Los Angeles school board borrows $250M for settlements

Audio By Carbonatix

Editor's note: This story has been updated to add a comment from the Los Angeles Unified School District.

(The Center Square) – The Los Angeles Unified School District recently borrowed $250 million to settle claims of sexual abuse.

That's in addition to the $500 million that the LAUSD Board of Education approved for borrowing in 2025.

"AB [Assembly Bill] 218 has brought forward an unprecedented number of historical childhood sexual abuse cases, and we take every case seriously," an LAUSD spokesperson said Wednesday, responding to The Center Square's questions by email. "A number of pending matters involve conduct that predates mandatory reporting laws, but that does not limit our obligation to act.

"We rigorously vet every claim to the fullest extent possible," the spokesperson added. "Los Angeles Unified is continuously enhancing our training and engagement strategies to ensure student safety from all forms of violence, particularly from those tasked with their protection."

Neither the United Teachers Los Angeles, a union, nor State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, responded to The Center Square’s request for comment.

Sonja Shaw, a Republican candidate this year for Thurmond's job, said the actions by the nation's second-largest school district are beyond incompetence.

“It is systemic failure,” Shaw told The Center Square Tuesday. “Another $250 million in borrowed money on top of an earlier half-billion and hundreds of millions already paid out to settle sexual misconduct claims. That is not bad luck. That is a pattern. ...

"Children have been speaking up for years,” Shaw said, noting families have been sounding alarms. Even so, Shaw said, the system repeatedly protects the adults first.

“When a district pays out massive settlements tied to employee sexual misconduct, it reveals a structure that failed to protect children,” said Shaw, currently the president of the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education. “Why are taxpayers now financing bonds to clean up abuse that should have been prevented in the first place?”

Maria Luisa Palma of Oleada Parents made similar comments to the Los Angeles school board in late February. During her time at the podium, Palma questioned what the district was doing to prevent sexual abuse of students and said the board continues to “protect sex abuses through the bargaining agreement with UTLA and other unions.” 

Meanwhile, Palma said, children’s lives have been damaged.

“Any amount of money is never going to fix those children’s lives,” Palma told the board. “Even one case is too many, so if you continue to agree to the same protections for teachers in those bargaining agreements, sex abuse is on your heads going forward. How do you sleep at night?”

Palma told The Center Square on Tuesday that only three of the seven board members were in the room for public comment.

“Some of them, like Karla Griego, appear to leave intentionally when I and others from our Oleada parent group speak," Palma said.

Los Angeles resident Adam Carolla also blasted the teachers’ union, saying on his podcast that “horrible teachers and ones that get caught in pedophilia” are moved to neighborhoods where people don’t complain.

“People speak Spanish mostly, and mom and dad work all day,” said Carolla on his podcast. “They continue, except for now with people that can’t lawyer up.”