Los Angeles, California – Nearly a dozen individuals, including LAUSD teachers, concerned community, and a single father began a full-fledged, water-only fast beginning the evening of Wednesday, May 27th, 2009.
The objective of these actions is to call attention to School Board Members Monica Garcia, Yolie Flores-Aguilar, and Richard Vladovic’s plan to put nearly a half billion dollars of federal stimulus money into a savings account while raising class sizes and laying off some of the district’s best, most exciting, vibrant new teachers. Our demand is for a new LAUSD budget that defends students’ classrooms.
LAUSD has received nearly a billion dollars in federal stimulus money. President Obama has repeatedly announced that the purpose and top priority for this money should be to keep jobs and to inject the money as quickly as possible into the economy; however, Board Members Garcia, Flores, and Vladovic have voted to approve a budget that does just the opposite. Their budget calls for saving half of the money and laying off 2,500 desperately needed teachers -the future of the profession. Worse still, their plan calls for raising class size –the single biggest factor in determining students’ success.
Hunger strikers are willing to continue the fast until all demands are met.
Such drastic cuts call for drastic actions.
DEMANDS
1) Protect out students’ education by NOT increasing class size
2) Protect the future of education in LAUSD by NOT laying off our new teachers
