VOICES-After years of laying off the most recently hired teachers, the Los Angeles Unified School District is left with an aging and costly workforce.
For every teacher under the age of 25, there are more than 19 teachers older than 56, according to district data recently compiled for a retirement plan.
Additionally, nearly half of the district’s teachers, 49.4 percent, are older than 46, while 15.5 percent are younger than 36.
Those ages correlate to a seasoned workforce of teachers who cost the district far more in salary and benefits than a newer and younger pool of educators.
This school year, 37.1 percent of the district’s classroom teachers had more than 19 years of experience. Each one of those veteran teachers cost the district at least 37.8 percent more in salary than a freshman teacher who earned $45,637 compared with $75,024 for the veteran teacher, according to LAUSD documents. Additionally, an older workforce increases the cost LAUSD pays for health care benefits.
LAUSD’s deputy chief human resource officer, Deborah Ignagni said that the district’s seasoned workforce is a result of what is called “last-in, first out” layoff policies. The policy resulted in younger and less costly teachers losing their jobs when LAUSD reacted with budget cuts to cope with the economic downturn. At the same time, very few teachers were hired between 2009 and 2012, Ignagni said. (Read the rest.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 29
Pub: Apr 7, 2015
