Beyond Recovery

Our schools and communities — historically underfunded and disproportionately impacted by the pandemic — need a comprehensive plan for pandemic recovery and beyond. 

The Beyond Recovery platform, developed by UTLA educators, parents, and community allies over months of meetings and dialogue, addresses the urgent needs of our students at a time when historic levels of funding are coming to school districts.

The district projects it will be sitting on nearly $5 billion dollars in reserves by the end of the 2022-2023 school year — a rare and crucial opportunity to make investments that ensure our neighborhood public schools meet the unique needs of students, families, and educators in each community. 

In Spring 2022, UTLA educators brought the Beyond Recovery platform into negotiations with the school district. This is a pivotal time when educators standing with parents and the community can collectively fight to transform public education in LA.

• Fully staffed schools: each school should be fully staffed with nurses, counselors, social workers, psychologist, and other support staff so that every student ca get the support they need.
• Competitive salaries: LAUSD educators make about 20% less than other professionals with similar education and experience. Many are struggling to keep up with their bills and must work a second job to make ends meet. Seventy percent of educators in LAUSD have considered leaving the profession. We are already facing an educator shortage crisis and without meaningful investment, the impact on students and our schools will continue.
• Class size reduction: In 2019 we won the right to enforce class size caps and a reduction, but we still have a long way to go. We need smaller class sizes to create healthy learning environments for our students and allow teachers to provide individualized support. 
• Community Schools and targeted support: The existing 34 Community Schools can transform education with resources for family, community, youth engagement, broadened curriculum, and wrap-around services. We are demanding the expansion of Community Schools across the district as well as the expansion of the Black Student Achievement program. 
• Green schools : LAUSD owns and operates 6,400 acres of property. Solar panels on every building and water collection on the grounds would significantly impact energy and water usage. Proactive climate justice and mitigation practices — like creating cooling centers at schools and planting trees on campuses — can help communities fight increasing impacts of climate change
• Special Education: Special Education in LAUSD is underfunded by nearly $1 billion, which negatively impacts all students. An essential victory from the 2019 UTLA strike was the creation of a new article in our contract that specifically addresses Special Education issues, and we need our new contract demands to build on that work.