After 6-day strike, Los Angeles teachers win pay rise, smaller classrooms

In addition to a 6% pay hike and hard caps on class size that will lower class sizes immediately in 2019-20, other victories include a counselor-student ratio of 1:500, commitment to reduce testing by 50% and a librarian in every secondary school five days a week

January 24, 2019 by Peoples Dispatch
UTLA in a statement said the agreement covered many of the teachers' demands

The United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) reached an agreement with the city’s education authority, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), on Tuesday after more than a week of strike. The new agreement will reportedly yield a 6% pay rise and put a cap on the number of the students in classrooms.

The union reported that a supermajority of UTLA members approved the tentative agreement with LAUSD, and that the educators will end the strike and return to schools on Wednesday.

More than 30,000 teachers went on strike starting January 14, under the banner of UTLA, after 20 months of failed negotiations with the district. Their demands included more investment to ensure smaller class sizes, more nurses, counselors and librarians, as well as more support for special education, early education, bilingual education and adult education. The negotiations with LAUSD started on January 17.

The UTLA announced that, with the new tentative agreement, they have achieved a complete elimination of Section 1.5, which had previously allowed the district to unilaterally ignore all class size averages and caps.

In a statement, the UTLA said that the agreement covered many of the teachers’ demands. It included a much-deserved 6% pay raise with no contingencies, a nurse in every school five days a week, hard caps on class size that will lower class sizes immediately in 2019-20, with more improvements every year after, a counselor-student ratio of 1:500, commitment to reduce testing by 50%, a librarian in every secondary school five days a week, investment in community schools, clear pathway to cap charters, hard caps on special education caseloads and release time for testing, important wins for adult education, early educators and substitute educators, and progress on common demands, expanding green space and supporting immigrant families.