A fact-finding report in LAUSD contract talks proposes raises and a three-year deal, but UTLA rejected it as an April 14 strike deadline approaches
and United Teachers Los Angeles is exposing deep divisions between the district and its teachers union, leaving key issues unresolved as talks continue. The nonbinding report, released Monday as part of California’s impasse process, recommends a 3% one-time payment in 2025-26, an 8% across-the-board raise in 2026-27, and a 3% raise in 2028.
LAUSD embraced the findings as fiscally responsible, but union leaders rejected them, arguing the report failed to seriously examine the district’s finances and instead asked educators to trade students’ needs for salary increases. In a statement released Monday, the district called the report fiscally responsible and said it recommends meaningful raises without overreliance on one-time funds or reserves for ongoing obligations. “The District appreciates the report’s balanced, fiscally responsible framework and the work of the neutral chair in providing recommendations to help move the parties toward resolution,” LAUSD said in a statement Monday. The fact finder, Donald Raczka, also recommended a three-year agreement through June 30, 2028, along with four weeks of paid parental leave and language stating that advanced technology, including artificial intelligence, should not replace bargaining-unit work or be used to surveil employees or students. UTLA blasted the report in a statement posted Monday on its website, saying it “asks educators to sell out student needs for a salary increase” and ignores both the union’s financial analysis and progress the parties had already made at the bargaining table. “The fact-finder’s recommendation that we drop all our demands in exchange for a raise essentially asks us to ignore our most vulnerable students and compromise the support they need,” Sarah Kim, a school psychologist and UTLA bargaining team member, said in a statement. “Framing this as a trade-off for compensation is not only disrespectful — it is unconscionable. Our students, families, and school psychologists deserve better.” At the center of the dispute is not only the size of the raises, but how much money LAUSD can reasonably commit to ongoing costs. In the report, the fact finder wrote that he was less certain of UTLA’s claims that the district could draw more heavily from reserves, reduce other post-employment benefit commitments or count on additional Proposition 98 funding — which helps determine how much money California provides to K-12 schools. “However, given the size and complexity of LAUSD’s budget, verifying the accuracy of these claims would require considerable time and effort, well beyond the scope of the Chair’s expertise in forensic accounting,” the report said. That conclusion became a major point of disagreement. In its dissent, UTLA argued the chair failed to do the core work of fact-finding and did not fully examine how much funding the district could allocate to salaries and student supports. “What was needed of the Fact Finder was a dive into the financial analysis of both parties to determine what portion of the budget could be allocated to these needs,” the union said. “What we received was a declaration that doing so is too ‘time-consuming and labor-intensive.’” UTLA has sought a roughly 17% pay increase over two years. LAUSD has said its latest proposal amounts to an 8% raise plus a one-time 3% bonus over the next two years. The union also criticized the report’s recommendation to preserve the status quo on most other unresolved issues, including subcontracting. In its dissent letter, UTLA said the district had already made a formal proposal that represented progress on subcontracting, and argued that the recommendation to leave that issue unchanged was “a step backward.” Both United Teachers Los Angeles , which represents about 37,000 educators, and SEIU Local 99, which represents support staff, said they will strike on April 14 if an agreement is not reached. A strike could involve tens of thousands of workers —including teachers, bus drivers, custodians and cafeteria staff, and disrupt instruction for more than 500,000 students across the nation’s second-largest school district.LAUSD board votes to rename Cesar Chavez Day as ‘Farm Workers Day’No more Cesar Chavez day, but some offices, services will still be closed in LA CountyInside Paul McCartney’s Friday night performance at LA’s Fonda TheatreHere are the budget priorities for LA County state lawmakers‘No Kings’ protesters in Southern California among 8 million demonstrators across the US
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