A budget crisis we didn’t create

February 2010: We live in uncertain times. That our members continue to get the job done day in and day out is a testament to the commitment education professionals have made to our students.

In a nutshell, here is where things stand right now: LAUSD is facing an estimated $640 million budget shortfall for 2010-11. Superintendent Cortines is asking for a 12 percent pay cut and furlough days (perhaps in the form of closing school early) from employees to help close the gap. March 15 is the deadline for LAUSD to issue layoff notices to certificated staff. It is estimated that around 2,000 teachers and health and human services professionals will receive RIF notices.

We may have some tough choices coming up. Clearly we are in a fiscal crisis, not only here in L.A., or even just in California or the U.S.—it’s worldwide. I’m not sure that we as a country appreciate how close we came to the brink of total economic disaster, and it will take a while before we can fully recover. I am not an economist (although I did teach history for many years), but the comparison to the Great Depression that many experts are making feels dead-on.

Over the past few years, your support for our officers’ efforts have made all the difference in significantly cutting the LAUSD bureaucracy, but undeniably, more can be cut. Figuring out how much more depends on getting budget documents in a timely way. Yes, there is waste and we want to hear from you about the waste you see (you can send details to webmaster@utla.net) but it’s clear that the days of LAUSD hiding hundreds of millions of dollars are over. That doesn't mean it’s not still incredibly difficult to hear the LAUSD call for “shared sacrifice” without thinking about the millions wasted on the botched payroll system or the fact that the bureaucracy grew by 20 percent from 2001 to 2007 or countless other examples of misplaced priorities. And now we are being asked to shoulder the burden for a fiscal crisis we did not create. That’s truly a bitter pill.

Once we get to the bottom line about the LAUSD budget, we still may be faced with a decision, a choice between lesser evils. Do I believe LAUSD seriously thinks our employees will accept a 12 percent pay cut? I don’t think so. It’s part of their negotiation strategy. No one ever accused LAUSD central of being smart.
Cutting employee pay by 12 percent will cause mortgages to collapse, cars to go unpaid and repossessed, apartment leases to be broken. Twelve percent is the difference for most families between solvency and bankruptcy. We won’t let that happen.

At this point, we do not know what our choices truly are. As I said, we are still looking at the District’s books, but decisions must be made soon, because we are facing imminent cuts to personnel. And when I say “our” choices, that is what I mean:  All of us. No pay cut, no furlough day can go through without the approval by a majority of our members.

This is not a crisis of our own making, but that does not mean we are powerless against it. The next couple of months are going to be critical. If we can’t put tens of thousands of people in the streets, if we can’t put our members in front of schools to talk one-on-one with parents and community members, we will be sending the wrong message: that you can walk on us.

Every one of you must be part of our united action. You can’t sit on the sidelines and think that your colleagues will do it for you. You can always find a reason not to join the rally or the march or the afterschool leafleting (the daily demands of teaching come to mind), but excuses are always easy to find. If you don’t join us, you will be saying “I don’t care” and I know that’s not true.

This enduring budget crisis has led to some of the most successful actions in UTLA history, including the 18,000 who were in the streets at Pershing Square last January. But where were the other 30,000? It’s those people I am talking to right now. You are the union, and if you want to protect your salary, your health care, your colleagues, and your students, when the clarion call goes out, you have to answer. I’ll say it in my best Brooklynese: “Ya gotta be there.”

You matter, you count. Your power, your strength, can win the day.