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More than 50 protesters prevented debate at the Los Angeles Board of Education meeting on Monday, as they shouted to show support for teachers and their unions. It highlighted the tensions felt throughout the district due to the looming strike and the undisclosed plan by the district superintendent to restructure the school system, which supports 640,000 students. The superintendent has received criticism for proposing to decentralize the school district into networks of schools that are operated independently, essentially privatizing the district and weakening the teacher unions. The United Teachers Los Angeles union has set forth contract demands, including a 6.5 percent pay raise and more money for schools; an editorial in the Daily Californian at the University of California at Berkeley noted that California ranks in the bottom fifth of states in public education spending, and "45th in percentage of taxable income spent on education, 41st in per-pupil funding, 45th in pupil-teacher ratios and 48th in pupil-staff ratios."