For the past eight years, Reclaim Our Schools LA has collaborated with LAUSD parents, students, educators, and school staff to identify the issues that matter most to them. We gathered community input to shape our advocacy efforts through surveys, town halls, and focus groups. This process has allowed us to identify key priorities and launch campaigns around them.
Through Bargaining for the Common Good, UTLA members have incorporated our community’s priorities into their bargaining platform, winning major victories in both the 2019 contract fight and the 2023 solidarity strike. This year is no different.
During Fall 2024, Reclaim Our Schools LA engaged LAUSD families and community organizations through extensive outreach, including surveys, town halls, and community meetings, to determine the most pressing issues for the upcoming contract campaign. The 140-member UTLA Bargaining Team analyzed and incorporated the findings into their Win Our Future Platform.
This platform builds on the historic wins of UTLA’s 2019 strike and 2023 solidarity strike, serving as a bold statement of our community’s demands for public schools. It reflects what UTLA educators are willing to fight for as we continue to challenge the systemic neglect of public schools, educators, and students.
Our Victories
COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
We have won millions of dollars in local and state funding for Community schools and have established 70 community schools in LAUSD.
INVEST IN BLACK STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
Funds cut from school police were used to create the Black Student Achievement Plan (BSAP). BSAP has expanded to over $100 million in annual funding and provides restorative justice coordinators, psychiatric social workers, school counselors, school climate coaches, and Black studies programs to schools with high percentages of Black students. In addition, every school in the district receives a school climate coach.
IMPROVING SCHOOL SAFETY
As a result of the leadership of Black students from Students Deserve and a broad coalition including Reclaim Our Schools LA, we won an end to “random” searches of students, and the use of pepper spray by school police was banned
In 2021, played a key role in winning a $25 million cut to L.A. school police, one-third of the LA school police department budget. School police are no longer allowed to be stationed on school campuses, where they routinely intimidate students. Instead, they can only come to a school when called in response to an incident.
Also, increased the number of nurses, counselors, and librarians in schools.
MORE GREEN SPACE
We established a Greening Task Force with the district to help meet its greening goals and to push for safe, clean, green, and climate-resilient campuses where our children can learn and thrive.
We backed our community greening allies in winning a school board resolution that makes it easier for organizations to green school campuses by removing red tape, reducing costly fees, and accelerating the transformation of our schools into healthier, greener spaces.
STOP PRIVATIZATION OF SCHOOLS
Defeated a school funding privatization scheme called “Student Centered Funding”, which would have ended federal Title I equity protections and destabilized schools in Black and Brown communities.
Pushed to pass a school board resolution that mitigates the harm of co-location by increasing transparency and limiting co-locations at community schools, BSAP schools, and priority schools.
IMPROVED STUDENT SUPPORTS
Won district support for immigrant students and housing support for students facing housing and homelessness issues.
Have won improvements in early education and adult education in the last two UTLA contracts
In partnership with our Police Free LAUSD coalition allies, we won meaningful investments in Black, Immigrant, and LGBTQ students through the school district’s budget process.
IMPROVED CLASSROOM QUALITY
Have won smaller class sizes and reductions in standardized testing in the last two UTLA bargaining contracts.
INVESTMENT IN OUR SCHOOLS
Increased salary investments for educators in LAUSD.