LA Unified ends use of pepper spray, diverts school police money to support Black students

In a unanimous decision by the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education, the district will end the use of pepper spray on students, cut 133 officer positions, and divert $25 million from the police budget toward programs that support Black students. An additional $11.5 million from next year’s general fund will be directed toward this approved plan.

The majority of the funding will be directed toward hiring school climate coaches, counselors, social workers, and other support staff. Additional money will be allocated to 53 schools that were identified as high needs campuses and have also enrolled more than 200 Black students.

The approval of the plan comes after the board voted in June to cut the school police budget by $25 million and after other large school districts, such as Oakland Unified, made changes to their use of school police.

“We came to agreement today in large part because of the advocacy and persistence of Students Deserve, the Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition, Black Lives Matter — Los Angeles and other community partners who showed us how to center Black student voices and experiences in decisions about their future,” Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin said in a statement.