For months, the Los Angeles school district and the teachers union have been operating in different realities. In the L.A. Unified universe, the district faces financial doom. To teachers, it’s a stingy bureaucracy sitting on riches enough to boost their pay and even save public education.

On Thursday, the union and the school system go before a mediator for the first time to see whether they can find common ground — perhaps even accept the same set of fiscal facts.

If mediation fails, a teachers strike could be just weeks away.

Heading into those talks, L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner offered teachers an improved contract offer Tuesday. It features a 6% raise that is retroactive and proposes lowering class sizes at 15 middle and 75 elementary schools.

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