The Los Angeles Unified School District’s unionized teachers are poised to go on strike. United Teachers L.A. says the district is not being honest about the money it has to spend on raising teacher salaries.
LAUSD School Superintendent Austin Beutner says the union leaders don’t have to take his word for it.
“The State Superintendent has told us we’re in serious financial straits, the County has said we’re in serious financial straits, two independent task force commissions set up by previous superintendents – Superintendent Cortines and Superintendent King – all said the same thing, which is we’re spending a heck of a lot more money than we have.”
He says he’s committed to reaching an agreement and avoiding a strike.
“We’re willing to bargain around the clock, because we’d like to resolve this so that we can take the focus back where it belongs, which is about the students.”
He says the long-term solution is to persuade Sacramento to allocate more resources to fund the LAUSD.
Superintendent Beutner was a guest on “Tilden at 10” with Peter Tilden here on 790 KABC.
By Sandy Wells
KABC News