The Brief

Los Angeles Unified special education teachers and parents are bracing for another year of large classes when the new school year begins, despite a first-ever limit the union negotiated this spring.

With booming special education enrollment, teachers say the district needs to hire more full-time staff to ensure tens of thousands of students receive the extra support they need — and are legally entitled to — every day.

Under the new contract ratified by UTLA, resource services teachers are limited to supporting 20 students each in integrated classes which include both special and general education students. Resource services teachers are designated to students and collaborate with other teachers to support them.

Classrooms with only special education students have different ratios, and those teachers qualify for a monthly stipend of $500 to $1,000, depending on how many students over the limit they have.

But teachers say that although the extra pay doesn't hurt, they want the district to focus on making both kinds of classes smaller.

Debby Schneider, a special education teacher and UTLA committee chair, told LAist that it’s not about the money.

“The stipend is to deter the district from overloading us. Really, what they need to do is open more programs and hire more educators,” she said.

Stipends for large classes aren’t new, but Schneider told LAist that in previous years, extra compensation didn’t stop the district from overfilling classrooms. Because of that history, she said she’s concerned this year won’t be any different.

As of July 17, there were 22 open positions for teachers in full-time special education classrooms, and three vacancies for those who work in integrated classes.

There are over 70,000 students enrolled in LAUSD’s special education services, which include support for learning disabilities, autism, and hearing and visual impairments. A district spokesperson wouldn't specify how many integrated classrooms are overfilled. The district is “continuously assessing staffing needs,” the district wrote in a statement, but would not comment on specific plans to hire more special ed teachers for the upcoming year.

A growing need

According to UTLA, the number of students in LAUSD’s special education services has grown over 7% since 2022, even though overall student enrollment is down by nearly 4%.

Emily Kolman, whose kindergartner receives speech therapy services, said that resources are overextended and the district isn’t doing much to help.

Kolman said her son was in an integrated class of 26 students last year. She told LAist that the teacher continuously asked the district to help her work with students in smaller groups. That help only came near summer break, which made it hard to identify students who needed extra support through the year.

Kolman and her son's teacher acknowledged that her son needed additional behavioral testing, but it was “like pulling teeth” to get a screening organized by the district. She’s now paying out-of-pocket to get him tested privately.

“I feel like our students with needs are bothersome or a nuisance for the public school” district, she told LAist.

The challenges of larger classes

LAUSD teachers say they can’t support students in growing class sizes alone.

Margaret Miller, an elementary school special education teacher, recalled that in one large integrated classroom she assisted, a student would climb on the teacher while she gave a lesson.

“When you're getting another student, it's not just a body. It's not just a kid in the classroom. It comes with quite a bit of work,” she said.

Amy Bogartz, a teacher of Deaf students, emphasized that in special-needs settings, each student requires personalized support.

“Every student requires something different. You have a student that you just need to check in on. … Then you have that other student that you need to spend three hours with,” she said.

Teresa Gaines is a parent of an 11-year-old with phonological awareness deficit and “focus issues.” She said her family is feeling the impacts of large integrated class size. She told LAist that her son’s classes have ranged from 21 to 24 students and he has often had to wear headphones to block out the noise to concentrate.

Teachers are burning out too

Some teachers said their colleagues are leaving the classroom because they’re stretched too thin to handle student behavior, or because they don’t feel supported by their school’s administration.

According to EdSource, LAUSD’s special education teacher retention rate dropped from 90% to 77% between 2021 and 2024.

UTLA's Schneider explained that the special education workload is particularly challenging. She said some teachers have duties similar to general education teachers, including writing report cards, on top of the special ed services they provide. With extra students, it can cause exhaustion, she told LAist.

Gaines, the parent of the 11-year-old in special ed, said it’s important for the district to retain teachers who have extensive experience with special education.

“I don't want to lose staff who are already teaching and in the system. I'd rather support them … so that they can further benefit all of our students,” she said.

What’s next

Teachers of classes with only special education students can qualify for the new monthly stipend starting this fall. If their class is two or more students larger than the ratio, they will be paid through a process that includes verifying the class roster.

Contract negotiations for next year will begin in the spring.

Most Southern California renters continue to struggle to find housing they can afford. An important — and for some, possibly life-changing — option opened up on Monday for low-income residents.

The Los Angeles County Development Authority (LACDA) began accepting applicants for its waitlist for public housing for a limited time.

Tracie Mann, the chief of programs for LACDA, said the waitlist was last open in April 2024.

“We need to refresh the list, get new families who are interested in applying, not only to our family sites, but also to our senior sites,” she said.

Mann said she expects more people to apply now because of the sharp rise in the cost of living.

“We know that housing is a serious need here within the region of Los Angeles County, and having LACDA in a position to be able to offer public housing units to those most in need is just so… critical,” she said.

The rent in these county-owned and managed units is generally capped at 30% of a household’s gross income. That limit helps families build savings, said  Justin Fitzsimmons, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.

“It is a really valuable resource and can be a great opportunity for people to be able to build wealth in this economy and set up their generations in the future,” he said.

Orchard Arms is a public housing property with 183 units in Valencia. It's reserved for seniors.

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Courtesy Los Angeles County Development Authority

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It’s common, Fitzsimmons said, to see clients come to his office for legal help after a life event, such as an accident or major illness that has depleted their savings.

"Public housing is a really wonderful opportunity for a person to help to weather those events that life throws your way," he said.

The waitlist application window opened at 8 a.m. Monday and is set to close at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16.

