The Los Angeles County Unified School District on Tuesday announced it would be removing dozens of officers from their posts, slashing funding for law enforcement at educational institutions, and reinvesting the savings into a multimillion-dollar plan for black students.
Adoption of the Black Student Achievement plan, which costs $36.5 million, will result in 133 officers leaving their duties and a $25 million reduction in police funding for school resource law enforcement. The proposal seeks to “provide supplemental services and [support] to 53 schools that have high numbers of Black students” that are struggling in “Math and English Language Arts proficiency rates,” have “higher than average referral and suspension rates,” and “higher than average chronic absenteeism.”
The decision to slash officers leaves 211 policemen throughout the entire school district, Police Chief Leslie Ramirez said at a meeting Monday. Los Angeles County is home to roughly 10 million people, equating to over a quarter of California’s total population.
Board President Kelly Gonez said the plan will contribute to students’ “social-emotional wellbeing.”
“Student safety is everyone’s responsibility and starts with creating a school environment that is centered in students’ social-emotional wellbeing,” she said in a statement. “The Board’s investment in the Black Student Achievement Plan ensures we are actively working to promote equity across the District.”
Calls to restrict law enforcement funding and capability have been amplified by the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes in May 2020. The next month, the Los Angeles City Council moved forward with a provision to replace uniformed officers with mental health workers for nonviolent calls.
“The move to have unarmed non-police respond to non-violent calls seems like it would be common-sense, but it’s quite courageous,” the Los Angeles division of Black Lives Matter wrote at the time. “We appreciate those who have the vision to stand on the right side of history.”
