Beyond Recovery Platform
Our schools and communities – historically underfunded and disproportionately impacted by the pandemic – need a comprehensive plan for pandemic recovery and beyond.
The Beyond Recovery platform was developed through a collaboration between UTLA and Reclaim Our Schools LA. Thousands of educators, parents, family members, students, and community members over months of meetings and dialogue, addresses the urgent needs of our students at a time when historic levels of funding are coming to LAUSD.
In 2022, UTLA will bring the Beyond Recovery platform into negotiations with the school district. This is a pivotal time when educators, allied with families, students and communities can collectively fight to transform public education in LA.
Our Victories
Won nearly $14 million in funding for the development of Community Schools and a commitment from LAUSD to create 70 Community Schools by 2023. 40 have already been established.
Played a key role in winning a $25 million cut to LA 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.
Funds cut from school police where used to create the Black Student Achievement Plan (BSAP). BSAP has been expanded 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.
An end to “random” searches of students and the use of pepper spray by school police was banned as a result of the leadership of Black students from Students Deserve and a broad coalition including Reclaim Our Schools LA.
Played a key role in winning the strongest COVID-related protocols of any school district in the country by centering the voices of Black and Brown families.
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.
Concrete tools for public schools to organize against charter co-locations and supports from the LAUSD school board for stronger regulations on charter schools.
Increased green spaces at schools
Won smaller class sizes and reductions in standardized testing
District support for immigrant students and additional educational supports for ethnic studies.
Improvements in early education and adult education.
Improvements in special education and guaranteed work spaces for mental health professionals. A commitment from the Governor to explore improving special education and health and human service funding mechanisms that have short-changed LAUSD historically.
A 6% pay raise for teachers in 2019.
Commitments from the Mayor and LAUSD school board to join the fight for greater investment in the district’s public schools and to support a November 2020 ballot measure challenging Proposition 13.