Why the LA teachers strike is different

Governing -Similar to those protesting in places like Arizona and Oklahoma, the 35,000-member United Teachers Los Angeles union is demanding a 6.5 percent pay increase and more classroom funding. But the strike in L.A. -- the nation's second-largest school district -- is different in two significant respects.

“We are demanding lower class sizes for our students, less testing and more teaching, charter school accountability, a full-time nurse and librarian in every school along with more counselors, psychologists, and social workers, and we want [Los Angeles Unified School District] to support the Community Schools Model, which has been proven to work all over the USA,” wrote more than a dozen of the city’s teachers in an open letter published in The Washington Post on Wednesday.

Second, the battle is being fought in a liberal, union-friendly city and state. Most of last year's strikes and walkouts took place in red states with weak labor protection laws.

Considering both of those factors, the strike could influence how an increasingly progressive Democratic Party handles workforce and education issues in states and cities across the country. In the Obama era, many centrist Democrats embraced charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run and typically not unionized. Supporters say these schools allow for creativity and innovation, but a growing chorus of critics -- including the teachers union -- see charters as a force for the privatization of public education, diverting resources away from the traditional school system.