LAUSD board approves plan that could see significant job cuts. What happens now?<\/p>\n
The divisive 4-3 vote approves the issue of preliminary layoff notices to more than 3,000 employees.<\/p>\n
A divided Los Angeles Unified School District Board voted 4-3 Tuesday to issue preliminary layoff notices to 657 employees, as part of a plan to reduce the budget after several years of the district spending more money than it brings in.<\/p>\n
Even as California is poised to fund schools at record high levels<\/a>, Los Angeles Unified and other districts have grappled with increased costs<\/a>. For example, LAUSD hired more staff to support students during the pandemic, and now the federal relief dollars that initially funded those positions are gone<\/a>. For the last two years, the district has relied on reserves to backfill a multi-billion-dollar deficit.<\/p>\n The \u201creduction in force\u201d vote is the first step in a monthslong process that could result in layoffs for a still-to-be determined number of positions.<\/p>\n Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said the focus on cutting jobs at the district\u2019s central office was intended to protect schools.<\/p>\n Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, you’ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. <\/p>\n \u201cDoes it do it at 100%? No,\u201d Carvalho said. \u201cBut this approach reflects the deliberate effort to shield students and frontline educators and support staff from the most severe impacts of this fiscal downturn.\u201d<\/p>\n What positions will be affected?\u00a0<\/p>\n LAUSD staff estimate the proposed cuts include less than 1% of its more than 83,000 member workforce<\/a>.<\/p>\n Notices will go out to 657 positions concentrated in the district\u2019s central office, but which also work at local schools. More than a third of these are IT technicians, by far the largest group.<\/p>\n The plan also calls for reduced hours and pay for several dozen positions.<\/p>\n The board also voted to issue layoff notices to an additional 2,600 contract management employees and certificated administrators as part of a \u201croutine action that\u2019s been taken annually,\u201d said Saman Bravo-Karimi, the district’s chief financial officer <\/p>\n What about teachers?\u00a0<\/p>\n LAUSD said it expects to need 350 fewer elementary and 400 fewer high school teachers next year because of declining enrollment and the closure of some non-classroom positions.<\/p>\n While some educators may be moved from one school to another, the district said it does not plan to issue layoff notices to teachers for the 2026-2027 school year.<\/p>\n The district’s decision is based on attrition and the assumption that a new labor agreement will lower high school junior and senior class sizes, requiring more educators.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a calculated risk that the district is taking on in order to maintain the stability at the schools throughout the spring semester,\u201d said Kristen Murphy, associate superintendent of talent and labor relations .<\/p>\n Were deeper cuts considered?\u00a0<\/p>\n Yes.<\/p>\n Murphy said schools also identified about 800 additional certificated position closures, but that the people in those positions would be moved to different jobs as they became available.<\/p>\n The district is also paying $50-60 million to restore planned cuts to classified positions at school sites.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have worked with every possible solution we can think of to reduce that number of initial [layoff] notices and keep as many of our employees as possible,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n How did the board vote?\u00a0<\/p>\n Yes:<\/p>\n Board Member Sherlett Hendy Newbill (BD-1)Board President Scott Schmerelson (BD-3)Board Member Nick Melvoin (BD-4)Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin (BD-7)<\/p>\n \u201cEvery person in our LAUSD community contributed to the academic gains<\/a> last year,\u201d Schmerelson said. \u201cSo whether these RIFs are approved or not we will continue to fight until the very last minute for funding.\u201d<\/p>\n No:<\/p>\n Board Member Roc\u00edo Rivas (BD-2)Board Member Karla Griego (BD-5)Board Member Kelly Gonez (BD-6)<\/p>\n \u201cI will not accept reductions in force as a default response without a clear discipline showing that this is the most responsible and strategic course available to us,\u201d Rivas said.<\/p>\n Rivas, Gonez and Melvoin are on the ballot in this year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n What do employees say?<\/p>\n Representatives from the unions that represent LAUSD school support staff, teachers and principals asked the board to reconsider the proposed cuts at the start of the meeting and to seek additional funding from the state amid growing revenues from the artificial intelligence industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can decide to be brave and lead in the state by example and show what a fully functioning school system is,\u201d said SEIU Local 99 Executive Director Max Arias.<\/p>\n SEIU Local 99 members, which include classroom aides, IT technicians and gardeners, are currently weighing whether to give their leaders the authority to call a strike<\/a>. Members of the union that represents LAUSD teachers, psychologists, counselors and nurses voted to authorize a strike<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n The unions, as well as several board members, called on the district to share more information about contracts with third-party companies before making cuts to staffing.<\/p>\n \u201cThis framing is not an honest engagement around budget priorities,\u201d said Cecily Myart-Cruz, president of United Teachers Los Angeles. \u201cIt is a tactic used to scare workers and scare our school communities.\u201d<\/p>\n What happens next?\u00a0<\/p>\n By March 15, layoff notices will go out to the 657 impacted employees as well as employees with less seniority in positions that could be \u201cbumped,\u201d to accommodate the employees in the impacted positions.<\/p>\n The district plans to freeze hiring until it can evaluate whether an employee included in the reduction in force can fill any vacant position.<\/p>\n \u201cThe district can\u2019t issue these notices and then hire new people if vacancies come up,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n Staff said the board would vote to finalize any un-rescinded layoff notices in May or June.<\/p>\n What else has the district done to save money?<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s vote is part of a $1.4 billion fiscal stabilization plan<\/a> first approved last June.<\/p>\n Bravo Karimi said additional money-saving strategies<\/a> included transferring $496 million in reserved funding to the district\u2019s general fund and using $796 million to fund future labor agreements.<\/p>\n LAUSD staff\u2019s report to the board said that even if the board approved the reduction in force notices, more cuts will be necessary to balance the budget in future years.<\/p>\n Find your LAUSD board member<\/p>\n LAUSD board members can amplify concerns from parents, students, and educators. Find your representative below.<\/p>\n District 1 map<\/a>, includes Mid City, parts of South LA District 2 map<\/a>, includes Downtown, East LA District 3 map<\/a>, includes West San Fernando Valley, North Hollywood District 4 map<\/a>, includes West Hollywood, some beach cities District 5 map<\/a>, includes parts of Northeast and Southwest LA District 6 map<\/a>, includes East San Fernando Valley District 7 map<\/a>, includes South LA, and parts of the South Bay
Board Member Sherlett Hendy Newbill<\/a><\/p>\n
Board Vice President Roc\u00edo Rivas<\/a><\/p>\n
Board President Scott Schmerelson<\/a><\/p>\n
Board Member Nick Melvoin\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n
Board Member Karla Griego<\/a><\/p>\n
Board Member Kelly Gonez<\/a><\/p>\n
Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAUSD board approves plan that could see significant job cuts. What happens now? The divisive 4-3 vote approves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,220293,3,114725,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-475700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-lausd","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-reduction-in-force","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}