Oakland teachers are striking for higher wages and against school privatization by rapacious charters. A study by Professor Gordon Lafer of the University of Oregon showed that the Oakland district lost $57.4 million last year to charters.
MEDIA ADVISORY
Contact: Kim Turner, 213-305-9316, UTLA communications
LA teachers, supporters show solidarity with Oakland Strike
LOS ANGELES — Tomorrow morning, teachers and supporters across all schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District will show massive solidarity with the brave educators on strike in Oakland.
Like United Teachers Los Angeles members, Oakland educators are fighting to reinvest in public education and reject a privatization agenda. The Oakland Unified School District is claiming a fiscal crisis to justify closing schools and denying educators a decent pay raise, lower class sizes, and more support in the classroom. A key driver of Oakland’s budget crisis is the unregulated expansion of the charter industry, which the superintendent wants to step up — draining more funds and threatening the survival of the system.
“As the teacher strike wave continues to gather momentum, we stand with our brothers and sisters in Oakland, who are taking on the ‘broke on purpose’ agenda to dismantle and close neighborhood public schools,” said Alex Caputo-Pearl, UTLA President. “They are fighting for the heart and soul of public education, and we stand with the more than 3,000 Oakland teachers who are striking for the schools their students deserve.”
Friday’s picketing continues to put pressure on Sacramento and Governor Gavin Newsom to take two actions to protect public schools in Oakland, here in LA, and up and down California:
• increase education funding in the state budget.
• support an immediate cap on the unregulated growth of the charter industry, which threatens the fiscal stability of public school districts throughout the state.
What: PICKETING, PARENT LEAFLETING & PRESS CONFERENCE
Date: Friday, February 22, before school
Time: 7:15 AM
Where: South Gate High School, 3351 Firestone Blvd, South Gate, CA 90280
Who: Teachers, parents and students; Alex Caputo-Pearl, UTLA President; Randi Weingarten, AFT President; Jackie Goldberg, former school board member and state assemblymember; Fidencio Gallardo, SGHS Teacher and Bell Mayor
Visuals: People chanting and marching with signs
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
If these peaceful protests do not stop the Billionaire Bully’s Club from their agenda to destroy OUR (the people’s) public schools, there will eventually be a bloody civil war to stop the Billionaire Bullies just like the Founding Fathers stopped King George with a bloody revolution in the late 18th century.
AMEN, Lloyd.
I’ve been thinking the same thing. I’ve been brushing up on my knitting…
That made me giggle. It’s funny ’cause it’s true.
Looking forward to getting back out “on the line” tomorrow! Go Oakland teachers! No more compromising. No more privatizing. No more destruction. Whose schools? Our schools!
Not to worry, Lloyd. They are losers. Nothing they have done has ever worked. The truth is getting out.