Nine-year-old Dustin Paz knew he sometimes had trouble seeing what his teacher wrote on the board. His siblings had noticed something else: He was always getting close to the television.
“You need glasses. You need glasses,” Dustin recalled them telling him.
He didn’t believe them.
Then on Monday, the third grader at 24th Street Elementary School put on his first pair of prescription glasses.
“On, maybe they’re right,” Dustin recalled thinking when he learned he needed them.
Dustin was among around 35 students celebrated Monday as Vision to Learn marked a milestone of providing glasses to 300,000 children in California and celebrated the continuation of its work with the Los Angeles Unified School District that will initially bring vision services to roughly 32,000 students at 70 community schools.
A child receives glasses from former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, who founded Vision To Learn 12 years ago, as the organization gives out their 300,000 pair of glasses in California at 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on Monday, October 5, 2026. The nonprofit will screen 40,000 LAUSD students this year. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Vision To Learn, founded by former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner 12 years ago, gives children eye glasses at 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on Monday, October 5, 2026. The nonprofit, which will screen 40,000 students this year, gave out their 300,000 pair of glasses in California at the school. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A child receives glasses from Sherlett Hendy Newbill, LAUSD School Board member, and former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, who founded Vision To Learn 12 years ago, as the organization gives out their 300,000 pair of glasses in California at 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on Monday, October 5, 2026. The nonprofit will screen 40,000 LAUSD students this year. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Kindergartner Ivy Carter, 6, receives glasses from Vision To Learn, founded by former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner 12 years ago, as they give out their 300,000 pair of glasses in California at 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on Monday, October 5, 2026. The nonprofit will screen 40,000 LAUSD students this year. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Children wait to receive eye glasses from Vision To Learn, founded by former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner 12 years ago, as they give out their 300,000 pair of glasses in California at 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on Monday, October 5, 2026. The nonprofit will screen 40,000 LAUSD students this year. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A child receives glasses from former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, who founded Vision To Learn 12 years ago, as the organization gives out their 300,000 pair of glasses in California at 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on Monday, October 5, 2026. The nonprofit will screen 40,000 LAUSD students this year. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, who founded Vision To Learn 12 years ago, is flanked by Sherlett Hendy Newbill, LAUSD School Board member, and David Goldberg, president of California Teachers Association, as Vision To Learn gives out their 300,000 pair of glasses in California at 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on Monday, October 5, 2026. The nonprofit will screen 40,000 LAUSD students this year. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A child receives glasses from former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, who founded Vision To Learn 12 years ago, as the organization gives out their 300,000 pair of glasses in California at 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on Monday, October 5, 2026. The nonprofit will screen 40,000 LAUSD students this year. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Kindergartners Joshua Torres Garcia and Owen Jimenez Sales, both 5, wait to receive glasses from Vision To Learn, founded by former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner 12 years ago, as they give out their 300,000 pair of glasses in California at 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on Monday, October 5, 2026. The nonprofit will screen 40,000 LAUSD students this year. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Kindergartner Ethan Orduna Salgado, 5, receives new glasses from Maria Miranda, United Teachers Los Angeles Elementary President, former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, and teacher Josué Louis Mancía as Vision To Learn, founded by Beutner 12 years ago, gives out their 300,000 pair of glasses in California at 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on Monday, October 5, 2026. The nonprofit will screen 40,000 LAUSD students this year. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
First grader Raymond Quintanilla, 6, receives glasses from Vision To Learn, founded by former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner 12 years ago, as they give out their 300,000 pair of glasses in California at 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on Monday, October 5, 2026. The nonprofit will screen 40,000 LAUSD students this year. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Show Caption
1 of 11
A child receives glasses from former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, who founded Vision To Learn 12 years ago, as the organization gives out their 300,000 pair of glasses in California at 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on Monday, October 5, 2026. The nonprofit will screen 40,000 LAUSD students this year. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
The nonprofit, founded by former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, brings vision screenings, eye exams and prescription glasses directly to schools at no cost to students or their families.
“I think the effort would’ve been worth it just for one kid,” Beutner said, “but it’s pretty cool that we can do it for lots and lots of kids.”
Vision to Learn’s work with LAUSD is continuing under a no cost agreement that began in March 2024 and runs through March 2029, according to district records.
At 24th Street Elementary, the need has been significant. Vision to Learn has screened 407 students, examined 115 and provided 99 pairs of glasses since the school year began, according to LAUSD.
