Feds give LAUSD much-needed tough love

The Trump administration is giving LAUSD the tough love it needs to get back on track.

Until now, LA’s public school system has been clouded by complacency.

No longer.

The US Department of Education issued a blunt warning: LAUSD, the second-largest school district in the country, could run out of money by the end of next year.

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s department has given LAUSD 45 days to come up with a new budget plan. 

The reasons the district is running out of money are clear.

One is the fact that LAUSD keeps caving to the teachers union, and offering contracts that the district simply cannot afford.

Another is the fact that the district has already borrowed three-quarters of a billion dollars to pay settlements in sexual abuse claims dating back decades. 

And on the subject of sexual abuse, the Department of Education is still investigating LAUSD’s alleged practice of protecting teachers accused of sexual misconduct.

Instead of getting rid of problematic teachers, LAUSD often keeps them around — keeping some in the classroom, and reassigning others. 

Some are told to stay home while they await the adjudication of their cases, but regardless, the district — and the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union — are concerned with protecting teachers, not students.

One union member wrote recently that teachers deserved the presumption of innocence.

Presuming the innocence of adults should not mean risking the innocence of children.

LAUSD now finds itself in the dubious company of a few dozen districts nationwide that stand accused of being far too lenient with accused predators in the classroom.

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The Department of Education had to warn these districts not to simply move suspected predators to other schools — a practice colloquially known as “passing the trash.”

You’d think this would be obviously wrong to anyone in education.

But then again, so much goes on in our public schools because administrators and union leaders can’t be bothered to think about what is best for children.

LAUSD’s former superintendent, Alberto Carvalho, waited for months to resign after the FBI raided his homes and his office.

Both Carvalho and his temporary replacement were drawing salaries, while the district was derailed.

New superintendent Andrés Chait has his work cut out for him.

The question that must be asked is: Why did it take Linda McMahon to warn LAUSD it was headed for disaster?

Only federal pressure seems to bring accountability.