Larry Sand: The Los Angeles teachers’ union is close to striking, again

On Jan. 31, 94% of United Teachers Los Angeles members overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike after months of stalled contract talks between the union and the Los Angeles Unified School District.

UTLA’s demands include a pay raise, smaller class sizes, additional support for immigrant students, more counselors, funding for classroom supplies, the ability to use vacant LAUSD-owned land for affordable housing for families, and a laundry list of items the union deems essential.

But let’s all take a step back and look at some facts about one of the union’s priorities: teacher pay. 

Currently, new teachers in Los Angeles earn $68,896 a year. And after 10 years, a teacher can haul in over $100,000 per annum. But what is rarely acknowledged is that they actually earn much more than that. Teachers receive very generous health care and pension benefits. When all is figured in, a new teacher earns over $100,000 a year.  In addition, according to data from Transparent California, the average teacher in the district received total pay of $102,000 and benefits of $35,652 in 2024.

Also left unsaid is that full-time public school teachers work fewer hours per year compared to workers in the private sector, including time spent on lesson preparation, test construction, grading, providing extra help to students, coaching, and other activities.

Are children in Los Angeles being properly educated?

Hardly. The scores on the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) were abysmal. The test, given in 2024, revealed that only 22% of 8th graders scored at or above proficient in reading. In math, just 18% of students attained that level.

The system is also losing students in large numbers. Enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year was 391,588, a decline of more than 40% from 746,831 in 2002. Nearly half of the district’s elementary schools are half full or less, and 56 have seen their enrollments drop by 70% or more. 

Besides demanding more and more money for fewer and fewer students, what else are union honchos focusing on?

In a direct challenge to President Trump’s opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices, UTLA is calling for targeted investments in recruiting and retaining Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) teachers, as well as multilingual and immigrant educators and service providers.

The UTLA contract proposal also demands “support for, defense and expansion of the school district’s Black Student Achievement Plan and Ethnic Studies.”

UTLA also wants “strengthened policies to support LGBTQIA+ students, educators and staff” at a time when Trump has announced that the government will recognize only two genders—male and female. Trump has removed nonbinary individuals from the groups protected from discrimination.

Additionally, UTLA also considers itself an authority on foreign policy. In October 2024, the union passed a resolution calling for the United States to stop providing weapons to Israel, heightening tensions between the union and Jewish organizations and teachers who oppose its anti-Israel advocacy.

Then, in December 2025, the UTLA governing body doubled down by sending a message to pro-Israel members of Congress when it passed a motion stating that it would refrain from endorsing any candidate for public office who, as a member of Congress, voted to send weapons to Israel. The rationale presented to school site leaders in UTLA’s House of Representatives read, “Politicians should not be rewarded for enabling a genocide nor in perpetuating Israel’s periodic bombing attacks on Palestinians.” 

Perhaps the fundamental raison d’être of UTLA—its political and social agenda—is best illustrated by comments from UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz following the unnecessary and damaging union-mandated COVID lockdown.

When asked about the learning loss students incurred during the shutdown, she spat out, “There is no such thing as learning loss. Our kids didn’t lose anything. It’s OK that our babies may not have learned all their times tables. They learned resilience. They learned survival. They learned critical-thinking skills. They know the difference between a riot and a protest. They know the words ‘insurrection’ and ‘coup.’” She even went so far as to suggest that “learning loss” is a fake crisis marketed by shadowy purveyors of clinical and classroom assessments.

Wrong. Learning loss is real. Unfortunately, it is nowhere to be found in UTLA’s warped agenda.

Larry Sand is a retired 28-year classroom teacher who also served as the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network from 2006 to 2025. He now focuses on raising awareness about our failing education system.