Two days after the union representing Los Angeles teachers set a tentative January strike date, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner sat down for an interview with Spectrum News 1 to discuss how best to support teachers with the resources the district has available.

"I think we should save public schools. I'm a proud product of public education myself. I'm doing this work to make sure each student in school has a chance to get a great education," Beutner said Friday morning on the Beat on 1.

He went on to explain how many LAUSD students attend traditional public schools and how many are educated in charter schools.

"We have about 500,000 students today in traditional public schools, about 125,000 in charter schools and those number aren't changing much," he stated.

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Spectrum News 1 anchor Melvin Robert then asked former investment banker Beutner if business and marketplace economics models are applicable in education.

“One has to look at the resources you have, and how do you best deploy them on behalf of students. Listen to a second grade student, they'll tell you their school is the best school, their classroom is the best classroom and their teacher is the best teacher, and they're the most important student. That's the organizing principal of public education," Beutner said.

"It's an educator in a classroom well supported, to make the right set of decisions to help mentor those children in the classroom.The governance model, traditional public schools, charter public schools, ask that educator in the classroom, no one is thinking about the governance model in that classroom. It's an educator well supported in the classroom, that's how the work is done. That's the work we need to support," he added.

On Wednesday, United Teachers Los Angeles announced teachers will go on strike on January 10, if a labor agreement is not reached with the district before that date. UTLA represents about 33,000 LAUSD teachers.