LAUSD Approves $1.2B Labor Deal Despite Financial Woes

The agreement includes substantial pay increases for teachers and support staff, raising concerns about the district's long-term fiscal sustainability.

Apr. 16, 2026 at 2:03am

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A highly stylized, pop art-inspired illustration featuring a repeating grid of brightly colored school bus icons in neon shades of yellow, orange, and blue, with heavy black outlines, conceptually representing the financial pressures facing the Los Angeles Unified School District.The costly new labor deals reached by LAUSD highlight the district's ongoing financial challenges and the need for a more sustainable approach to school funding and staffing.Los Angeles Today

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has reached a tentative labor agreement that will cost the district nearly $1.2 billion annually. The deal includes a 24% pay increase over three years for support staff, an average 13.86% raise over two years for teachers, and an 11.65% increase over two years for administrators. While the agreement avoids a potentially disruptive strike, it adds significant permanent obligations to a district already facing structural deficits, declining enrollment, depleted reserves, and legal liabilities.

Why it matters

LAUSD is already struggling financially, with an annual budget of $18.8 billion and multibillion-dollar structural deficits in the years ahead. The district has been drawing down its reserves, which once approached $5 billion, and has lost around 75,000 students in recent years, reducing its state funding. Additionally, LAUSD faces over $1 billion in sexual abuse settlement costs, with more claims pending. Experts argue that the district should have focused on reform and accountability rather than approving such substantial pay increases without a clear plan to address its underlying fiscal challenges.

The details

The final tentative agreement reached with SEIU Local 99 includes a 24% pay increase over three years for support staff, such as custodians, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, aides, gardeners, and tech support personnel. For United Teachers Los Angeles, the deal includes an average 13.86% pay increase over two years, with an immediate jump in starting teacher pay to $77,000 from $68,965. The Associated Administrators of Los Angeles will receive an 11.65% increase over two years, with the opportunity to bargain for an additional raise in the final year of a three-year contract.

  • The tentative agreement was reached in the early morning hours, narrowly avoiding a strike that could have shuttered schools for nearly 400,000 students.

The players

LAUSD

The Los Angeles Unified School District, which operates with an annual budget of roughly $18.8 billion and is facing structural deficits, declining enrollment, depleted reserves, and legal liabilities.

SEIU Local 99

The union representing support staff, including custodians, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, aides, gardeners, and tech support personnel, who negotiated a 24% pay increase over three years.

United Teachers Los Angeles

The union representing teachers, who negotiated an average 13.86% pay increase over two years, including an immediate jump in starting teacher pay to $77,000 from $68,965.

Associated Administrators of Los Angeles

The union representing administrators, who negotiated an 11.65% increase over two years, with the opportunity to bargain for an additional raise in the final year of a three-year contract.

Karen Bass

The Mayor of Los Angeles, who inserted herself into the negotiations and celebrated the agreement, despite concerns about the district's long-term fiscal sustainability.

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What they’re saying

“Schools must be able to attract and retain teachers, and good educators deserve fair pay and support. However, we cannot continue throwing hundreds of millions more into a broken system without real accountability, especially when more than half of students can't even read or write at grade level, as is the case here.”

— Sonja Shaw

What’s next

The LAUSD school board will need to approve the final labor agreements, and the district will have to find a way to fund the substantial pay increases without further depleting its reserves or exacerbating its structural deficits.

The takeaway

This labor deal highlights the tension between providing fair compensation for educators and the long-term fiscal sustainability of the LAUSD system. While avoiding a disruptive strike is a positive outcome, the district's leadership has prioritized short-term labor peace over addressing the underlying financial challenges, potentially postponing the consequences and making them more severe in the future.