On the day that California's unemployment rate continued to inch toward double digits, many L.A. Unified teachers are breathing a little easier following school superintendent Ramon Cortines' announcement that none will be laid off — for the time being. Ten days ago the school board told Cortines he could ax 2,290 teaching jobs to balance his 2009 budget. Cortines dodged the issue by saying he wanted to see how the state legislature and Governor Schwarzenegger craft a new California budget before deciding when he'd consider ordering layoffs.

While that may be another way of saying “never,” the United Teachers of Los Angeles union remained combative after Cortines' announcement. “We've won this battle but not the war,” proclaimed its Web site. “We applaud the District's decision to

stop the layoffs . . .  However, there is still

much to fight for.”

Attempts to reach UTLA president A.J. Duffy for comment by post time were unsuccessful.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.