Parcelling pain: The ghost of proposed parcel tax returns to haunt L.A. homeowners
Editorial/Los Angeles Daily News
The Los Angeles Unified School District has taken its lumps from the current recession - teachers and other workers have been laid off, class sizes have been increased and still the district must cut $480 million to balance its 2010-2011 budget. Superintendent Ramon Cortines sent a letter to his employees and their unions late last week saying, here's your choices: a 12 percent pay cut next year and four furlough days this year, or the layoff of up to 8,500 employees. Up jumped A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers of Los Angeles, and fires off a letter to his union members saying this is an outrage - 2,000 teachers have been laid off, class sizes increased and a "host of other serious challenges caused by LAUSD actions." He's entirely correct. (more...)