Facing a severe financial shortfall, the Los Angeles Unified School District in March passed a conditional budget that would cut its entire adult education program, serving hundreds of thousands of mostly immigrant and working class Angelenos. The worst-case scenario budget could be enacted later this year if a number of tax measures on this November’s ballot do not pass, and if the district is unable to come to agreement with the teachers union on salaries and furloughs. At stake is the education of nearly one third of LAUSD’s students, who are adults hoping to obtain their high school diplomas on their way to college, or learn English, or simply obtain job skills.

Writing for the Huffington Post, UCLA Professor Marjorie Faulstich raises the fact that Adult Ed program comprise only 2% of the LAUSD budget, and as such, are extremely financially efficient. She asserts that more than 10% of the district’s budget is classified as “Other Operating Expenses,” and asks, “Why not make smaller cuts across the board, so that no one group is totally sacrificed? At the very least, the LAUSD should explain exactly what these “other” budget expenses are, and why the ax shouldn’t fall there instead.”

On April 30th, 2012, Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar interviewed Dan Kaufman, an LAUSD ESL teacher.

Watch a video of Part 1 of the interview here:

Watch a video of Part 2 of the interview here:

Visit www.saveadulted.org and www.lastudents.org for more information.

Martina Steiner recorded this interview.