Los Angeles teachers strike all but inevitable

A strike by more than 30,000 teachers in Los Angeles, the second-largest school district in the United States with 640,000 students, is all but inevitable starting on Monday after the two sides did not renew negotiations over the weekend. It will be the first teachers’ strike in the city in 30 years.

Talks broke down on Friday when the teachers’ union rejected what it called a “woefully inadequate” offer from the LA Unified School District.

With no new discussions scheduled, picket lines are likely to form at 7 am as teachers stand firm on their demands, including higher pay and smaller class sizes.

Schools will stay open if a walkout happens. The district has hired hundreds of substitutes to replace teachers and others who leave for the picket lines.

The union has said it was “irresponsible” to hire subs and called on parents to consider keeping students home or join marchers if a strike goes forward.

The district’s latest offer included adding nearly 1,200 teachers, counselors, nurses and librarians to city schools, reducing class sizes by two students, and capping class sizes to between 32 and 39 students, depending on age and curriculum.

The offer also included the district’s previously proposed 6 percent salary increase over the first two years of a three-year contract.

The union, United Teachers Los Angeles, wants a 6.5 percent hike that would take effect all at once and be retroactive to fiscal 2017. Union officials said some of the district’s proposals would expire after a year, calling it disrespectful.

“We are at an impasse,” union president Alex Caputo-Pearl said Friday.

District officials said it was imploring the union to reconsider, adding that it rejected the new offer without proposing a counter offer.

“A strike will harm the students, families and communities we serve, and we have a responsibility to resolve the situation without a strike,” the district tweeted.

Much of the acrimony between the district and the union centers around the new superintendent, Austin Beutner. The investment banker and former Los Angeles deputy mayor took the job last year without any experience in education.

The union argues that Beutner is trying to privatize the district, encouraging school closures and flipping public schools into charter schools. Charters are privately operated public schools that compete with the school system for students and the funds they bring in.

Beutner has said his plan to reorganize the district would improve services to students and families.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti released a statement expressing his sentiment.

“While it appears that there may be a strike on Monday affecting LA Unified schools, I remain steadfast in my belief that there is common ground between LA Unified and UTLA and that this common ground will be critical to a final agreement,” Garcetti said.

“But if the decision to strike is final, we’ve worked diligently over the last few weeks to ensure LA Unified families have the support they need and deserve,” he added.