Budget protest takes L.A. teachers out of classrooms
In a one-hour demonstration at the beginning of the day, teachers picket outside schools. Many parents join in. The LAUSD reports no safety problems.
Thousands of Los Angeles teachers and parents held an hourlong demonstration this morning to protest proposed budget cuts, waving signs, shouting to passersby and delaying the start of the school day as students in the nation's second-largest school district waited in gymnasiums and auditoriums and on athletic fields.
By 9 a.m. most protests had wound down.
The demonstration, organized by United Teachers-Los Angeles, was intended to draw attention to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest budget, which provides a $193-million increase over last year's $56.6 billion in education funding. But L.A. Unified estimates that it will face a $353-million shortfall because the budget does not include a cost-of-living increase and cuts support to certain programs that will have to be paid with unrestricted general funds.
Protest: An article in Saturday's California section about a Los Angeles teachers protest reported that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke about the demonstrations during a conference call. He was responding to a question at a news conference addressing the state's new cellphone laws.
District officials said it was not immediately clear what affect the demonstrations had on student attendance or what the net financial impact of the day would be, given the fact that the teachers who participated forfeited an hour's pay.
No student injuries or safety concerns were reported during the protest, said district spokeswoman Ellen Morgan.
The protest comes as the Board of Education prepares to vote on the district budget Tuesday. District officials have said that they hope to avoid cuts in the classroom, but that about 6,500 probationary teachers could be laid off, a possibility that the union has vowed to fight.
L.A. teachers union President A.J. Duffy called the coordinated demonstrations "a great day for the teachers of L.A." and said they might hold another protest before the end of the school year this month.
However, Duffy, who joined about 75 protesters at Los Angeles High School in Mid-City this morning, said the protest would have been more powerful if teachers had been joined by Supt. David Brewer, who had urged them to discuss budget cuts with district leaders instead of protesting.
Doug R. Ahler, 24, was among the Los Angeles High School teachers who joined the protest.
"I am particularly interested in this because I'm a first-year teacher," said Ahler, who teaches social studies. "I'm just doing whatever I can to fight to keep my job."
Tenth-grader Gabriel Rivas was among the students who looked on with approval.
"I think it's cool that they're exercising their right to protest," he said.
