LAUSD Ignored the Warnings. Now the Bills Are Due.
This was predictable. The incentives are for LAUSD Board Members to agree to big give-aways to the unions, math be damned.
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You can also listen to this post (and the full California Post column) on our podcast feed, So, Does It Matter? SPOKEN. It is available on your favorite podcast app. And you can listen to it here.
LAUSD Ignored the Warnings. Now the Bills Are Due.
My latest California Post column examines how California’s largest school district spent years ignoring obvious financial warning signs — and why outside officials are now preparing to step in.
For years, enrollment declined. COVID relief money dried up. Budget deficits grew. The warnings kept coming.
Instead of tightening its belt, LAUSD approved expensive new labor contracts and made financial decisions that county officials now say have eroded confidence in the district’s ability to manage its own finances.
Now the Los Angeles County Office of Education has issued one of its strongest warnings possible, raising the prospect of outside fiscal oversight if the district cannot get its financial house in order.
But the story is bigger than one school district’s budget problems.
In my full California Post column, I examine why these decisions kept getting made, the political dynamics behind them, and what happens when the people negotiating labor contracts are also the people helped into office by the same unions sitting across the bargaining table.
The biggest losers won’t be politicians or union leaders.
They’ll be the students, who will ultimately bear the consequences through cuts to classrooms, programs, and services.
👉 Read my full California Post column HERE. (No Paywall)
Here’s one more “free” cartoon — and then there are three more under the paywall!
