LOS ANGELES — LAUSD’s Opening of Schools Address kicked off with all the fanfare of an Olympics Opening Ceremony.

The theme of superintendent Alberto Carvalho’s speech was Beyond Limits, and while longtime teacher Tracy Sosa appreciates the sentiment, she worries about how that will translate for teachers.

“I think teachers are always being pushed beyond their limits,” she said. “I think that there’s a lot of teacher burnout.”

Superintendent Carvalho used the opening address to tout some brand-new test scores, which he says increased across the board in ELA, reading and mathematics.

Other key achievements include a graduation rate of over 86% for 2024, an investment in nearly 130,000 new devices for students and staff, and increases in the arts budget. 

But LAUSD’s overall budget faces challenges in what Carvalho called a “perfect storm year."

Besides reductions in state funding, federal funding tied to COVID sunsets in September.

“Our system had to go through a necessary contraction, as we had in excess of 6,000 people tied to those one-time dollars,” he explained, in response to a reduction in assistant principals at school sites.