California's longest teacher strike ends with a tentative deal in Little Lake
The Little Lake school district in southeast Los Angeles County and its teachers union reached a tentative agreement Monday night, ending one of the longest teacher strikes in state history after its 200-member union walked out over significant issues straining districts throughout California.
The agreement brings the strike to a close and teachers will return to the classroom Thursday, a district spokesperson said.
"This agreement reflects meaningful progress and a renewed focus on what matters most: restoring stability for students, supporting our teachers, and getting educators back into classrooms as quickly as possible while maintaining the fiscal responsibility needed to protect the long-term stability of the District," the district said in a statement Wednesday night.
The Little Lake Education Assn. thanked parents for their support.
"During the strike, Little Lake educators and community members joined together at every action - from morning picket lines to mid-day marches through the community, family-friendly actions, and more," the union said in a statement.
The teachers walked out over healthcare costs increasing by $14,000 a year for some, crowded special education classes and proposed class size increases in a district grappling with declining enrollment and unsustainable past spending. They were not asking for a pay raise - but their high-cost benefits were tantamount to a big pay cut.
The deal calls for employees to pay zero to $630 a month in healthcare premiums - depending on their choice of health plan, said Raul A. Riesgo, district spokesperson. Class size will not rise. Budget cuts will be necessary, including the loss of some intervention teachers who serve students who need intensive academic help.
The union sought a one-time $4,000 bonus for its members, but not a permanent increase. The pay scale for teachers ranges from $58,752 to $118,363. The tentative agreement calls for a one-time $1,000 payment, Riesgo said.
The union statement said "educators fought to protect class sizes and won" and praised winning "additional support for Little Lake's growing population of students with special education needs after the district had initially rejected the request."
The protracted strike took a toll. It consumed about 6% of the academic year. Most parents kept children home, while scrambling to manage disrupted work and home routines - especially difficult in a school system where about 80% of students qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch because of family poverty. Teachers lost several thousand dollars of pay that they are unlikely to get back.
"We're trying to stay positive but every day feels like a punch to the gut," Sabrina Ireland, a 6th grade math and science teacher, said on the picket line Wednesday in front of her campus, Lake Center Middle School. "I'm losing sleep. ... We have some teachers that both the husband and the wife teach here. They have no income right now."
It has been hard for Little Lake to be noticed alongside the mammoth L.A. Unified School District, which has about 390,000 students. An L.A. Unified strike was dramatically averted with hours to spare on April 14 in a conflict that commanded local and national attention for weeks.
But this district - with seven elementary and two middle schools - endured a crippling strike, affecting about 3,400 students drawn from Santa Fe Springs and parts of Norwalk and Downey.
In terms of lost instructional days, Little Lake ranks high. Earlier this school year, teachers went out for 12 days in the sizable Twin Rivers Unified School District in north Sacramento County. Teachers in New Haven Unified in Union City in Alameda County struck for 14 days in 2019. And an Oakland teachers strike in 1996 lasted about a month.
Numerous shorter walkouts and near strikes have unfolded throughout the state this year, part of a loosely coordinated effort by the California Teachers Assn. to align unions' contract expiration dates and benefit from collective force. The union dubbed the effort as "We Can't Wait."
The issues surfacing in Little Lake echoed the dynamic in L.A. Unified and elsewhere.
"Up and down the state, educators have won life-changing healthcare benefits and support for special education and have forced districts to create the safe and stable classrooms our students deserve," said Gabriella Landeros, a spokesperson for the California Teachers Assn.
In the broad picture, district budgets throughout the state are likely to be a little larger, level or somewhat smaller - and schools could yet receive a big boost by the time the state's budget is adopted in June.
Meanwhile, enrollment is declining, offsetting the benefit of state increases in spending per pupil. Inflation hit hard in recent years, while prompting employee groups, especially in urban areas, to fight for wage boosts to keep pace. This comes as one-time pandemic relief aid has expired.
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