Thousands of LAUSD workers could get layoff notices. What to know
- - Thousands of LAUSD workers could get layoff notices. What to know
Paris Barraza, USA TODAYFebruary 16, 2026 at 3:34 PM
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Thousands of LAUSD workers could get layoff notices. What to know
One of the largest school districts in the nation is eyeing job cuts as it navigates falling enrollment, rising operational costs, expired COVID-19-era assistance and other challenges.
The Board of Education for the Los Angeles Unified School District could authorize district officials to issue potential layoff notices and move to eliminate certain positions as part of wider efforts to shore up savings in the coming fiscal years amid “dangerously high deficit levels” that total over $1 billion.
The board is expected to discuss the extreme measures Tuesday, Feb. 17.
LAUSD employs more than 83,000 people, including teachers, administrators, certificated support personnel and substitutes, according to June 2025 data. The prospect of layoffs isn't the only moving part in the overall picture: Labor unions have been in negotiations with the district related to wage increases to class sizes, and members of the United Teachers Los Angeles authorized the union to strike in late January.
The board had previously rescheduled Tuesday’s meeting, a move that came off the heels of several unions, including UTLA, calling for the board not to vote on such a key matter in a meeting bloated by other agenda items. The unions instead suggested the board hold a meeting in early March so that officials would have a “more complete picture of Prop 98 funding” and so that people could have more time to understand the proposed cuts — cuts that labor unions said they hadn’t been consulted about. Prop 98 guarantees a minimum level of funding for K-12 in the state.
Here’s what to know about the job cuts for a district that serves hundreds of thousands of students in Southern California.
How many people could LAUSD lay off?
A board of education report reveals that “approximately 2,600 contract management employees and certificated administrators” could get a notice in mid-March. California requires that school districts alert such workers by March 15 that they may be laid off in the following school year, according to the California School Boards Association.
Also, 657 “central office and centrally-funded” positions have been identified for elimination, according to the report. That includes positions like 25 assistant area bus supervisors, 23 gardeners, over 200 IT-related positions, nearly 100 office technicians and more. In addition, several dozen positions are poised to see reduced hours.
However, just because an employee receives a notice doesn’t mean they’ll be laid off, and the report said these numbers aren’t “representative of the final number of employees who will be laid off” in part due to changes in finances and staffing, including because of retirements, resignations and more.
The district must issue notices to a greater number of employees than the 657 positions identified to comply with education code requirements, the report said.
"In total this represents less than 1% of the total Los Angeles Unified workforce," according to the report.
LAUSD says job cuts need to be done at some point
LAUSD is up against a projected deficit of $877 million for fiscal year 2026-27 and $443 million for 2027-28, according to a December 2025 report. The board of education report said that, for a public education institution, it faces “dangerously high deficit levels” which suggest a “significant structural imbalance” as opposed to a “temporary dip.”
A fiscal stabilization plan for LAUSD revealed in 2025 had included “central operations, non-school-based reductions” as part of multiple efforts intended to address its sizable deficit. Among the district’s challenges: How it has previously offset deficit spending and revenue challenges in part due to declining enrollment and the loss of COVID-19 area funding, according to the report. Also in play is Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget, which won’t be finalized until later this year, that shapes school districts’ funding and in which several billions in funds could be unlocked, according to officials at a January board meeting.
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said at the January meeting that a reduction in force is often about cutting positions, “not necessarily people.” But he acknowledged that it wasn’t certain that could be avoided entirely in this instance.
The district spends 90% of its revenue on staff, according to officials in January.
Saman Bravo-Karimi, chief financial officer, said in January that delaying the reduction in force in the present means it’ll only increase the number of reductions later.
“The reduction in force — given the size of our financial outlook, given what most districts are facing in the state and given the vast majority of our resources are, as they should be, spend on staff — it will need to be done at some point,” Bravo-Karimi said.
Paris Barraza is a reporter covering Los Angeles and Southern California for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is LAUSD laying off staff? Breaking down proposed cuts
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