The nation’s second-largest school district in June approved a $18.8 billion budget, avoiding layoffs by tapping into retirement money for teachers. School officials said it was necessary after the end of federal COVID relief money, and less state funding tied to falling enrollment. 

LAUSD’s school board passed the budget unanimously. But the influential union that represents 35,000 teachers and educators in LAUSD, , wasn’t happy. 

The union opposed the new financial plan because it doesn’t anticipate the UTLA is pushing.

“Stability means staffing that is experienced, familiar, and trusted,” said UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz at a board meeting in June. “We need a budget that raises salaries. We need to recruit and retain educators.”

UTLA has been fighting for increased salaries for years — and the union scored a , with a contract that raised teachers’ pay by 21% on average. However, that contract expires in 2025, setting up another round of tough negotiations. 

Carvalho said he sympathized with the teachers’ union, but LAUSD has never received the federal and state money it needs. “Those are the culprits,” Carvalho said. 

Carvalho said he would not allow any furloughs or layoffs this year. But he and the board will reconsider staffing cuts when they take up the budget again in December, he said. 

“No one is losing their job. But we do have a problem for FY27, and we will be revisiting this issue,” said Carvalho.

Meanwhile, Joseph Williams, Executive Director for the non-profit Students Deserve and a partner with the Police Free in LAUSD Coalition, said the groups opposed the district’s new budget because it contains funding for school police. 

“We are definitely of the opinion that absolutely no educational positions should be touched before every single police position is eliminated,” Williams said. 

Some demands from Williams’ groups and the teachers union were realized in the new budget.

For example, UTLA’s Myart-Cruz urged Carvalho to make funding cuts to district operations and off-campus consultants in order to preserve funding for teachers. 

Carvalho made moves to honor that wish, reducing central operations funding by $200 million. 

The district then redirected that money to projects supported by the union and community groups such as Williams’.

Myart-Cruz and others had asked the district to fund projects including the Black Student Achievement Plan, student centers, early education, LGBTQ+ support groups, and arts in schools. 

That decline comes after an 82,000-member loss the previous year.

School district staffing levels were not to blame. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that local schools added 95,000 employees between September 2021 and September 2022. Nor were the membership losses confined to specific areas of the country. Every state affiliate but one that was required to file a disclosure report lost working members.

NEA ended the school year with 2,496,627 working members, down 40,107 from the previous year. The national union is at its lowest membership level since before the 2006 merger between NEA New York and New York State United Teachers.

AFT had 1,189,904 working members in 2021-22, a loss of 19,078. It’s worth noting that only 43.5% of AFT’s total members work full-time.

Five state unions are affiliated with both NEA and AFT. One (North Dakota United) is not required to file a disclosure report. The other four all lost working members.

New York State United Teachers — 411,811 (down 4,384)

Montana Federation of Public Employees — 18,692 (down 1,274)

Education Minnesota — 73,008 (down 732)

Florida Education Association — 129,445 (down 4,682)

Two AFT state affiliates reported unexplained membership totals. For the last six years, AFT New Mexico has reported it has zero members. AFT West Virginia reported this year it has .

The Ohio Education Association was the lone NEA state affiliate that reported a gain. It added six members. The others affiliates were:

Pennsylvania State Education Association — 137,885 (down 1,458)

Illinois Education Association — 122,167 (down 1,267)

Michigan Education Association — 79,839 (down 1,065)

Maine Education Association — 17,987 (down 324)

Vermont NEA — 11,366 (down 206)

NEA Rhode Island — 9,360 (down 456)

Federal Education Association — 4,617 (down 96)

Most NEA affiliates are not required to file a disclosure report because they are composed solely of public-sector members. But at last look, the California Teachers Association was also suffering significant membership losses. If there are states where teachers unions bucked the trend, the evidence has not been forthcoming.

The bright spot for unions remains the unspent COVID relief funding from federal and state governments. Most of this will go to hire new personnel, giving the unions a greater pool from which to recruit new members. But these anticipated gains may be short-lived, because when the funds expire, .

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears most Wednesdays; see the full archive.