LAUSD budget cuts could impact students with disabilities

That's right, Christine. Parents say the proposed cuts are brutal and will have a devastating impact on their children. That's why they came here to LAUSD headquarters. Save our schools! Outside LAUSD headquarters, parents are making their voices heard, calling on the district to rethink proposed budget cuts that could affect 40 affiliated charter schools. These cuts have come out of left field for us. I don't understand why there's a cut and where's the money going? The district plans to eliminate $10 million in funding beginning in the 2027-2028 school year. Parents fear that could mean losing special education aides, inclusion teachers, campus monitors, and other critical support staff. They say the impact could be especially serious for students with disabilities who depend on those services every day. It's going to affect us severely. We do have a special needs daughter and they on a daily basis need supervision constantly because of elopement issues. So if we lose the aides to our special needs students, that runs the risk of numerous children eloping, not being supervised and hurting themselves or others. During the LAUSD meeting, a school principal had this to say during public comment. As a whole. Affiliated charters outperform traditional schools in enrollment, attendance, academics, graduation rates, and dropout rates. Parents are calling on LAUSD to review central office contracts and consider selling unused district properties before cutting positions at schools. They have not sat down with us and talked to us about how they expect our school to run off of an 88% cut. LAUSD says the district is facing an estimated $3.6 billion deficit and acknowledges it has some difficult decisions to make. In a statement, LAUSD says affiliated charter schools will continue receiving funding through norm-based allocations and other applicable district programs. The district also says it understands the concerns raised by families and school communities. The kids are first. And we're not going without a fight. The proposed funding reduction across the 42 charter schools is $10 million. So each school will be facing massive cuts if that budget reduction is approved. The next meeting has been scheduled in December. I'll send it back to you, Mr. Wheeler. I'm sure we'll hear from parents again.