Here’s who qualifies and how to apply

To qualify, families must be earning significantly less than the median income in L.A. County. There are different tiers, Mann said, including 30% and 50% of that median income.

People in L.A. County will fall below the 50% threshold if they earn up to $58,300 per year. Families of four will meet the cutoff if they earn no more than $83,300 per year.

Follow this link for more information about how to apply. If you’ve already registered with LACDA, you can apply at this link.

South Bay Gardens is a public housing property with 100 units in South Los Angeles.

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Courtesy Los Angeles County Development Authority

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You can seek help with your application by calling LACDA at (626) 586-1522 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

LACDA staff also helps people complete their online applications in person at their offices in Alhambra. Their address is 700 W. Main St., Alhambra.

Location, location, location

LACDA oversees public housing on 68 properties for more than 6,600 residents. The agency is opening up wait list registration at only 16 of those sites. Thinking about which location to apply to is important because if you apply to a location and you don’t accept the unit that you’re offered, you will be removed from the waiting list until it opens back up.

People leave public housing units for various reasons, Mann said, such as moving outside the county, finding another apartment or facing eviction. She said LACDA’s public housing program averages 300 vacancies per year. Wait times can be months or longer, depending on vacancies at each property.

Applications for the smaller properties will be capped at 1,000 applications, and their waitlists will close early if that threshold is reached before Sept. 16.

You can find more information about the 16 sites opening their waitlists at this link.

Los Angeles Lakers governor Jeanie Buss is legally contesting her siblings’ plan to sell the family’s remaining 17.8% minority ownership stake in the team to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, according to a letter obtained Monday by the Associated Press.

ESPN and The Athletic first reported that the siblings had voted to sell the family trust’s remaining interest in the 17-time NBA champion team purchased by their father, Jerry Buss, in 1979. The decision would end Jeanie Buss’ tenure as the Lakers’ governor because that job requires at least 15% ownership of the team.

Jeannie Buss’ attorney, Adam Streisand, wrote to representatives for her five siblings to state that any decision to sell the family trust’s ownership stake could not be “effectuated without approval of the current co-trustees, Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss.”

The letter further states that the co-trustees “are bound to vote the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. shares to ensure that the minimum 15% ownership requirement is maintained in order to ensure that Jeanie Buss may remain Controlling Owner. Any attempt by the co-trustees to do otherwise, and any attempt to aid or abet the co-trustees as such, would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court.”

Jeanie Buss has been the Lakers’ governor since Jerry Buss’ death in 2013, and she led the family’s decision to sell a controlling stake in the Lakers to Dodgers owner Mark Walter last year at a valuation of $10 billion. Walter, who is under federal investigation for tax issues, abruptly reached a deal earlier this month to flip the Lakers to Kushner and Iger at a valuation of $12.5 billion, another record for a pro sports team.

Venture capitalist Kushner and former Disney CEO Iger are reportedly buying about 65% of the team from Walter. They would own about 83% if they reach a deal with the Buss siblings — and Jeanie Buss would lose the governor role that she had been slated to keep at least through 2030 under the deal with Walter.

Sibling rivalry

The siblings have been in frequent conflict since their father’s death, with Jeanie firing Jim from his job as the Lakers’ head of basketball operations in 2017, followed a week later with a lawsuit against her brothers amid an attempt by Jim and Johnny to oust Jeanie from her role as the Lakers’ controlling owner.

Not all of the six Buss siblings — Jeanie, Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse — were in favor of the deal despite retaining their family trust’s minority ownership stake, and Joey and Jesse were fired from their front-office jobs with the team last November.

The siblings say they voted this month to sell their family’s remaining interest in the Lakers, but Jeanie Buss claims any vote is void. ESPN reported that Jeanie Buss was the only sibling who didn’t support the final sale.

“We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction,” the Buss family said in a statement. “We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles, but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can.”

In his letter, Streisand said Joey and Jesse Buss have leaked information to ESPN for many years “for the malicious purpose of doing harm to the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Dr. Buss’s chosen successor, Jeanie Buss, carries out her father’s wishes.”

Jerry Buss was a chemist and real estate investor who bought the Lakers, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and the Forum arena from Jack Kent Cooke for $67.5 million. The Lakers quickly entered a renaissance in which they became known for their flashy “Showtime” style of play while winning five NBA titles between 1980 and 1988 behind Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

While the NBA and professional sports became increasingly more corporate, the Lakers remained essentially a family business despite their massive profile and steady success. Jerry Buss and the Lakers have employed many of the basketball world’s greatest players and coaches of the past five decades, and Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to five additional championships between 2000 and 2010 before LeBron James added the 17th in 2020.

The sale agreement with Kushner and Iger still must be approved by the NBA’s board of governors, and the process could take months.

Topline:

Cost-of-living: Latinos favored Democrats by 34% when it came to the question about who's better handling cost-of-living. “ It is the economy, cost of living and affordability that is, by a far measure, the issue driving Latino voters and Latino sentiments,” said Mike Madrid, Republican political consultant and founder of the Latino Working Class Project.

More support for Dems? No. This does not mean Latino voters are completely satisfied with how Democrats are running things in California.  "They are just as unhappy with Democrats,” said David Binder, founder of David Binder Research, which helped conduct the poll.

What this means for the gubernatorial race: An overwhelming amount of Latino voters are supporting Xavier Becerra over Steve Hilton, 72% to 24%.  ”If Xavier Becerra wins the election in November, it'll be incumbent upon him to prove that he is also working on behalf of Latino voters and all working class voters to help bring down costs and make things more affordable,” Binder said.