Restore funding to the LA School Police our kids deserve to feel safe

The LA School Police Department (LASPD) should never have been defunded — not even partially.But the LAUSD school board let the bullies have free rein.Not just the bullies in school.

The bullies of the teachers’ union.In 2020, the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) backed the absurd demand by Black Lives Matter activists to “defund the police” in school.They said that (LASPD) officers “make kids feel unsafe,” particularly children from racial minorities.The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.

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Never miss a story The UTLA also said that “we believe that we do not need armed police roaming our halls, we need counselors who are provided with resources, nurses with sufficient medical supplies, and librarians with enough books.”How does a librarian stop a school bully? Suspend his borrowing privileges?The idea that minority children feared the LASPD was always absurd.The police protect kids in minority communities from gangs, criminals, and bullies.

The police also protect the teachers themselves — not that the union showed any gratitude.The board should have held its ground.Instead, four members of the LAUSD board — Monica Garcia, Jackie Goldberg, Nick Melvoin and Kelly Gonez — voted to cut funding for the LASPD.Three members who opposed the idea — Richard Vladovic, George McKenna and Scott Schmerelson — were outvoted.The LAUSD didn’t eliminate the school police force entirely, which is what Black Lives Matter and the UTLA had wanted.

But it did cut $25 million from the LASPD budget — 28% of the total, eliminating 133 positions.Few at the time seem to have listened to the parents of LAUSD, who — unlike teachers’ union officials — always put their children’s needs first.Now, as The California Post has reported, parents are demanding a larger and toughe...