UTLA lobbies for district

As part of her job as a special-education assistant at Byrd Middle School in Sun Valley, Desiree Young knows what it's like to change diapers every day.Justine Agulia in the Daily News.

But recently her focus has shifted, knowing similar jobs could disappear thanks to massive budget cuts that would cripple the school system she has believed in for nearly two decades.

"I just can't sit back," said Young, 40. "I've been doing this for 18 years, long hard years. This is not good for the kids. They're the ones who'll end up shortchanged in a big way."

Midnight Monday, Young was set to board a bus with several hundred people - 45 she personally rounded up - to Sacramento, where she vowed to give Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger some advice about cutting the Los Angeles Unified School District's budget.