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The district hired hundreds of substitutes teachers to keep schools open and cover for those on the picket lines.

\"The painful truth is we just don't have enough money to do everything that UTLA is asking Los Angeles Unified to do,\" Beutner said. \"The state and county regulators have told us this repeatedly. An independent expert appointed by the state of California has said exactly the same thing.\"

\"LA
ABC NEWS
LA Teachers' Strike by the numbers
>

The striking educators are asking for a 6.5 percent pay raise, small class sizes and for the district to add about 1,200 support staff positions, including counselors, nurses and librarians.

\"PHOTO:
Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Polaris
PHOTO: Burroughs Middle School students work on iPads in the gym at the school in Los Angeles, Calif., on Jan. 15, 2019.
>

I stand in solidarity with @UTLAnow teachers who began striking today in Los Angeles for the first time in 30 years. Teaching is one of the most valuable and indispensable professions. We need to treat educators with respect and dignity. #UTLAStrong https://t.co/KsdTU7gA7G

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 15, 2019

Beutner said if the district were to give the UTLA everything it wants, it would cost the district an extra $800 million a year.

He said the state-appointed independent fact finder has told the school district that it has resources to invest $30 to $90 million more.

\"PHOTO:
Barbara Davidson/Getty Images
PHOTO: People rally in the streets of downtown in the pouring rain during a United Teachers Los Angeles strike on Jan. 14, 2019, in Los Angeles.
>

\"We haven't found a way to find those dollars. The county and the state and the independent fact finder have said we do not have the dollars,\" Buetner said.

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