Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
The Price Tag For LAUSD's COVID-19 Testing Has Been A Lot Higher Than Expected
COVID tests being distributed at Daniel Webster Middle School in Mar Vista.
(
Suzanne Levy
/
LAist
)
This year, the L.A. Unified School District ordered all students and staff to take COVID-19 tests each week — and the costs of this regimen are ballooning fast.
LAUSD projects spending more than $527 million on testing and contact tracing before the end of the school year, according to a briefing officials delivered to school board members Tuesday afternoon. That’s more than four times the amount LAUSD expected to spend on testing last June.
The district has administered between 1-2 million tests each month this school year — around three times the number of tests they expected to conduct last June.
#LAUSD is conducting roughly 3x-4x more on #COVID19 testing than they expected when they wrote the budget in June 2021.
— Kyle Stokes (@kystokes) February 23, 2022
Consequently, they're spending 4x more than anticipated — about $400M over-budget pic.twitter.com/BfMqCbFDqP
Support for LAist comes from
It’s unlikely this cost overrun represents a financial problem for the district. District officials expect the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse LAUSD for a substantial portion — if not all — of that cost.
Still, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho signaled LAUSD may soon be able to revisit its testing policy, which requires weekly negative tests regardless of symptoms or vaccination status. He noted positivity rates on the district’s tests have been trending downward — and almost all staff members are vaccinated.
“Is it still necessary to test,” he wondered Tuesday, “at the frequency and intensity we have been testing, given the extreme cost?”
The superintendent said no change will be made without input from medical experts.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
The critical findings are part of long-awaited after-action report was released Thursday. It contains recommendations for increasing emergency staffing and updating old systems. -
Diving has changed, mountain biking has been added. Here's where to watch the Olympics in person in 2028. -
'A Great Day in the Stoke' is a free, daylong event in Orange County billed as 'the largest gathering of Black surfers in history.' The fourth annual festival is set for Saturday in Huntington Beach. -
Kimmel returned less than a week after ABC suspended his show over comments he made about the assassination of right wing activist Charlie Kirk. -
Southern California might see some light rain tonight into Wednesday morning. After that, cooler weather is on the way, but expect the humidity to remain. -
A gate tax at Disney? It's a possibility.
Best of LAist