Los Angeles Unified teachers returned to work after a six-day strike Wednesday thanks to a deal reached Tuesday morning and approved the following day. The agreement followed all-night negotiations between school district officials and United Teachers Los Angeles with help from Mayor Eric Garcetti.
Under the deal, teachers will get a 6% raise, 3% retroactive to 2017-18 plus an additional 3% retroactive to July 2018. Class sizes are to be reduced by four students over three years (more for special needs classes) and a rule that allowed the district to ignore class size caps in cases of emergency will also be eliminated.
The district has agreed to hire 300 more nurses over the next two years and 82 additional librarians along with more counselors and other support staff. While the union was unable to secure a cap on charter schools, it has been promised greater input on location sharing and the charter school approval process.
LAUSD President Austin Beutner and Mayor Garcetti both referred to it as an “historic” deal. UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl noted the union did not get everything it wanted but acknowledged that’s the nature of negotiations. Beutner said there are still serious concerns about the district’s solvency.
A copy of the tentative agreement, plus a summary, is available here.
For more analysis, visit EdSource and the Los Angeles Times.