{"id":91057,"date":"2025-12-12T02:20:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T02:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/91057\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T02:20:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T02:20:09","slug":"long-beach-teachers-union-rallies-against-layoffs-as-lbusd-works-on-balancing-next-years-budget-press-telegram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/91057\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach teachers union rallies against layoffs as LBUSD works on balancing next year\u2019s budget \u2013 Press Telegram"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 100 members of the local teachers union, along with other labor groups, parents, students and community members, rallied outside of the Long Beach Unified School District\u2019s office this week, preemptively advocating against layoffs as the district works on balancing its budget for the next academic year.<\/p>\n

With LBUSD facing a deficit and declining enrollment, among other challenges, the Teachers Association of Long Beach is concerned about potential layoffs. That prompted the Wednesday, Dec. 11, rally, during which union members and city leaders gave speeches, while a crowd of about 200 held up signs that read \u201cStrong Public Schools, No Layoffs,\u201d \u201cProtect Our Students\u201d and \u201cNo Layoffs\u201d as they yelled, applauded and chanted.<\/p>\n

TALB represents more than 3,700 members in the school district and includes teachers, nurses, librarians, speech and language pathologists, coaches, psychologists and counselors, among others, according to its website<\/a>. The union advocates for protecting members\u2019 rights and professional interests with the district, and for improving students\u2019 learning conditions.<\/p>\n

The \u201cNo Layoff Rally\u201d came at a time when the district is looking for ways to allocate its budget for the 2026-27 school year. With a $1.3 billion budget, LBUSD is currently operating on a deficit, according to district data<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of theTeachers Association of Long Beach, along with other union members and employees, parents, students and community members rallied outside of the Long Beach Unified School District\u2019s office to demand no layoffs on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of theTeachers Association of Long Beach, along with other union members and employees, parents, students and community members rallied outside of the Long Beach Unified School District\u2019s office to demand no layoffs on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of theTeachers Association of Long Beach, along with other union members and employees, parents, students and community members rallied outside of the Long Beach Unified School District\u2019s office to demand no layoffs on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 3<\/p>\n

Members of theTeachers Association of Long Beach, along with other union members and employees, parents, students and community members rallied outside of the Long Beach Unified School District\u2019s office to demand no layoffs on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the deficit, TALB representatives and members said, the district should exhaust \u201cevery possible option\u201d to balance the budget before laying anyone off.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no scenario when getting rid of teachers helps learning,\u201d Davy Yap, a teacher at Washington Middle School, said during the rally. \u201cCuts should never come from the classroom. Our students deserve stability, support and to know that their teacher, counselor, librarian will be there for them every day and next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnsuring our schools are stable should be the district\u2019s number one priority,\u201d Yap added. \u201cThat means protecting the educators to ensure our children are safe, have trustful relationships and academic success for every student. Any amount of layoffs takes that away from our students. If the district truly values our students, they must show it.\u201d<\/p>\n

TALB representatives and members said that layoffs would have a devastating impact on Long Beach\u2019s students and community. Many said that taking teachers out of the classroom and removing fundamental student support would lead to larger class sizes and instability in schools across the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have people that are laid off, it\u2019s terrible for the children of Long Beach,\u201d Peder Larsen, vice president of TALB, said in an interview. \u201cIf you\u2019re laying off people, that means we\u2019re going to have less services in our schools. I\u2019m not just talking about academics, I\u2019m talking about educating the whole child, which is a complete package that I believe we do offer now, but it\u2019s going to get harder and harder if we lose people. So, no layoffs is our message.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the district were lay people off, notices would have to be given out in the spring, Larsen said.<\/p>\n

As part of this annual cycle, school have received their staffing allocations to help prepare for the upcoming year. But to date, the district has not issued any layoff notices to employees for the 2026-27 school year, according to an LBUSD spokesperson. Staffing allocations occur every year and allow schools to align resources with enrollment, campus needs and available funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand that conversations about staffing can create uncertainty,\u201d an LBUSD statement said. \u201cThe district remains committed to clear communication and will support employees through the annual placement process.\u201d<\/p>\n

To keep the community informed, the district created a public budget webpage<\/a> where updates, board materials and financial reports are posted.<\/p>\n

Reaching fiscal stability \u2014 amid significant enrollment decline, reduced revenue and the anticipated loss of federal resources \u2014 will require short- and long-term strategies to enable the district to maintain its focus on educational achievement, according to the district\u2019s most recent update.<\/p>\n

Beginning in the next academic year, school staffing will be aligned with projected enrollment for the budget year, according to the update. Site-level, enrollment-based staff \u2013 including teachers, assistant principals, counselors, instructional office assistants and campus assistants \u2013 is expected to be reduced by about $13 million because of anticipated enrollment decline, the update said.<\/p>\n

The district has also started taking steps to increase its savings. Last week, for example, LBUSD announced the closure of Hoover Middle School, which will enable the relocation and expansion of Keller Middle School\u2019s Spanish dual immersion program. It is the second in a series of school closures designed to support more efficient use of district resources, officials said. The closure is estimated to generate at least $700,000 in annual savings.<\/p>\n

LBUSD will continue preparing for the 2026-27 school year as part of a multiyear budget stabilization effort, an LBUSD spokesperson\u00a0said. This plan reflects statewide trends, including declining enrollment and reduced state revenue, which are affecting districts across California.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur work remains focused on maintaining strong learning environments for students,\u201d the district\u2019s statement said, \u201cand supporting schools as they plan for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a time when there is a national educator shortage, TALB representatives said, the district should be focused on investing in teachers and not pushing them out of schools.<\/p>\n

Mayor Rex Richardson and representatives from state Sen. Lena Gonzalez\u2019s office showed their support to the union during the rally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here to support you through this moment to figure (how) we lead in a way that uplifts and keeps our communities whole, because at the end of the day, we\u2019re all in this together,\u201d Richardson said during the rally. \u201cAll of our children, our parks, our librainas, our neighborhoods, our city employees, all of us are in this together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teachers and other district employees said they all hoped the rally would send a message to the district\u2019s Board of Education, administrators and community that layoffs would have a negative impact on students \u2014 and Long Beach generally.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the community; we are the largest employer in this city. If we have layoffs, it\u2019s going to cause ripple effects through our city,\u201d said Poly High teacher Annette Quintero, \u201ca city that already is housing unstable, a city where it\u2019s too expensive to live, and we\u2019re having declining enrollment as a result of losing those students. So now you\u2019re going to lay off more people? It\u2019s just a chain reaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeachers, staff, our union loves this community and we love our students,\u201d Quintero added. \u201cLoving our students means we have to fight for public education and for every job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 100 members of the local teachers union, along with other labor groups, parents, students and community…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,23,131,133,132,49733,137],"class_list":["post-91057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-california","tag-local-news","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-long-beach-unified-school-district","tag-los-angeles-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}