At a massive and noisy street rally Tuesday at the Los Angeles School Board meeting, school union leaders spoke out against expected budget cuts that are already affecting decisions at individual schools, where administrators develop plans which will likely reduce employee hours or student programs.
As the crowd cheered, angry union leaders lashed out at Supt. Alberto Carvalho, saying he is going back on his commitment to protecting employees’ jobs and benefits.
Carvalho didn’t have an immediate answer: He was attending a board meeting, hundreds of yards away, at district headquarters, in which one of the main topics was supposed to be school safety, a discussion that has been widely postponed. But Carvalho has repeatedly said he would avoid layoffs in the face of budget deficits.
At a school board budget meeting last week — while also noting estimates that about 10 percent of the state’s school systems are considering laying off workers — Carvalho reiterated his commitment.
“There are over 110 districts … that are currently facing teacher layoffs,” Carvalho said. “This is not a scare tactic. This is what we know.
School systems across the state have had to deal with the fallout of a state budget deficit and the expiration of state and federal pandemic aid.
Los Angeles school officials project general fund revenue for next year of $9.14 billion. Expenditures for next year are estimated at $10.89 billion. The district cannot sustain such a deficit indefinitely, officials said. Despite this, cost savings have been achieved so far with limited impact on students and staff, Carvalho said.
“The school board has taken a categorical position to protect what is essential and, to us, teachers and support staff are essential to a well-functioning and well-managed school system that values and elevates the needs of children. ” he added. “We negotiated historic pay increases – it’s not easy, but we did it… without cutting a single dollar from employee benefits.”
Union leaders, however, accused Carvalho of pushing budget cuts down to the school level, where school communities would have to choose which employees or programs to keep, reduce or do without.
“We are here to expose the deception behind Carvalho’s cuts because they are misleading,” said Max Arias, executive director of Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents the largest number of non-teaching workers, including bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians and teacher aides. “It’s like we live in two worlds. We live in the real world. He lives in a world where he says there are no job cuts or layoffs. But they are happening.
Word of school-level cuts began circulating months ago, as principals began putting together their discretionary budgets. While the district funds teachers – based on the number of students – other services depend on the school. Every school would like to have an art teacher, psychologist, library assistant and more five days a week. But school principals – and the school governing council – have always had to make choices.
But this year, many schools had less money and costs were higher. Teacher aides, for example, were eligible for health benefits for the first time – a cost that was passed on to schools. And even without benefits, the lowest paid workers received significant raises thanks to pay deals reached last year.
Arias estimated that around 8,000 work hours would be lost in the next year due to budgetary decisions imposed on schools. He estimates that would equate to about 1,500 jobs. Arias also alluded to a situation in schools in which principals asked non-teaching workers to take lower-paying jobs or accept fewer hours in order to not qualify for health benefits. For affected workers, the union, in its latest contract, secured health benefits for the first time.
“The way he did it is very sneaky,” Arias said. The “manager calls you into the office and says, “I don’t have enough hours for you next year. So unless you reduce your hours, guess what, you won’t have a job. So what do people do? They reduced their hours. »
Arias said the practice is illegal and the union has filed a complaint with the state labor board — as unions prepare to fight the district again.
It is difficult to know the extent of the practices described by Arias. But a principal attested to the accuracy of Arias’ description of how work hours are reduced and health benefits avoided at some schools.
Local 99 reached an agreement with the school system a year ago, shortly after a three-day strike. Arias threatened another walkout: “You want another round? You got it.”
“Instead of being brave and being a sincere human being, he is a coward because he blames others for his actions,” Arias said, referring to to the budget cuts that school principals are making.
During last week’s budget meeting, Carvalho hinted, generally speaking, to situations where employees had lost hours and benefits. He said the outcome was not as expected and the issue was being resolved.
But the superintendent, who spoke anonymously for fear of potential retaliation, said there was no way to fix the problem without providing more funding to schools.
At the rally, a King Middle School teacher said her school had to find $800,000 in cuts.
At last week’s budget meeting, Carvalho pledged to provide additional general funding to schools and also, separately, to school arts programs that have been cut. He also said individual schools can request more dollars — as long as they include an accountability plan for spending.
The dollar amount to be distributed and the impact are uncertain.
After Arias’ speech, Cecily Myart-Cruz, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, addressed the crowd.
“A Carvalho cut is when you have billions in the bank but you neglect students,” Myart-Cruz said.
Unions estimate this figure at $6.3 billion. District officials insist that figure is misleading and that the reservations are justified — or will be once state budget cuts are implemented and the next round of contract negotiations is concluded.
Budget management is “one of the most difficult topics a district can face, right?” » Carvalho said during the budget meeting. “The shutdown of (pandemic relief) funding to the tune of billions of dollars, a growing statewide deficit, escalating health care costs, an increasing cost of living in our community which has exceeded that of the State without any attempt at regionalization. »
But Myart-Cruz didn’t buy that explanation as she rallied union members.
“Carvalho is a liar… and he is a liar because he says the children come first, but saving money comes first,” she said.
At district headquarters, the lengthy board meeting included public speakers who decried expected budget cuts.
The meeting also included three reports on school safety – also a topic for many speakers who supported or opposed school police. The reports paint a generally positive picture of the district’s security efforts, despite skyrocketing incidents of fighting and reports of vaping and drug use on campus.
As the meeting continued into the night, board members postponed their discussion until a future meeting.
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