The education board overseeing the Los Angeles Unified School District voted on Tuesday to cut $ 25 million from the Los Angeles School Police Department and cut 133 jobs, a spokesman told CNN.
The money will go from the police to a performance plan for black students to strengthen community groups, improve student literacy and reduce “over-identification of black students in suspensions, discipline and other measures,” the meeting agenda said.
The board of the country’s second-largest school district, with more than 600,000 students, has also banned pepper spray against students, the spokesman said.
“We’re taking an important step in the right direction to provide black students with vital investments in their success – with millions of dollars going towards academic support, socio-emotional resources and a new approach to school climate and safety,” said school board member Nick Melvoin . “This student and community-driven action should have been delayed.”
The police budget cuts came as no surprise to the service.
In a
statement after the vote, Chef Leslie Ramirez said, “From the outset, the depth and importance of this action was clear and today’s decision brings the realism of an upcoming LASPD reform to our service delivery model.”
Several major school districts have eliminated or reduced police presence
The board announced that it would re-evaluate the role of police on campuses in June, with the aim of making students “feel like a respected part of their school community.”
Los Angeles joins cities like Oakland, Milwaukee and Denver that have reduced or removed police from public schools, a move spurred by nationwide rallies against police brutality following the deaths of Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and other black men and women at the hands of Police.
Some police reform activists say that officers end up “ criminalizing ” black and Latino students or punishing them disproportionately compared to students of other races.
Disturbing footage has shown that school police acted violently towards students, such as when the Orlando Police Department was filmed arresting a 6-year-old girl after an apparent tantrum in 2019 or, in the same year, when the North Carolina police became accused of beating children and trapping them in a stranglehold.
