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Task Force Proposal For Future Of LA School Police Is On Today's LAUSD Board Agenda
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A school safety task force convened by L.A. Unified School District superintendent Austin Beutner is scheduled to update the LAUSD board at today’s meeting. Documents posted ahead of the meeting show this update will include unveiling “considerations” for deep cuts in the L.A. School Police budget.
The Reimagining School Safety Task Force was formed by Beutner before a board vote earlier this summer to cut the school police budget by $25 million, or 35% overall. The largest reductions called for in a draft document released in advance of this afternoon’s meeting include removing officers assigned to school campuses and instead relying on patrol (listed as a cut of more than $5.8 million), and eliminating weekend and off-hour patrol services (a cut of more than $6.2 million).
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You can watch the meeting on the school board’s website. The regular portion of the meeting is expected to start at 1 p.m. Here’s the agenda.
On social media, the organizing group Students Deserve criticized the board for starting its special meeting at 9 a.m., when students are expected to be in class or doing school work. The group is planning a rally outside of the district headquarters beginning at 3 p.m. Students Deserve has called out the task force for not including students as members.
After two board meetings in June that went late into the night and included hours of public comment, the board voted 4-3 in favor of the $25 million cut to the school police budget. Student organizers and advocates have previously called the 35% reduction a first step, while school police and supporters argued it goes too far. In response to the cuts, the then-police chief resigned, and Leslie Ramirez was named the Los Angeles School Police Department’s interim leader.
I’ll be livetweeting updates from the meeting on Twitter. We’ll also update this post as the meeting and discussion get underway.
READ MORE OF OUR COVERAGE OF SCHOOL POLICE FROM OVER THE SUMMER:
- LAUSD Cuts School Police — A Major Victory For Activists — But Mostly Maintains Status Quo In Its Budget For Now
- For Advocates, $25 Million Cut To LAUSD Police Is Just The First Step. For Others, It's Already Too Much.
- School Police Chief Resigns After LAUSD Board Cuts Budget
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