Los Angeles Hires Hundreds of Scabs to Replace Thousands of Teachers Who Are Likely to Strike

Los Angeles is about to try to prove that class size doesn't matter. The district, on orders from investment banker Austin Beutner, has hired about 400 substitutes to fill in for thousands of teachers who are preparing to strike on January 10. Let's see: 400 teachers for 600,000 students. Those are very large classes! “It is outrageously irresponsible for Supt. Austin Beutner to force this strike when the district holds $1.9 billion in reserves and it is even more irresponsible to think that 400 substitutes can educate more than 600,000 students,” UTLA said in a statement Friday. “We believe that it is illegal for the district to hire people outside our bargaining unit to teach in LAUSD classrooms.”