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UTLA reluctantly approves up to 10 furlough days next year
UTLA president Warren Fletcher (L) said in a press release that union members are angered by the one-year agreement they made with LAUSD.
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Vanessa Romo/KPCC
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United Teachers Los Angeles voted in favor of a tentative agreement with LAUSD to save jobs and programs, and maintain class size. The union's members were split 58 to 42 percent, and Union President Warren Fletcher said members are angered by the proposal.
“As their budget priorities demonstrate over and over again, LAUSD has shown its willingness to be cavalier about the needs of schools and students. The Superintendent and School Board have felt free to adopt wildly destructive and irresponsible budgets, secure in the knowledge that the teachers would clean up their mess, that UTLA members would step up and 'do the right thing' for students and the community. And for the last four years, we have done exactly that," his statement read.
The one-year agreement rescinds 4,700 layoff notices and retains programs LAUSD planned to cut, including Adult Education, Early Childhood Education, and SRLDP (School Readiness Language Development Program). Class sizes will also remain at current levels for the 2012-13 school year, instead of being increased by 25 percent.
Fletcher added that if the Governor Jerry Brown's funding initiative fails, students would face a "dramatically shortened school year." Furlough days mean that the 2012-13 school year could be shortened by five instructional days. He said UTLA's next step is to fully support the governor's plan.
Read the rest of Fletcher's statement below:
TentativeAgreementVoteOutcomePositiveFINAL06-16-12
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