01/14/2019 洛学区教师将自1月14日起罢工。《美联社》图 洛杉矶联合学区(LAUSD)近3万名教师将自1月14日起开始罢工,而南加州从内陆帝国到橙郡的其他学区,正在紧密观察该事件的发展。 《内陆谷每日简报》(Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)指出,洛学区罢工或许并不会启发其他学区效法,但本次学区劳资协调暴露的教育问题,诸如班级缩小规模丶教师薪资丶特许学校的增加丶退休基金成本上升等,是圣盖博谷丶圣伯纳丁诺丶橙郡等许多学区都常见的情况。 洛杉矶联合学区的辖区超过700万平方英哩,共计有62万1414名学生。 洛杉矶教师联合会主席指称,过去数个月来,没有赤字且储备金持续增加的洛学区,已表达出明显的信息,就是不愿意满足工会诉求的提升工资丶缩小班级规模丶以及提供学校必要的工作人员(如护士丶辅导员等)。 确实,洛学区在近几年中,储备金正在持续增长中,至去年底已累积了20亿美元的储备金。 但为何洛学区仍要谨慎小心的”锱铢必较”?正如学区官员多次指称,学区系统未来可能会面临严重的财务危机,这并非空谈。 《洛杉矶时报》报道,加州的州教师退休系统正在对学区系统造成财务压力,因为如果没有了某方面的补助款,学区很可能要提拨更多的钱给州教师退休系统,来支付加州退休教师的退休金。 新上任的州长纽森(Gavin Newsom)上周所提出的预算案中,已包括此项目的短期补助款,暂时可减轻学区退休金支付的压力。但未来的情况仍非常不明朗。 基於过去”终身福利”的制度,洛学区还面临着广大退休人员,健康福利成本增加的问题。这种福利制度是非常罕见的,但根据会计师近期对该项目评估指称,支撑”终身福利”退休员工的成本,高达每人为25万美元。 尽管当前获得学区”终身福利”资格的规则,变得非常严格,但过去已获得”终身福利”者的开销,仍会影响未来10年至15年的学区经费使用。 雪上加霜的是,该学区面临未来入学率将缩水的压力。人口居住的趋势,影响了学区的发展,洛杉矶联合学区辖区的居住成本高涨,逼着许多年轻家庭丶中产阶级搬离洛学区的范围。 据最新分析数据显示,洛杉矶郡在未来10年内,将失去超过16.1万名学生,而每位学生代表数千美元的教育经费拨款,这代表学区将流失大笔的教育经费。 但对大学区(洛学区)和小学区(周边其他学区)的教育工作者来说,诉求小班教学丶学校需配备有护士和辅导员丶提升教师薪资,此类提升公共教育品质的理念,是一致的。 因此本次洛学区教师大罢工,影响的不单是洛学区的学生,可能也将对周边学区产生连锁反应。 Offering serious and challenging mathematics to intellectually gifted students 01/14/2019 LA Teachers Go On Strike For First Time In 30 Years LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — As powerful rains pummeled the Southland Monday, thousands of Los Angeles Unified School District teachers weren’t in their classrooms – instead they were outside, picketing with parents and students in the first teacher strike in 30 years. In the first walkout since 1989, the 30,000 teachers represented by United Teachers of Los Angeles went on strike after 21 months of failed negotiations. The strike will impact 480,000 students served by LAUSD, the second largest school district in the nation. Classes at all LAUSD schools began at 8 a.m. as usual with substitutes, but picketing started at 7:30 a.m. State preschool sites, however, were closed and early education centers were open only for students with special needs. “Some schools are well-attended, some schools are less well-attended,” LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner told reporters at a news conference Monday regarding student attendance. LAPD provided extra security to hundreds of elementary schools, Mayor Eric Garcetti said at a news conference Monday. “LAPD took resources that usually are on desks — these are folks that are out on the field working as detectives — and we covered 369 elementary schools throughout the city of L.A. and L.A.’s jurisdiction.” “So we’re going to have a normal day at school,” Beutner had told CBS2 earlier this morning. Children will “be fed, they’ll be greeted by the same principal that greets them every morning at the door, and they will be learning.” Principal, Licensed in MD, VA, DC, PA , DE, NC, SC, FL WeChat ID: sunnychenyuqing NMLS # 1220187 Thousands of teachers, students and their supporters braved the rain to rally in downtown L.A., with thousands more holding protests outside district headquarters in Sun Valley. Garcetti said an estimated 20,000 teachers took part in the protest outside city hall. All the protests were peaceful, with no word of any violence or arrests. “This is the time to make an agreement, there is not much that separates the two sides,” Garcetti said. At a separate morning news conference, UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl addressed fellow union members, parents and students at John Marshall High School. “Here we are on a rainy day in the richest country in the world, in the richest state in the country, in a state that’s blue as it can be — and in a city rife with millionaires — where teachers have to go on strike to get the basics for our students,” Caputo-Pearl said. The district hired 400 substitute teachers and sent 2,000 credentialed administrators back into the classroom during the strike. The district also controversially loosed background requirements for parent volunteers. Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a 2019-20 budget proposal which he said emphasized education by including a record $80.7 billion in funding for K-12 and community college, an increase of about $2 billion from the $78.4 billion in funding for 2018-19 year. After flying up to Sacramento Thursday to meet with state officials, Beutner then revised the district’s offer to the union Friday. It included a roughly $24 million increase from the previous offer, with $10 million expected to come from the county and the rest anticipated through the state budget process, Beutner said. However, the deal was rejected. Newsom issued the following statement Monday morning regarding the strike:
Beutner, a former investment banker and Los Angeles Times publisher who wasnamed superintendent of LAUSD in May, says the district is unable to meet UTLA’s demands because there are limits on what the district can afford to do. “Well, we’ve tried. We’ve said repeatedly we want to do everything we can to keep school open,” he said. “We want many of the same things, we want to reduce class sizes, we want to make sure we have more counselors, nurses, and librarians in schools.” UTLA’s demands include a 6.5 percent raise that would take effect all at once and a year sooner, “fully staffed” schools with more nurses, librarians and counselors added to the payrolls, along with pledges to reduce class sizes. Negotiations have also hinged on the debate between public schools and privatizing schools through charters. The union wants to ensure that privatization doesn’t cut public school funding. Another disagreement between the two sides is over a reported $1.8 billion district reserve. UTLA argues that the reserve could be tapped to pay for its demands, while Beutner has said the reserve has already been fully earmarked, including for the potential raises for teachers. He has argued the UTLA demands would push the district into insolvency. “I hope UTLA comes back to the table because we have to bargain, we have to finish the contract negotiations, that’s how it gets resolved,” Beutner said. Even as former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says he believes the strike is “wrong,”Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Janice Hahn says she will picket today with striking UTLA members at Dodson Middle School in Rancho Palos Verdes, while LA City Councilman Joe Buscaino says he will also walk the picket line at Dana Middle School, where his daughter attends and his sister teaches. A UTLA news conference is scheduled at John Marshall High School, 3939 Tracy St., for when picketing starts, and the union also plans a rally and march at 10:30 a.m. starting at Grand Park on Spring Street in front of City Hall, heading downtown to LAUSD headquarters, 333 South Beaudry Ave. UTLA had originally planned to start the strike last Thursday, but announced that it was pushing back the strike to Monday over a dispute regarding whether it had provided LAUSD with the legally-required 10-day strike notice. The District has established an information hotline for parents at 213-443-1300 to answer questions about the strike. The city of L.A. has established a website, describing city resources available to students and parents during a strike. Source: https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2019/01/14/first-day-strike-austin-beutner-exclusive/ | Quality Tutoring ALL-IN-ONE ONLINE REGISTRATION SOFTWARE Principal, Tel: (301)906-6889; (240)912-6290 Licensed in MD, VA, DC, WV, PA, DE, NC, SC, FL WeChat ID: sunnychenyuqing NMLS # 1220187 President, Principal Loan Consultant, Leader Funding, Inc. 电话: (240) 784-6645 Rockville, MD Phone: 301-366-3497 |
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