The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the teachers' union, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), which have often been at odds, have reached a tentative agreement that grants more autonomy to individual schools and puts a three-year moratorium on charter take-overs of district schools.
The first part of the deal responds to years of schools complaining that they're not able to make the changes that are best for their individual campuses. If teachers ratify the deal, school administrators would be able to choose their own teachers, teaching materials and assessments, budget breakdowns, schedules and school rules.
The deal would take significant veto power away from both LAUSD and UTLA. As the Los Angeles Times reports, "If they [schools] wanted to diverge from policies of L.A. Unified, officials could not say no, provided that all laws and legal requirements are honored. If staffers at a school wanted to void portions of the thick union contract, United Teachers Los Angeles could not stop them."
In a UTLA press release, UTLA President Warren Fletcher explained the rationale behind granting this autonomy: "Schools have functioned too long in an environment where decisions are made by others about what is best for them, rather than by those who are at the school site and familiar with their school's needs." LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy echoed the same sentiment, telling the Huffington Post, "A one-size-fits-all model does not work for the district's different schools. Let's unleash the creativity of the parents and teachers who know best."
The second part of the deal puts a three-year moratorium on the Public School Choice policy that allows charter and nonprofit organizations to take over low-performing and new campuses. This is a big win for UTLA, which has never been happy about charter schools, which are non-union, displacing UTLA teachers at district schools.
Allison Bajracharya, a managing director for the California Charter Schools Assn., responded to the LA Times, "It's disappointing on many levels. We embraced Public School Choice as a reform initiative that could systemically change academic outcomes for students in Los Angeles. And one of the reasons it has been effective to date is because of the competition that came from these external operators."
In response to the moratorium on charter school take-overs, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy told the Huffington Post, "Charters alone cannot transform this district. We have got to work internally to transform the district."
The deal must go through a several-day UTLA process and vote, with results expected by Dec. 12.