LAUSD folds to unions to avoid strike in election year

The only good news about the weekend deal between Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the United Teachers LA (UTLA) union is that kids likely won’t have to miss school, and parents can go to work.That’s all there is to like about a deal in which the troubled district caved to union demands.The cash-strapped district agreed to raise “salary scales” by 11.65%, leading to an average salary increase of nearly 14%.And there may be even more concessions coming, as the district turns to negotiations with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).If the SEIU wants more, the other unions, including UTLA, will still go on strike in solidarity.LA is the latest city whose public schools have folded under pressure, as unions across the state have coordinated their strike threats.It’s an election year, and the all-powerful teachers’ unions often control who wins and loses.Democrats rely on union organizers to get out the vote, and a union endorsement is also a signal to donors that a candidate is viable.So school board members are often voting for their own political self-preservation when they spend taxpayers’ money.But there are other factors in LA as well.The district is reeling from a string of recent scandals.Superintendent Alberto M.

Carvalho is on administrative leave after an FBI raid on his homes in Florida and California over a failed AI contract that has been implicated in an investigation into alleged corruption.And former LAUSD technical project manager Hong “Grace” Peng was recently charged in connection with a $22 million fraud scheme.That weakened the district, politically, even though it theoretically should have been able to resist the union’s demands.A fact-finding report by an independent arbitrator largely sided with the district, and proposed far lower salary increases than the union demanded (and lower than what it eventually received).The district’s own financial reports projected deficits for the next three years,...