UTLA’s transformation story surfaces critical lessons that respond to the most important question facing the labor movement today: How do we ensure that the recent years of labor upsurge across economic sectors becomes durable, transformative power?
Melissa Blount and Matt Reed; Illustrator: Joe Brusky
Rethinking Schools
The seeds of our strike were sown 10 years ago. In the 2013–2014 school year, school district leaders demanded more than 75 concessions, including bigger class sizes, fewer workload protections, and cuts to healthcare benefits.
Statewide education funding is the barrier to the kind of schools we want, ones with small class sizes and more support and resources for students. We won’t achieve this kind of transformational change without an intervention at the state level.
“We knew the community schools idea would better address what our students need.” Even though implementations are still in their early phases, the schools and the families who attend them are already seeing tangible benefits.
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