MORE than 30,000 striking teachers flooded the rainy streets of downtown Los Angeles on Monday demanding the city properly invest in its educators and schools.

The strike, organised by the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union, is the first time teachers have walked out the classroom in LA since 1989.

The teachers, who voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action last year, are calling on the Los Angeles County School District to use its $1.8 billion (£1.4bn) surplus to fund more libraries, counsellors and nurses for school campuses, decrease class sizes and the number of student exams, halt the creeping privatisation of education and increase teacher pay by 6.5 per cent.