Giving Compass' Take:

• Taylor Swaak investigates how the long-term debt of the LAUSD complicates the Los Angeles teacher strike.

• What can education advocates do in the short term to help Los Angeles students during the teacher strike? What can they do in the long term to help mitigate the effects of the LAUSD's debt crisis?

• To learn about how teacher strikes might end up backfiring, click here.

The looming teacher strike in Los Angeles, no matter how it’s sliced, comes down to money — but not the salary raises and cost of new hires that have kept the district and its teachers union apart during nearly two years of contract negotiations. The real money problem, experts say, lies with the district’s skyrocketing long-term debt.

Their prescriptions ranged from making employees and retirees pay premiums to offering early retirement incentives. Most agreed that a local solution is needed to right the ship as California faces — or could already be in — a recession, meaning state taxpayers maybe unable to bail out the district.

But United Teachers Los Angeles has rejected the district’s proposal to shave off costs by adding two years to how long it takes new employees to become eligible for free lifetime health benefits — something other L.A. Unified unions have already accepted. Union officials dispute the district’s claim that it is cash-strapped, saying it is “hoarding” nearly $2 billion in reserves.

L.A. Unified says it’s spending about $500 million more a year than it’s taking in, and the county estimates the district’s reserves will drop from $778 million this year to $76.5 million in 2020-21.

Read the full article about the teacher strike by Taylor Swaak at The 74.