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Student Attendance Rises Slightly As LA Teachers Rally On Day 2 Of Strike

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Roughly 15,000 more students showed up for class Tuesday across the Los Angeles Unified School District even as thousands of teachers returned to the picket lines on the second day of a teachers strike.

At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner says the district is still compiling official attendance figures, but the early estimate is that more than 159,000 students went to class Tuesday, up by about 15,000 from Monday's totals.

The district serves nearly a half-million students and about 142,000 were on campuses Monday.

Meanwhile, charter school teachers joined UTLA teachers at a raucous rally in Little Tokyo Tuesday alongside teachers from The Accelerated Schools charter network, who joined the strike because they are also unhappy with the contract they've been offered.

The proliferation of independent and privately-managed charter schools is one of the sticking points in the negotiations between United Teachers Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Unified School District. The union believes charter schools, which are also overseen by the district, are draining resources away from public schools.

COMPLETE COVERAGE: LAUSD Teachers Strike

The district and the union have not met to restart negotiations since Friday, when the district revised its offer to include new money included in Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposed state budget. The new offer included a $24 million increase from the previous offer, but was still rejected by the teachers union.

The union is demanding a 6.5 percent raise that would take effect all at once and a year sooner; more nurses, librarians, and counselors; and a pledge to reduce class sizes. UTLA says a reported $1.8 billion district reserve could be used to meet their demands, but the district says that money has already been fully earmarked.

The first day of the strike cost the district about $25 million because just a third of LAUSD students came to school, according to district officials. The district serves nearly a half-million students and about 142,000 were on campuses Monday.

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