Two days after Supt. Alberto Carvalho resigned, the Los Angeles school board unanimously approved a $20.6 billion budget that sets a four-year strategic plan tied to student-achievement goals—and includes more than 1,000 layoffs starting this summer.
When Alberto Carvalho stepped down as Los Angeles superintendent, the resignation landed with little time to digest it: two days later, the school board voted unanimously to approve a $20.6 billion budget.
The plan comes with a sharp human hit—more than 1,000 layoffs—and a new four-year roadmap for student achievement. The meeting was presided over by Acting Supt. Andres Chait, whose role appears to be solidified by major policy and personnel decisions made alongside the budget vote. The board has not publicly said how it will replace Carvalho, or whether Chait will be appointed permanently.
Chait has been running the system since late February. after the Board of Education unanimously voted to place Carvalho on paid administrative leave. Carvalho had been sidelined after the FBI raided his home and office in connection with an ongoing investigation. No charges have been filed, and Carvalho has denied any wrongdoing. In March, he issued a statement saying he wanted to turn to work.
After more than three additional months with no change in status, Carvalho decided to step down. His resignation letter, sent late Sunday, took effect immediately. There has been no indication so far that the departure includes a settlement agreement. In the letter. Carvalho focused on academic gains and his desire to reach closure for the benefit of continued progress. writing: “because I believe our schools must remain focused on students and learning without distraction.”.
Chait’s hand on the plan
The board has made no apparent effort to launch a superintendent search. If a search were to begin, officials say it would be expected to take several months at the very least. The board also has no scheduled meetings for July.
With that timeline, Chait would be expected to continue in his current role in a lengthy search scenario. But there are indications there may not be a search at all. Sources close to the board report that board members are preparing to offer the job to Chait.
The four-year strategic plan approved at the meeting was overseen by Chait. Four years ago. when Carvalho took office. he immediately set to work on a four-year strategic plan that matched the length of his contract. With a leadership change, a shift was expected—an outside superintendent typically would not be wedded to the previous plan.
Instead, the board also approved several permanent replacements selected by Chait for top administrators who are leaving the district. One departure named in the board action is the deputy superintendent of instruction, Karla Estrada.
Budget math: deficit, worker impacts, and saved ground
The spending plan covers the fiscal year starting July 1. It is set against revenue-to-date of $18.6 billion. The district will make up deficit spending using reserves, which may or may not last fully by some point within the next three years.
The approved budget is nearly $2 billion higher than last year’s figure of $18.8 billion. Officials tied most of the increase to significant salary increases, maintaining health benefits despite rising costs, and expanding the number of part-time employees eligible for benefits.
Those changes come alongside labor agreements reached in April, just in time to avert a strike. The labor deals include some new hiring of counselors and restoring tech workers who had been designated for layoffs.
The board also reversed steep planned cuts to the Black Student Achievement Plan last week.
Still, the approved plan includes job losses. Up to several hundred permanent employees are expected to lose jobs starting July 1, along with about 1,000 workers without job protections.
District officials project thousands of additional job reductions in the following two years. This year, the workforce stands at 83,000. Officials attributed the need for cuts to the expiration of COVID-relief funds. inflation surpassing state funding increases. and steadily declining enrollment. The district is the nation’s second-largest school system. with about 390. 000 students. about half as large as it was in the early 2000s.
A new set of achievement goals—and a reset in how success is defined
Not all of the data points for the previous plan are in, but Los Angeles Unified did fall short of its goals from a strategy developed under Carvalho. Still, the progress compared favorably with other systems and brought praise from Gov. Gavin Newsom.
In 2022, for instance, the board-approved goals called for third-graders to improve by 30 points on a measure called distance from standard. On that measure, the number 0 means grade level.
In 2021-22, the collective third-grade score in English language arts was minus 32.9, calculated using state standardized tests. Over the four years of the strategic plan, a 30-point improvement would have put third-graders at minus 2.9.
With one year to go, third-graders are at minus 17.6—an improvement, but still below the goal. Another view of the results shows that 43.6% of third graders tested as proficient or better in English.
Under the new plan, the goal over four years is to get to zero on distance from standard in English, math, and science—meaning students are at grade level on average, even as many may land above and many below.
“Moonshots are great but we need to have some level of attainability and realism with the goals that we are setting,” said William Johnston, the district’s executive director of strategy.
The board also set a college and career readiness goal using a variety of data, and a last goal tracking a student’s social and emotional development. The social and emotional effort is still in development, with plans to incorporate it into a student’s report card.
Los Angeles Unified School District Alberto Carvalho Andres Chait school board budget layoffs strategic plan student achievement distance from standard third grade goals labor contracts