LAX Leader

L.A. County Health Director Barbara Ferrer recently said schools in Los Angeles County will remain shuttered until after the Nov. 3 election.

The announcement comes as Los Angles County has experienced its lowest positivity rate and schools in surrounding counties, such as Orange County, have indicated they may open up as soon as early October.

“We don’t realistically anticipate that we would be moving either to Tier 2 or to reopening K-12 schools at least…until after the election, after, you know, in early November. If we just look at the timing of everything, it seems to us the most realistic approach to this would be to think that we’re gonna be where we are now…until…we are done with the elections,” said in audio captured of a conference call with educators and medical professionals.

Ferrer did not elaborate on why the election was chosen as the date.

“She said election not just once, but she says it twice,” KFI-AM's Steve Gregory, who unearthed the audio, said.

Many are questioning the continued closure of schools. Only one death has been recorded in California for those under under 18 years of age or younger. 

Schools across the country are re-opening at an increasing rate. On a state level Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, Iowa and Texas have all been mandated to be in session this fall.  

Gregory played the tape on the John and Ken Show on KFI-AM Thursday morning.

“Are they manipulating the school date?” co-host John Kobylt asked.

Ferrer’s announcement affects the nearly 735,000 students attending Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest district in the country.

The district employees nearly 27,000 teachers who are represented by the United Teachers Los Angeles. 

UTLA members walked out of schools for a six day strike in 2019. 

Teachers unions hold a lot of political sway.

A recent report speculated that California teachers unions are “holding children’s education hostage” for political purposes.  

Gov. Gavin Newsome, a major political beneficiary of education unions, guaranteed teacher benefits this fall regardless of whether schools opened or not.

Schools cancelled in-person education for the fall after the California Teacher’s Association and UTLA made public statements on the matter.

UTLA’s Facebook page is consistent in its messaging…President Trump is bad, Black Lives Matter is good and taxes should be higher.

Bernie Sanders received UTLA’s backing for president.

The move to use the pandemic as a means for more financial support is not unprecedented.

Earlier this year the California Teacher’s Association geared up its lobbying machine  using COVID as a selling point.

“Our schools, in a struggle to safely reopen, we need to provide avenues now to solve the problems we know are coming,” a narrator said in the ad.

The California Teacher’s Association is a prolific campaign donor with over $250 million in donations on file. 

The money they’ve spent to back Democrats versus Republicans has been 20 to 1.

Teachers in California are paid on average right around $80,000 of the second highest in the nation after New York. On average teachers in California are paid 25 percent more than their counterparts in all other states except New York.