The Beyond Recovery platform, developed by UTLA members, 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. It is a comprehensive plan for pandemic recovery and beyond – especially within schools and communities that have been historically underfunded and disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
The district projections of nearly $5 billion dollars in reserves by the end of the 2022-2023 school year opened a rare and crucial opportunity to win significant improvements that ensure our neighborhood public schools meet the unique needs of students, families, and educators in each community.
In Spring 2022, LA educators brought the Beyond Recovery platform into negotiations with the school district. This is a pivotal time when educators, allied with parents and the community, can collectively fight to transform public education in LA. After almost a year at the bargaining table and our collective actions in the streets, the expanded 85-member UTLA bargaining team reached a ground-breaking tentative agreement on April 18. 2023 that goes beyond the traditional scope of bargaining This agreement is the result of all of us standing up for students who need the most support from our morning pickets and regional rallies to the joint March 15 Rally leading up to our historic Solidarity Strike, every win in this tentative agreement is a direct result of our collective power in the streets. This agreement builds on what we won since 2019 and reflects the expansion of the bargaining team to 85 members who represent every corner of UTLA at the table.
Salaries for school nurses that are competitive with private sector positions and will allow LAUSD to meet its current contractual obligation to provide a nurse in every school 5 days per week
Greater pay equity and better working conditions for Adult Education, CTE, Early Education, State Preschool, and Substitute educators
Expanded compensation for extra duty work
Expanded and increased differentials for advanced degrees, Special Education educators, bilingual and dual language educators, CSPP educators, coordinators, counselors, and coaches
Expanded access to salary points to incentivize individualized professional development
Premium-free high-quality healthcare for all employees
Paid planning and preparation time for elementary and early education program educators
Structural support for members responsible for dependent care
Targeted investment in the recruitment and retention of BIPOC educators and service providers
An essential victory from the 2019 UTLA strike was the elimination of Section 1.5 from the contract, which had allowed the district to unilaterally ignore class size averages and caps. The win created enforceable limits for the first time in decades as the initial steps in a multi-year struggle to dramatically reduce class sizes. Our contract demands must continue that work.
• Class size reduction across all grades and school types • Caseload reduction for Special Education teachers, DIS providers, and HHS staff • Increased hiring of HHS and DIS staff • More classroom paraprofessionals, climate coaches, campus aides, and supervision aides • More Counselors, School Psychologists, PSAs and PSWs, certificated Visual Art, Music, Dance and Theater teachers, and full-time PE teachers in elementary schools • Greater limits on the displacement of teachers • Elimination of combination classes
Special Education in LAUSD is underfunded by nearly $1 billion, which negatively impacts all students. The federal government made a commitment over 40 years ago to fund 40% of the Special Education costs for public schools but has never fulfilled that promise. Special Education educators and students have also struggled within a system made worse by LAUSD’s own lack of effective support. 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.
• Increased support for the management of Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and IEP related Assessments • Reduced grade-level spans • Enforceable class size caps • Caseload reduction • Program-specific budgets • Assignment protection for baseline assistants • Accelerated expansion of inclusion programs with greater stakeholder input • Public support from LAUSD for the Fulfill the Promise national campaign to hold the federal government accountable to finally meeting its legal obligation under IDEA to pay 40% of Special Education costs for school districts
• Elimination or dramatic reduction of standardized tests not required by the state or federal government • Expanded access to dual-language programs and multilingual education • Increased access to Ethnic Studies and culturally relevant curriculum • Community-connected/project-based/advocacy-based curriculum with financial literacy, vocational, culinary, nutrition, and racial justice infused teaching across all subject areas. • Increased opportunities for tutoring, field trips, campus clubs, student programs, and enrichment activities • Increased access to electives in secondary schools and expansion of electives to elementary schools • Enhanced library services and resources for all elementary schools • Greater educator input in curriculum development • Systematic inclusion of social-emotional learning in all curricula
Provide updated technology for all students and staff
Increased access to reliable internet service and support for all students
LAUSD to provide (where possible) and publicly advocate for (where necessary) free WiFi for all students and families
Implement a freeze on school closures
End the over-policing and criminalization of students in schools
Professional development for educators on “de-escalation” techniques
Professional development for educators on trauma-informed teaching
Targeted investment in programs that provide healthy extracurricular options for at-risk students
Increase and strengthen educator, student, and parent voices in school decision making
Consistent enforcement of LAUSD policies, including COVID-19 health and safety protocols, at co-located schools
Maximization of protected space for LAUSD students at co-located schools
Increased hiring of maintenance staff to clean and maintain facilities
Appropriate workspaces for all HHS and itinerant staff
LAUSD owns and operates 6,400 acres of property. Proactive climate justice and mitigation practices implemented in buildings and grounds covering that much space in Los Angeles can have a meaningful impact on our communities as we face the increasing impacts of climate change.
Create strategic plan for a Green, Clean, Free, and Healthy LAUSD, including but not limited to: conversion of buses, installation of solar panels, use of school land for collection of clean water, creation of schools as cooling zones, creation of schools as climate change/grid shut-down resiliency centers, and increased healthier food options
Provide support for school/community gardens to feed students and families
Shaded and appropriate play areas for all students
Support of local struggles for environmental justice and equity
Increase healthy food options for students and families that address food insecurity, nutrition, culture, and support of environmentally sustainable and worker-friendly food sources
Expand green spaces and tree planting at schools
An LAUSD audit on green practices, including energy use, carbon emissions, air quality, and water use
Provide funding and develop the necessary organizational structures to greatly expand the number of Community Schools – schools with resources for expanded family/community/youth engagement, broadened curriculum, shared decision-making, and wrap-around services
Provide funding and organizational structures to support existing Community Schools
Support development of Community School pillars and mechanisms in all schools
Increased funding and expansion of the Black Student Achievement Program by providing schools with the highest Black student populations with additional resources focused on social/emotional health, culturally relevant curriculum, and needs-based community relationships
Support for immigrant students and families with and without documentation
Support for anti-poverty programs in Los Angeles
Targeted academic support for unhoused students, foster care students, working students, and parenting students
Push for targeted Section 8 housing vouchers to support LAUSD families
Convert vacant LAUSD property into housing for low-income families
Increased staffing focused on mental health support for students and their families
Ongoing LAUSD support for families dealing with COVID-related academic, economic, health, and racial inequity impacts, in addition to the long-standing, systemic inequities impacting Black and Brown students
Create a transparent system of equitable school funding in LAUSD that supports schools, neighborhoods, and stability and that strengthens the Black Student Achievement Plan and similar initiatives
Formal commitment by LAUSD to not proceed with its “Student-Centered Funding” scheme or other programs to create a marketplace of students for whom schools would compete
For LAUSD to publicly call for and take action to support federal COVID relief monies becoming permanent as of 2024, and publicly call for and, in coalition, take action to support state initiatives in 2024 to permanently increase state school funding
Strengthen limits and regulation of charter schools