Landmark Wins for the Salary Scales, Special Ed, Student Support Staffing, and More

At 3 AM on April 12, 2026, the 150-member UTLA Bargaining Team reached a tentative two-year agreement with the district, with big wins. The flexing of our collective power forced LAUSD to direct significant funding into critical priorities identified by UTLA members in the Win Our Future contract demands. 

• Broken salary scales fixed for the first time in decades 

• Average salary increase of 13.86%, with a minimum increase of 8% 

• Paid Parental Leave for the first time 

• More than 450 new PSAs, PSWs, School Psychologists, and Counselors positions 

• Breakthrough Special Education agreement with first-ever 20:1 ratio for RST and planning time at schools, with 80% of students in general ed setting for 80% of the day  

• $500 for +2 or $1,000 for +3 overage penalty paid to educators per classification period for Special Education class size violations, prorated for secondary. 

• Protections and right to bargain over subcontracting and AI 

• Contractual commitments in support of immigrant students and families 

• Healthcare for substitutes after 93 days of work 
• Maintains BSAP staffing 

Our proposal focused on five key priorities:

• Fixing the scale structure with rational uniform percentage increases as one moves across the columns for years of service and down the rows for salary points (some steps had anniversary increases as low as .12%). 

• Allowing employees to advance past column 10 at 70 salary credit points as opposed to 98 (more than 3,000 veteran educators have been stuck around column 10) 

• Getting the largest raise possible at every point on the scale. 

• Making sure that even the minimum raise was significant. 

• Getting as much money in people’s pockets as quickly as possible.