The LAUSD Board of Education just voted 4 to 3 this evening to reduce the funding for school police by 25 million dollars. Thats 35% of the 70 million dollar school police budget. This is a huge win for the BLM movement and the parents and students who pushed the board to pass a resolution. Parents and students called for that money to be invested in school counselors and social workers instead. it may seem like a drop in the bucket for a district with an 8 billion dollar budget over all but this resolution marks a big shift for LAUSD.

The vote was:

GARCIA: Yes.

GOLDBERG: Yes.

GONEZ: Yes.

MCKENNA: No.

MELVOIN: Yes.

SCHMERELSON: No.

VLADOVIC: No.

You'll notice that two of the three no votes are from Vladovic and McKenna who had nothing to risk. Vladovic is is stepping down from the board after this term and McKenna ran in the primary unopposed.

The one vote I'm surprised about (not surprised) is Schmerelson. It's politically and morally reprehensible that he would vote against the interest of the kids and the wishes of the voters in his district. This is a huge betrayal to the progressive supporters in District 3. I'm surprised but not really, because this is just one in a long list of his votes that have gone against the well being of kids in his district.

reducing the budget for school police in the second largest district in the country is a big step in the right direction for LAUSD. It is so important to break the cycle of the school to prison pipeline and actually give kids the support they need.