Clad in Red, Teachers March Downtown
Ed Fuentes
UTLA march as seen from Grand Avenue.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — It was a dense sea of red as members of United Teachers Los Angeles marched from L.A. Unified's Beaudry headquarters to Pershing Square this afternoon. There they were joined by latecomers for a rally at the square before moving on to the Ronald Reagan State Building.
The teachers union is marching in opposition to potential cuts in education funding as part of the state's mid-year budget adjustment. When the march was originally announced, the union's attention was also directed at LAUSD, which had said it would be cutting 2,300 jobs. The district has since said it will not be making those mid-year cuts.
Tornadoes28 on January 29, 2009, at 09:07PM – #1
My God what do the teachers think we should do? This is the worst economic crisis in 70 years. California is in the worst fiscal crisis probably in the nations history. Are they insane? We have no choice but to cut EVERYTHING. I hate it too but jeez get a grip on reality.
Rich Alossi on January 29, 2009, at 10:34PM – #2
^ So, what, we cut funding to those who are training the next generation of workers? This is EXACTLY the time to be strengthening our education system.
For too long in this state (and nation), we've piddled along while growing increasingly stupid and consumeristic.
The money spent on education is nothing compared to the literally hundreds of billions in giveaways to greedy financial institutions.
Read anything about Wall Street's 18 billion dollars in bonuses this year?
Steve on January 29, 2009, at 11:35PM – #3
Don't know if anyone else could actually hear it but it sounded like an angry cat yelling for over an hour....repeatedly. I get your point, but really?
Mina Nichols on January 30, 2009, at 08:27AM – #4
We need to stop talking cuts and start talking taxes. Exxon-mobil took a fourth quarter loss of over 30% and still made record profits. Whose money do you think that is they're stuffing in their pockets anyway?
Tornadoes28 on January 30, 2009, at 08:42AM – #5
Rich, everyone on earth agrees with you. But come on, this no average recession. THERE IS NO MONEY.
Tornadoes28 on January 30, 2009, at 08:44AM – #6
Plus, Rich, the State of California is not bailing out the financial institutions nor is it paying billions in bonuses to their executives. So that is really irrelevant when we are talking about the State budget crisis.
JM on January 30, 2009, at 09:42AM – #7
So, we're going to cut teaching positions and funding for education, because the system is broken and our politicians have no clue how to manage the State and City budget? Sometimes I'm embarrassed to live here. There are other "creative" things we would do, like increase taxes on gas (if people still pay $5 for a gallon of gas when prices rise, then surely we can slap on a dollar in taxes when the price is under $3 a gallon), or legalize illegal immigrants (make them pay a monetary penalty and then tax them like everyone else), or how about cutting policing and prison guards? I'm sick of people saying "man up" to teachers when they themselves can't fathom paying more taxes when we're this much over budget, or cutting services they happen to like. Surely we can agree that education and health care are two of the fundamental building blocks of a society? In the meantime, China and India are throwing all the money they can at education and have been for at least a couple of decades. I wonder who will be better off in the long run?
Will Berg on January 30, 2009, at 10:37AM – #8
As they say on the Obama Forum ...THAT'S RACIST!
Juanito on January 30, 2009, at 11:06AM – #9
Interesting in that a majority of them were likely administrators, not teachers. Anyone who has ever been involved in education knows that it is the administrators who always get the biggest share of the pie.
Otherwise, if China were to stop buying our T-Bills later this year, everything will go upside down. What we have seen and experienced to date is nothing in comparison with what will likely occur if that happens.
Buy/invest in gold, Katie bar the door and get ready to grow your own food.
rob on January 30, 2009, at 11:12AM – #10
Anyone with half a brain knows that the education system has been underfunded and messed up for a long time. There has been a need for reform for a long time already. Hopefully this period of economic crisis will bring about needed reforms. Maybe the teachers union will be willing to give a concession to spare cuts to the classroom. Dont get me wrong i respect teachers and actually studying to become one myself, but the LAUSD payroll is a bit bloated. http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_10602930?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com From Brewer's half a million dollar severance to the those teachers who are earning over 100000. All this bloated payroll could be slimmed down a bit and the money put back in the classroom on books, computers and etc. I am sure there are plenty other examples where cuts can be made through out the entire system not just in the payroll. So maybe just maybe, these economic crisis maybe whats need. To light a fire under the ass of politicians and supervisors do an thorough audit of LAUSD and evaluation of teachers procedures and expenditures. and bring the reform the education system so badly needed.
But more likely than not, the federal government will bailout california, thus saving the government from making any hard decisions, giving lausd the money it need to keep on in its old and broken ways.
Scott Mandel on January 30, 2009, at 11:27AM – #11
For the general public reading this that does not know the truth about our struggle--here are the facts about LAUSD-teacher battle:
THE MONEY IS THERE!!!! UTLA has identified over 1 BILLION in potential cuts--$845 million in consultant contracts (89% have nothing to do with the classroom), $150 million in non-state/federal mandated exams, $60 in mini-districts, a useless TV station, a 20% increase in administrators since 2001, unused properties--the list goes on. We're not asking for anything that is not already there! We want priorities of limited money to be in the classroom. NOW!
THE DISTRICT IS TRYING TO BREAK THE UNION!!!! We gave them a 3 year health benefit package that met all of their demands and placed spending caps--they rejected it. There are 12 NON-monetary items on the table (i.e. direct election of coordinators), all have been rejected. A major piece of their "savings" plan is to have all new hires lose lifetime benefits (one of the ONLY reasons for teachers to work in LAUSD with our low pay and conditions)--this would not save anything for 30-35 years!!!!
The District drew a line in the sand, and we're teaching our students through our example that at some point you need to stand up for what is right!
Shelley Noble on January 30, 2009, at 04:58PM – #12
I understand the proposed cuts were targeted at scheduled increases not direct budgetary cuts. Plus, money isn't what lacking in the public schools, based on results per student spending. I'd re-look at the unions at this point as the source of LAUSD's problems/misdirected funds and agendas.
Perhaps public education is anachronistic in these current societal shifts.
Perhaps the better way to educate going forward will involve inventive home schooling and/or charter school programs. The way we have been approaching it clearly no longer works.
JM on January 31, 2009, at 11:21AM – #13
Well, that begs the question: how do they manage to implement public education successfully everywhere else?
cc on February 05, 2009, at 09:56PM – #14
I am a parent but I think the public school system here is broken. It is better off that they dissolve the system and go with subsidized education. That is how some of other countries do it. There is no dedicated school district and every student is entitled to being accepted by any school as long as they can pass the test and make the grade. It is basically School of Choice.
I'm very tired of these teacher unions. Don't get me wrong; a lot of the teachers are good but the system is just not functioning. Competition improves quality of the product. The way our school district is set up; you need to move out of LAUSD in order to get a good education. With all money that we are pouring into LAUSD, we are surely not getting good results. We don't need public schools; we need free educatin for all the kids and public schools are not the answer.