More than 50,000 March for Public Education in LA
LOS ANGELES — In a historic march, tens of thousands of students, parents, educators and community members marched through the streets of Los Angeles today to demand a reinvestment in public education and that the Los Angeles Unified School District stop hoarding the record-shattering $1.9 billion in reserves and use it immediately on our students, our schools and our classrooms.
UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl told the massive, picket-holding and banner-waving crowd that if there is no settlement by next month, “we will strike in January.”
“If we are forced to strike, it will be to defend our schools; but it will also be because we think our kids deserve more and we deserve more, because we dare to have high expectations,” Caputo-Pearl said to the cheering crowd. “If we strike, it is all of our strike. When we win, it is all of our victory. Are we going to win for our schools? Are we going to win for our kids?”
Then tens of thousands people began the march, chanting throughout the streets of downtown, bringing the momentum and energy of the national teacher rebellion to the doorstep of the nation’s second-largest school district.
The massive demonstration then walked from City Hall, chanting as they marched side by side to demand Supt. Austin Beutner and LAUSD fulfill the promise and hope of a quality public education for all, not just some. The march ended in front of the Broad Museum tohighlight the destructive role billionaires like Eli Broad play in draining money from our public schools and funding privatization schemes like the portfolio model.
“Eli Broad fought against school funding measures and he has funded the charter industry to undermine neighborhood public schools,” Caputo-Pearl said. “Broad has made LA a national experiment in privatization. Who’s ready to turn the tables on that? Who’s ready to fight for the nurses our students need? Who’s ready to fight for the counselors our students need? Who’s ready to fight for the class sizes our students need?”
United Teachers Los Angeles has been in contract negotiations with LAUSD for more than 18 months. In August, 98 percent of union members voted to authorize a strike. Negotiations are near the end of the fact-finding stage, after which the school district can impose its last, best, and final proposal and UTLA members can strike.
With class sizes that are too high and not enough resources in their classrooms and attacks to their profession, teachers are fighting for a profound reinvestment in Los Angeles schools. LAUSD has yet to make any meaningful progress on UTLA’s contract demands, including the ones that don’t cost money or would even save money, such as stopping overtesting and giving parents and educators a voice in school budgets.
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
Now, I must think twice before I write down exactly what I have thought, am thinking and dare to think.
1) I have thought that all educators from America are having the same Public Education background = All educators will treasure their noble career and will fight for their tenure plus for their students’ best curriculum in the students’ best interest of learning.
2) I am thinking that all educators, regardless of their parental background, have the same American culture and belief in humanity. Most of all, all educators will promote students to exercise their freedom intelligently to protect human rights in America.
3) I dare to think that Teachers from all levels will unite to treasure and protect their noble career as well to set a good example of motivating parents and students to treasure their human rights and to have their will to be on strike along with teachers in order to protect their future with voting rights, proper employment conditions and their gender rights of marriage.
In short, as long as working people from both blue and white collar professions unite for their working rights with the true spirit of union organization, American students will grow up to be ideal American citizens – citizens that are respected by NATO and other allied countries around the world. Back2basic
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Wily and wanton Caputo-Pearl has somehow managed to outwit theterm limits and dine very little to innovate the union response to affronts to its members, public education and the city’s resources. Sorry, but history making isn’t the same as actually instigating profound change.
Rene Diedrich
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You would think a march with 50,000 people in it would get more press coverage. I’ve seen little mainstream media coverage.
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When it’s pro-public schools, the MSM ignores or buries it. Their Wall Street paymasters demand it.
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more and more Big Money controlling the ed. narrative across the nation: teachers will have to aggressively look to finding non-traditional ways to get their message out.
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Very very little, very very late. UTLA is not a union, it is a crime family that takes money and provides no effective defense or services. Unions protect members but UTLA has made deals to save the district money. This ‘association’ spends more money per capita ‘organizing’ and defending charter scabs than it does defending members so why are they attacking the billionaires now? UTLA is a paper tiger with 3,000 outstanding grievances and 5,000 teachers dismissed through its teacher jail but you won’t hear that from the mis-leaders in charge. Teachers need democratic unionism and not political photo opportunities.
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