LAUSD and its unions just made a deal to try and keep the foundering district afloat – by screwing the students.

Teachers, whose salaries are the largest part of the budget for the district, agreed to furlough days and a shortened school year in return for pay cuts – in other words, their wages remain the same, but they will work (and get paid) less.

Of course the students – who would benefit from smaller classes and longer school years – pay.

Fire them all, close the institution, paint the buildings, and start over. Note that when I say that I’m not being rhetorical. I’m not sure that LAUSD as an institution is viable if you make care for the students the core metric.

I think the year or turmoil that would come from a radical restructuring (break it up into 4-high school pods?, Reboot it as a larger organization?) would be painful – but the long term effect of destroying the lives of too many children hurts more.
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