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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Pass / Fail : L.A. Unified restores cut classroom days and rescinds teacher furloughs for this year | 89.3 KPCC

Pass / Fail : L.A. Unified restores cut classroom days and rescinds teacher furloughs for this year | 89.3 KPCC:


L.A. Unified restores cut classroom days and rescinds teacher furloughs for this year

The L.A. Unified school board voted Tuesday to restore five instructional days to the district's calendar and to rescind 10 unpaid days off teachers had agreed to earlier this year. These actions didn't  surprise observers. L.A. Unified and ever other district in the state avoided mid-year state funding cuts after last week’s ballot box victory of Proposition 30.
Prop. 30 hikes state sales and income taxes to raise about $6 billion in revenue for public education. Its failure would have triggered about the same amount in cuts to public schools in the middle of this school year. L.A. Unified, and many other school districts, had  approved cuts just in case.
“To say that people held their breath last week is an understatement,” L.A. Unified Superintendent Deasy said during Tuesday's school board meeting as he briefed administrators.
By restoring the instructional days, L.A. Unified returned its classroom calendar to the standard 180 days for the