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LAUSD aims to ease childcare and other burdens of employee parents
Educators say that a major challenge they face is a lack of access to paid family leave. LAUSD will study how to advocate for a change to that.
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Mariana Dale
/
LAist
)
The Los Angeles Unified School District board voted unanimously Tuesday to develop a proposal to better support employee parents.
The board gave staff a February 2026 deadline to draft a proposal. Educators say a major challenge is a lack of access to paid family leave, which will require a solution that extends beyond the district.
California has ongoing teacher shortages. High-poverty schools, including those in LAUSD, struggle to retain experienced teachers.
“We have a big vision in this district for our kids to achieve at really high levels,” said Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin, who wrote the resolution. “We know that our staff needs to be well to be able to do that.”
Maya Suzuki Daniels, a San Pedro High School teacher and a mother to a kindergartner and an infant, pays $1,600 a month for child care.
“Even as someone with resources and strong community supports, I've had a hard time raising children as an LAUSD teacher,” Suzuki Daniels told the board in her comments in support of the resolution.
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Sharpen your pencils and open your spreadsheets. We’re going to talk about pregnancy and work — from family leave to accommodations during pregnancy, and where you can pump when you return to work. -
You're pregnant, and we are here to help, journalistically speaking. -
We can’t make child care cheaper, but we can help prepare you with the information to find resources and support.
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What comes next?
The district will immediately start compiling some information, including affordable, back-up childcare providers for staff. Staff will prepare a report with the most substantive proposals for how to better support parents and present it to the board no later than February 2026. The plan will include proposals to:
- Advocate for state-supported family leave and child care programs.
- Create dedicated spaces for lactation at all district sites.
- Allow employees to donate sick time to their colleagues for prenatal medical appointments and to care for sick children.
- Help employees enroll their children in LAUSD schools, particularly near where they work.
The district negotiates with various employee unions over pay and benefits. The teachers union is currently negotiating its next contract with the district and its platform includes better access to paid time off and parental leave.
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