The Los Angeles Unified School District is considering selling its downtown headquarters and other real estate holdings to further streamline operations and provide more resources to schools.

The announcement by LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner on April 19 builds on work over the last two years to establish local teams to focus on each of the individual communities served by the school district. Local teams help connect schools, teachers and staff with the students and families they serve. Educators can plan together, families have an easier time getting issues resolved and have more access to services, community partners are better connected to neighborhood schools and the unique needs of each student can be better addressed in the local approach, Beutner said.

The next step in the process of decentralization is to evaluate real estate currently used by LAUSD for administrative purposes. The school district’s headquarters building on Beaudry Avenue in downtown Los Angeles has approximately 900,000 square feet of space and housed approximately 3,500 people before the pandemic. Like many large employers, LAUSD is balancing remote and in-person work.

The district also owns 18 acres of land on San Pedro Street in downtown Los Angeles that is currently used for parking and service for a portion of the school bus fleet. It may be possible for the fleet operations to be moved to less expensive sites, the superintendent said.

“Through a combination of remote work and relocation to an office closer to where they live and work, employees may benefit from shorter commutes as well as quicker access and closer connection to schools they support,” Beutner added. “The redevelopment of these administrative sites might realize substantial sums of money which could be better used to provide direct services to students in schools. We’ve been working for more than two years to put schools and their students back at the center of all we do and this is another step in that process. This realignment may also make it easier for some employees to work closer to home and to the schools they support. A win-win for students and employees, less commuting and more support for schools.”

For information, visit lausd.net.