The second largest school district in the nation, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), wrapped up week one of the teacher strike with over 900 school sites in participation fighting for their rights as educators and the rights of their students.
Now, as the strike moves toward week two, LAUSD and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) reconvene once again to end the first strike in nearly 30 years.
After 21 hours of negotiating at City Hall with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the two parties have reached a tentative deal that would send teachers back to work on Wednesday.
“I’m proud to announce the pending approval of the teachers who are represented by UTLA and the education professionals, and the board of education that we have an agreement,” said Garcetti during a press conference.
“This will allow the teachers to go back to work on their campuses tomorrow [Wednesday].”
According to the preliminary agreement summary released by UTLA, the deal addresses the creation of a charter school cap and a Governor’s committee on charter schools, class sizes, school funding, salary and more.
“UTLA, LAUSD, and the Mayor’s office will jointly advocate for increased county and state funding. This includes but is not limited to funding for nurses, special education and community schools. The Mayor will also endorse the Schools and Communities First ballot initiative and will work together with LAUSD and UTLA on advocating for the passage of this initiative,” read the agreement.
The summary also stated that the district will adhere to class size averages, hire 150 full-time nurses for the 2020-2021 school year and make available at least 41 full-time teacher librarians and 17 additional full-time counselors by October 1, 2019.
The complete summary of the agreement can be read here .
UTLA Board of Directors is encouraging teachers to vote ‘yes’ on the deal.
“Our members voted 98 percent authorize a strike, and when we end the strike it will also be up to our members to ratify any tentative agreement,” said UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl and the UTLA Bargaining team.
The vote is set to take place on Tuesday, January 22 between the afternoon and the evening. However, teachers, parents, and community members will remain on strike until the agreement becomes official.
This story is currently under development.
