Mayor Eric Garcetti had urged both sides to resume talks on Thursday at City Hall. The mayor does not have authority over the Los Angeles Unified School District but he has sought to help both sides reach an agreement.
Clashes over pay, class sizes and support-staff levels in the district with 640,000 students led to its first strike in 30 years and prompted the staffing of classrooms with substitute teachers and administrators.
Parents and children have joined the protests despite heavy rain that has drenched the city. Overall attendance fell to 132,000 students on Wednesday.
With state funding dependent on attendance, student absences cost the district about $69 million over three days, the district said. At the same time, it doesn't have to spend about $10 million a day on teacher pay.
All 1,240 K-12 schools in the district were open — a departure from successful strikes in other states that emboldened the LA union to act.
The union rejected the district's latest offer to hire nearly 1,200 teachers, counselors, nurses and librarians and to reduce class sizes by two students. It also included a previously proposed 6 percent raise over the first two years of a three-year contract. The union wants a 6.5 percent hike at the start of a two-year contract.
District officials have said teacher demands could bankrupt the school system. Superintendent Austin Beutner has urged the teachers to join him in pushing for more funding from the state, which provides 90 percent of the district's money.
Associated Press reporter John Antczak contributed to this report.
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