Los Angeles teachers are on day 3 of their strike and it’s costing the Los Angeles Unified School District millions of dollars a day.

It’s not just teachers on strike. It’s also school nurses, counselors and librarians since they are part of the teachers union. The tension between the union and district is what you expect – money. The union want more hiring, smaller classes, funding for new positions, adult education, bilingual education for students and programs for students and disabilities.

“We have 46, 45, 50 students in a class. It’s unacceptable,” said a teacher from john Marshall High School.

The district claims certain things the teachers are asking for can’t be done as the budget won’t allow it. They did offer $130 million but the union rejected it. They want $1.8 billion and believe the district has it even though the district claims they can barely meet a required 1% reserve by 2021-22 school year.

“The district’s three-year projections have always been wrong,” said Alex Caputo-Pearl, the United Teachers Los Angeles President. “Three years ago, they predicted a $105 million reserve; they ended with a $1.86 billion reserve. They were off by $1.7 billion.”

Why the LAUSD is losing millions a day is because students aren’t showing up for school and their funds are linked to attendance.

About 32,000 teachers are on strike and it seems the strike will continue.