Furlough Days Agreement Offers Short-Term Relief for Schools

There are a few rays of hope for anxious LAUSD parents. Firstly, the state budget crisis looks a little less grim than it did in February. The state’s tax receipts are now expected to be about $6 billion higher for the year than projected during the winter. Even though the Legislature hasn’t reached a budget deal, schools are expecting to get a share of that increased revenue under formulas mandated by law.

Closer at hand, United Teachers Los Angeles, the union that represents LAUSD teachers, has reached a tentative agreement with the district to accept furlough days for the next school year. The unpaid days for teachers would preserve class sizes in elementary schools at current levels and save the jobs of librarians, nurses, magnet coordinators and teachers who had received pink slips from the district this spring.

The deal must be ratified by the union’s members in a vote that will be held on June 2 and 3 and tallied on June 4. Local parent activist and public school guide writer Tanya Anton believes the teachers will ratify the agreement to save jobs.

“Everyone seems fairly certain that this will pass and the majority of teacher positions, including librarians and nurses, will be restored,” Anton said. “Class size will remain the same for next year. I personally am grateful to our teachers for making this sacrifice.”

At my children’s school, , the UTLA agreement will most likely preserve the jobs of two beloved teachers. However, another excellent teacher's job may still be in jeopardy. 

Several teachers and a librarian at received pink slips as did a part-time nurse and librarian at and eight teachers at . Based on UTLA's statement, it looks like many of these jobs might be saved.

During the spring, 7,000 district employees received pink slips, 5,000 of them teachers. The other unions that work with the district have already made agreements to accept furlough days for next year. If the teachers union ratifies this deal, at least 3,400 jobs will be restored. Class sizes will stay limited at 24 for kindergarten through the third grade, and many fine teachers and other crucial school employees will continue to do the important work of helping and inspiring kids to learn.

However, the bigger problems remain, and the sad truth is that this same cycle of crisis budgeting, warnings of mass layoffs, program cuts and class size increases will be repeated year after year. This will happen because the state’s economy continues to struggle and our schools are dependent— along with all state services—on an unstable tax structure and a system of governance that thwarts majority rule when it comes to taxation, yet invites budgeting by citizen initiatives, a process that is easily manipulated by wealthy interests.

We cannot fix these problems without a reprioritizing of education. According to the parent group Educate Our State, California ranks 47th among states in per pupil annual spending on education. At $7,444 per pupil annually in 2009-2010, our state was $2,856 below the national average.

“Our children are part of the collective of our society, contributing to the quality of life we are creating for ourselves and our future," Anton said. "We are either serving them by igniting their desire to reach their highest potential, or doing a disservice to them by allowing that potential to wither neglected and unexplored. Either way, we will pay for it later in terms of their collective contributions to society.”

I hope we can figure out how to set ourselves on a more stable and sustainable course that values education so that we can create the kind of society we all want. Parents and teachers could then turn their energies toward building better schools instead of protesting and worrying about the endless cycle of cuts that wreak havoc with our schools and our children's education.

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