LA school district seeks state funds for pay hikes

The Center Square) - The Los Angeles Unified School District managed to avoid a strike this week after reaching 11th-hour agreements with three unions. Now the district is asking for the state's help to fund those agreements. LAUSD's request comes as critics question how the district or the state can afford pay increases in an era of staggering deficits. One critic compared LAUSD's approach to gambling. "Rolling the dice with big spending when you don't know where you're going to find the money is an appalling way to run the second-largest school district in America,” said Susan Shelley, vice president of communications at the Los Angeles-based Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. “It looks like LAUSD is intentionally creating a fiscal crisis that it can exploit to demand higher taxes," Shelley told The Center Square. She said it was "appalling" that the LAUSD was seeking the state's help. LAUSD told The Ce