ACCORD: Move would help close district's budget gap.
Leaders of Los Angeles Unified's administrators and police unions tentatively agreed this week to taking 12 furlough days to help the district close a $408 million budget deficit and sources close to negotiations said Wednesday that more unions are expected to join them.
But district officials are concerned by the progress of the negotiations with the teachers union, L.A. Unified's biggest. The union claims that LAUSD has overstated its budget deficit by $150 million by counting a loss of state revenues twice.
"We are willing to accept necessary sacrifices to bring back our members, but we can't determine what those are without reliable budget information," said A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.
LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy said the information provided to the UTLA is accurate.
"We've provided (UTLA) with overwhelming volumes of information to fulfill their requests ...," Deasy said.
"I find it deeply troubling that we can't come to an agreement so that we can save their members ... the teachers that are so desperately needed."
Deasy has laid out an emergency budget plan that asks all of LAUSD's nine employee unions to agree to 12 furlough days to save 80 percent of the more than 5,000 jobs that LAUSD has already slated for elimination.
The plan also seeks to borrow from the district's health and benefits account.
Members of Associated Administrators of Los Angeles and the Los
Angeles School Police Association still have to get final approval for the concessions from their members, and then the deal has to be finalized by the school board.District officials said if approved, the deal with LAUSD administrators would save the district $9.3 million. The district said they did not know exactly how much they could save with the police union agreement.
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