In LA, the teachers of America's largest school district are on strike

LA teachers are on strike today, fighting against privatization, standardized tests, giant classes, and clawbacks of in-class teachers' aides.

The LA Unified School District -- whose billionaire superintendent was installed thanks to oceans of dark money fronted by the charter school lobby -- will respond by spending its $1.86 billion reserve on high-priced scabs.

Unlike last year's wave of #RedForEd teachers' strikes, LA teachers are striking against Democratic party operative and donors, who are part of the bipartisan move to privatize schools and gut public-sector unions.

The teachers will find natural allies in the parents: every parent knows the misery of trying to find somewhere to live near a "good school," and the way that new job opportunities and other reasons to move have to be weighed against the possibility that your kid will land in an underperforming, underfunded school. And even the winners in this game are losers: the "good schools" inevitably close their funding gaps with endless rounds of "fundraising" from parents.

And the alternatives are worse: publicly funded charter schools are beloved of evil billionaires, crooks and religious kooks, but they're really bad for kids.

Last year's wave of teachers' strikes never really ended: the LA teachers' strike is an example to working people everywhere, who've witnessed wage-stagnation, hyperinflation in housing and college costs, and the rise and rise of the super-rich.

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