How LAUSD Teachers Are Hired and Assigned
Each year, LAUSD hires over 2,000 new classroom teachers — close to 10% of its total 24,000 K-12 teacher workforce. This results in an immediate and direct impact on the learning experiences of more than 50,000 students annually.
Reviewed all public California state and LAUSD documents on credentialing and hiring, consulted the research literature and field leaders, and leveraged the experience of recently-hired LAUSD teachers.
The sections below pull out the major points from the full report — the data, the examples, and the context behind the findings.
The essential requirement for an LAUSD teacher is a valid California teaching credential, issued by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC). Earning one requires a college degree, subject-matter competence (through coursework or the relevant CSET exam), a course or exam on the U.S. Constitution, completion of a CTC-approved preparation program, and teaching performance assessments — CalTPA, edTPA, or FAST. Under 2021 legislation (SB-488), a new literacy performance assessment replaced the RICA beginning in July 2025.
Candidates reach the credential through several pathways that vary in cost, timing, and hands-on experience: traditional post-baccalaureate programs, residencies, integrated undergraduate programs, and intern programs — including LAUSD’s own District-intern program and university-intern partnerships with institutions such as Cal State and Loyola Marymount. Licensed teachers from other states can apply directly to the CTC. As the district itself notes, no single pathway prepares most of its teachers.
| Assignment | New (1st year) | 10+ years | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elementary | 796 | 7,684 | 10,642 |
| Secondary | 790 | 4,923 | 8,050 |
| Special Education | 347 | 2,414 | 4,409 |
| Total | 1,933 (8.4%) | 15,021 (65.0%) | 23,101 |
LAUSD Human Resources Division, FAQ Notebook, K–12 Classroom Teachers and Certificated Administrators, 2022–23.
Most teacher positions are determined by enrollment. LAUSD uses standard student-to-teacher ratios — known as norm tables — to set how many teacher positions each school has. When a school’s enrollment changes, its number of positions changes with it. Schools can fund additional positions with flexible dollars such as Title I, SENI, or carryover funding.
Applicants deemed eligible by Human Resources are placed on an eligibility list for one calendar year, then interview directly with school sites for open positions. Schools build their site budgets between February and April, and the main hiring cycle runs from March through August. Schools have wide latitude in how they interview — some run panel interviews and demo lessons, others rely on a single conversation with the principal.
The hardest vacancies to fill are in special education, math, science, and bilingual education, and the district’s highest-need schools face the steepest challenges — their teachers are, on average, less experienced and less likely to be fully credentialed for the students they teach. To counter this, LAUSD concentrated added HR support and dedicated hiring fairs on 100 identified priority schools and, from 2022 to 2024, offered $5,000 stipends and paid professional development to teachers hired at high-need schools. Those supports have since expired amid funding constraints.