After a six-day strike (not including the day off for the MLK Day holiday), the L.A. teachers union announced that it’s reached a tentative agreement with the Los Angeles Unified School District. The union is urging its members to vote yes when a vote takes place later today.
The highlights laid out in a summary on United Teachers Los Angeles’ website include:
- A salary increase of 6 percent (3 percent retroactive for the 2017-2018 school year, and an additional 3 percent retroactive to July 2018)
- A modest reduction in class size over the next three school years (four fewer students total per classroom as of the 2021-2022 school year)
- At least 150 full-time nurses will be hired this school year and 150 nurses next school year, which amounts to a nurse in every school
- At least 41 full-time librarians will be hired this school year and 41 next school year, which amounts to a librarian in every secondary school in the district
- At least 17 full-time counselors will be hired by October
The agreement also addresses testing, green space, charter school caps, and other issues.
In a tweet, The Atlantic‘s Alia Wong showed a side-by-side comparison of what the district initially offered and what’s in the tentative agreement, which indicates the overall financial investment in schools increased dramatically.
More deets on @LASchools‘ tentative agreement agreement with @UTLAnow. The second column reflects the terms @LASchools offered, while the third contains its latest compromises w/ the union: pic.twitter.com/Jzy6vodkxe
— Alia Wong (@aliaemily) January 22, 2019
On Twitter, in response to UTLA’s announcement, a number of teachers expressed dissatisfaction with the deal, not to mention the expectation that they read, process, and vote on the full proposal in a matter of just a few hours.
This agreement is disappointing. This is not what we fought for! Not to mention rushing us all to vote on a 40 page document within hours of posting it. This is not democracy.. I will be voting ‘no’… I know we all miss our kids but we have fought too hard to give in now!
— Ashley Holmes (@ashleyholmes88) January 22, 2019
Teachers have to approve the agreement before the strike ends; it can be read in full here.
RELATED: Meet Alex Caputo-Pearl, the Maverick Union Leader Behind the Teachers Strike
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The post A Tentative Agreement to End the Teachers Strike Addresses Class Size, Pay, and More appeared first on Los Angeles Magazine.
Source: Los Angeles Magazine