Giving Compass' Take:

· After months of unsuccessful negotiations, Los Angeles teachers are on strike for the first time in thirty years. Here, Erin Rubin at Nonprofit Quarterly talks about the causes leading up to this strike and what it reveals about charter schools. 

· What factors have led to the growth of charter schools? How has this affected public schools in LA?

· Here's more on the LA teacher strike.

For the first time in nearly 30 years, over 30,000 teachers, parents, administrators, and support staff from Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the nation’s second-largest public school district, went on strike yesterday. The strike comes after months of negotiations failed to achieve an agreement between LAUSD and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), the teachers’ union. According to the UTLA site, their first proposal was offered in January 2017. Demands include:

  • A 6.5 percent salary increase, retroactive to last year
  • Increased funding for support staff such as librarians, counselors, and school nurses
  • Smaller class sizes
  • A moratorium on new charter schools

School superintendent Austin Beutner, a former investment banker, has taken a combative approach as he attempts to control the narrative over the strike.

Read the full article about the LA teacher strike by Erin Rubin at Nonprofit Quarterly.