Principal David Owens said the number surprised him. The school has about 500 students.
“Ninety-nine is a pretty sizable portion,” Owens said. “So it did surprise me, but I’m also happy that they were able to receive this pre-screening so that they can get the access they need.”
Some of the students receiving glasses have also struggled academically, Owens said. Glasses alone will not solve every academic problem, he said, but they can remove one barrier to learning.
“I do expect to see a difference in their academics going forward with the glasses,” he said.
For many children, the problem is not simply the cost of glasses. Students, parents and even teachers may not realize that a child cannot see clearly.
Maria Miranda, elementary vice president for United Teachers Los Angeles, said she did not learn that she needed glasses until college. Growing up, she routinely sat at the front of classrooms and assumed she could see clearly. Her immigrant parents could not afford medical or vision insurance, she said, and her vision was never tested.
Later, during 21 years as an LAUSD teacher, Miranda watched students who needed glasses go months without them.
“Every day that passed without having glasses meant another day a student couldn’t fully participate in learning,” Miranda said.
Miranda said families can face barriers to vision care including cost, navigating insurance and language differences. She said some families are also afraid to visit an optometrist because of concerns about immigration enforcement.
At 24th Street Elementary on Monday, some parents said they had not known their children had vision problems until they were screened at school.
Rosalinda Cruz said she did not know her five-year-old son, Abraham Reyes Cruz, needed glasses until his eyes were examined at school.
“When the school told us, we’re excited to hear that our son is going to receive the glasses for free,” she said.
One by one, the students walked onto a stage Monday as Owens introduced each child and shared a few words about them. Beutner helped place the new glasses as families and school staff looked on, with some parents raising their phones to capture the moment.
For Beutner, the event also marked a return to familiar territory.
The former LAUSD superintendent withdrew from the mayoral race earlier this year following the death of his daughter, Emily. Asked Monday about being less visible publicly this year, Beutner acknowledged the difficulty his family has faced.
“It’s been a hard year with my family,” he said. “But it’s things like this that help you carry on and move you forward.”
His relationship with his former district remains complicated.
Beutner said he has “a wonderful relationship” with Superintendent Andrés Chait and current district staff, but he remains in litigation with LAUSD over its use of Proposition 28 arts education funding.
Beutner has accused the district of improperly using money voters intended to expand arts education. Beutner said Monday that LAUSD still has not properly used Proposition 28 money to provide the arts instruction required by the measure.
“We hope that they’ll recognize that they need to do and make sure they not only hire teachers today, but they put the money back that they took from schools that should have been used to hire teachers within the last three years,” Beutner said.
Asked about Beutner’s comments Monday, an LAUSD spokesperson said the district does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation. The district has previously told SCNG it follows state implementation guidance to ensure it complies with Proposition 28 and is committed to providing arts exposure to every LAUSD student.
Still, Monday’s event focused largely on an area where Beutner and the district are working together.
Chait recalled that he had excellent eyesight as a child, until eighth grade, when he suddenly could no longer see the blackboard. Too embarrassed to tell his teacher, he remained quiet for months before telling his parents.
“It took even longer to get glasses,” Chait said.
He praised programs like Vision to Learn for bringing vision services directly to schools, making them more accessible to students.
Few people at Monday’s event illustrated that more closely than Josué Louis Mancía, 24, who severed as master of ceremonies and is director of music at Strive, a nonprofit in the Watts community that offers academic, extracurricular and arts programs.
Mancía received his first pair of glasses through Vision to Learn when he was in fifth grade. Until then, he said, he assumed it was normal for things in the distance to look blurry and struggled to see the board at school.
“When I got my eye exam, I was like, ‘Wait a second, this is not how it’s supposed to be. It’s supposed to be clear,’” Mancía said. “It was just a transformation since then.”
Before getting glasses, Mancía said, so much of his focus went toward academics that he did not think he could take on sports or arts programs. The glasses changed that.
“I was like, ‘Wait a second, I don’t need to struggle with this. I was just fine. Now I can go and do arts,’ and I stepped into a world of music and art since then,” Mancía said.
About a year later, he received a scholarship to the Colburn School of Music. He went on to become a musician and music educator himself.
Mancía first met Beutner as a high school student after Beutner saw his student performing group at an event. Years later, Mancía learned that Beutner had founded Vision to Learn, the organization that had given him his first pair of glasses.
On Monday, Mancía stood onstage as another generation of students received theirs.