County Register. “A 12.6 percent retroactive increase to the base of every salary schedule with an additional 3 percent raise this July. A new wage floor of $80,000 for starting teachers and a top rate of nearly $134,000. Unreal.

“In what universe does a public institution with these kinds of numbers think its employees deserve a raise?” he asked.

The union also wants “four weeks of fully paid parental leave for all employees and contractual protections against artificial intelligence replacing union jobs. Read that again: the union wants to protect educators from AI even as many of those same educators use AI tools in their own classroom lessons every single day.”

He says the strike is part of a deliberate political strategy by teachers’ unions across the state to use contract negotiations as leverage, with strikes threatened during the school year instead of finishing negotiations over the summer.

“Nobody disputes that teachers have every right to organize and to advocate for fair compensation,” he concludes. “But a district without a permanent superintendent, operating under a fiscal cloud, and facing billions in legacy liabilities, shouldn’t sign a contract now that will compound these deficits for generations. This government union extortion exercise needs to stop now.”

But union President Cecily Myart-Cruz is already telling members not to believe that the district can’t pay.

“When they say tomorrow they don’t have the money – we’re on a fiscal cliff – are we going to believe them?” Myart-Cruz said at a rally announcing the strike, to which the crowd answered back, “No.”

The strike threat comes after the district laid off 3,200 employees last month to save $250 million as part of its fiscal stabilization plan. Enrollment fell 3% this academic year – twice the district’s prediction – which was attributed to stronger immigration enforcement.

Carvalho, who announced those layoffs, said the crisis developed “over time” and that the situation had become “untenable,” since the district hired 6,000 people during the COVID-19 pandemic with one-time funds.

As adults squabble student performance continues to lag, with only about 25% of LAUSD students scoring proficient in reading and math on national standardized tests.

California is one of 15 states without a school choice program, giving families limited opportunities to escape failing schools.