LAUSD has stated that they will work to get the retro checks out to UTLA educators as quickly as possible. Of course, we want the checks quickly, but we also want them correct. It takes LAUSD time to process payroll changes for over 37,000 employees. UTLA leadership will be in regular communication with LAUSD on progress.
Salary increases will be rolled out in phases to get everyone to their placement on the new salary scale by June 30, 2027.
Movement across columns (years of service) and rows (salary points) are not restricted by the raise caps in each phase of the new salary scale implementation.
The salary structure has been broken for decades, leaving many UTLA educators with inconsistent raises (some anniversary increases as low as 0.12%), stuck in the 98 salary point trap, or starting at a salary too low to make a teaching career in LAUSD feasible.
The foundational principle behind the new fair wage scale is equity. It is not mere equality, but equity. The goal was to take an unequal, irrational salary scale and replace it with a rational, fair structure that is higher at every step.
Because of how bad the old salary scale was, some people are further away from the new fair salary scale than others — so it will take higher percentage increases for those people to reach their intended placement. If you apply the same percentage increase to a broken, unequal structure it will increase the inequality.
Those getting the biggest raises are Early Education Teachers, who have been terribly underpaid for decades. There are 20 and 30-year EEC educators who have been stuck at the 5-year rate who can now advance up through 10 years and will do so in this contract term. That is why the percentage is so big — to fix this unfairness and lift the lowest-paid members.
This is a one-time adjustment to the salary scale where everyone will get a significant pay raise. No educator will receive less than an 8% salary increase.
Under the old salary scale, many educators were unable to advance past column ten because it required 98 salary points, preventing salary growth across the table despite years of service. This agreement compresses the scale to 70 salary points, meaning educators who are already at 70 or more salary points will be reassigned based on the years they missed because they were stuck.
The number of salary points required to advance past column 10 is permanently changing to 70 salary points, effectively eliminating rows 26 and 27 in the old schedule.
Educators on the 30-year column of the T-Table will see a 9.76% raise by January 1, 2027, amounting to an increase of $11,634
Those retiring at the end of this school year will receive a check for the 4% retroactive raise dating back to July 1, 2025 that will count toward your CalSTRs benefits.
Yes, the “scooting” or column advancement is permanent. When the new scale is implemented, members will retain the new column placement and continue moving forward from the new column placement on your next anniversary date as usual. This is to ensure that all members reach the minimum 8% salary increase.
Yes, your current salary points are accounted for in the “PS Group (row)” on the online salary calculator.
Yes, Career Technical Education (CTE) teachers will be added to the T-table with column placement based on years of service and credit for documented courses eligible for salary points. Secondary CTE Teachers will be placed on and move through the scale in the same manner as other employees on the scale regardless of whether they have a bachelor’s degree.
The Resource Specialist Teacher’s (RST) caseload at schools with 80% of Special Education students in a general education setting for 80% of the day will be capped at 20 students to one RST with one paraprofessional. Additionally, these schools will have ten planning days a year per RST.
All the class size caps outlined in Article XXII, Section 15.0 remain as is.
A separate MOU agreement makes the following changes for Curriculum Based Programs:
These are different settings and are NOT replacing any of the settings in Section 15.0. The MOU agreement outlines guardrails for new settings that were already implemented by the district.
Starting next school year (2026-2027), this agreement eliminates the per-semester stipend and replaces it with an overage penalty of $500 for +2 or $1,000 for +3 paid to educators per classification period for Special Education class size violations (prorated over the total number of class periods for secondary).
The overage penalty pay is funded centrally by the district, BUT your School Administrative Assistant will be able to enter the information, and if an issue arises, it can be remedied at your site instead of trying to get it fixed at LAUSD headquarters. The overage penalty will be paid in your monthly check.
Similarly, Speech and Language Pathologists will also be able to request replacement pay when their caseload exceeds 5 students.
93 new PSA positions, 92 new PSW positions, 88 new School Psychologist positions, and 186 new Secondary Counselor positions will be centrally funded by the district.
With the ratification of this agreement:
Yes. Substitutes will get a 11.65% raise, phased in as follows:
Substitutes qualify for health insurance with 93 days of service (lowered from 100 days) in this agreement.
Educators can request unpaid leave of up to 52 consecutive calendar weeks to attend to immigration related matters without impact to their seniority. Educators can take unpaid days to attend to immigration or citizenship status matters and shall not face any district discipline for following the policies contained in this MOU or applicable district policy.
Under this agreement, the district will increase Dream Resource Centers from 4 to 8, and make them available to school communities at all school levels. This agreement also tasks the district with seeking additional funding to expand resource centers and partnerships with organizations providing low to no cost services for immigrant students and families, and hosting Know Your Rights webinars for families through the LAUSD Office of Student Family and Community Engagement. The agreement has many more supports for immigrant students and families.
