Story Created:
Feb 11, 2009 at 8:30 PM PST
Story Updated:
Mar 19, 2009 at 3:17 PM PST
LOS ANGELES — Unionized Los Angeles Unified School District teachers will hold a strike authorization vote March 20-25 in hopes of strengthening the union’s contract bargaining position.
If teachers authorize a strike, another vote would be held before teachers actually walk off the job.
United Teachers Los Angeles officials said the union is “at a critical juncture in contract talks and health care negotiations.”
Contract talks between the union and LAUSD — which have been ongoing for 18 months — resumed this week. District Superintendent Ramon Cortines said the scheduling of a strike-authorization vote would have “no effect on negotiations.”
“We are working to make progress with all of our unions regarding preserving health benefits, and reaching contractual agreement quickly,” he said.
District officials have said they are facing a budget deficit of at least $500 million, but the state budget shortfall could make the situation more dire. Earlier this month, the Board of Education authorized the possible layoffs of nearly 2,300 teachers, but Cortines decided not to make any mid-year layoffs.
But those cutbacks remain a possibility when the school year ends.
In response, UTLA officials have called on the district to reduce the budget deficit by canceling outside consulting contracts, ending certain district-mandated student testing and reducing the number of school and office administrators.
Some UTLA teachers said they would boycott efforts by the district to administer certain standardized tests they claim are not mandated by the federal government but cost the district millions.
But the LAUSD released a study claiming that the periodic assessments have helped boost overall test scores.
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