Posted on Mar 01, 2010

Click here to download the signed tentative agreement.

After nearly two years of bargaining, organizing and working together to make our voices heard, the 8,000-plus members of the San Diego Education Association have reached a tentative agreement on a fair contract with the San Diego Unified School District. This contract represents a monumental victory for educators, students, parents and the entire San Diego community. San Diego’s teachers stood strong together in the face of tremendous odds and demanded a contract that recognizes the incredible work we do every day and that meets the needs of our students — and through our unity, we won!

Through hard work and a real commitment to our schools, SDEA members have bargained an agreement that protects our students and our classrooms during harsh economic times by saving the District tens of millions of dollars over the next two years. Despite the fact that SDUSD’s educators are among the lowest paid in the County, our members have agreed to five furlough days in each of the next two school years in order to preserve class sizes and protect programs and services such as nursing and counseling for San Diego’s children. In acknowledgement of SDEA members’ long struggle under the burden of sub-standard wages, and our increased sacrifice over the next two years, the School Board agreed to do the right thing and restore our salaries plus salary increases of 7.16% over the course of the 2012-2013 school year.

The SDEA bargaining team could not have reached this agreement alone. When SDEA’s team sat across the table from the District bargaining team, they didn’t see just six or seven faces — they saw more than 8,000 educators standing behind us. It was two years of consistent and collective action that won this contract. In an environment that has resulted in teachers statewide taking drastic and irreversible cuts to their salaries and healthcare, class size increases, and the loss of other crucial protections, SDEA members continued to fight for what was right for workers and right for kids — and we have succeeded. Our hard work together shows that it can be done and how it can be done: through ground-up organizing and real solidarity.

SDEA will be conducting membership meetings at the SDEA office to discuss the details of the tentative agreement on the following dates and times:

  • Wednesday, March 3 — 3:30 p.m.
  • Wednesday, March 3 — 5:30 p.m.
  • Thursday, March 4 — 3:30 p.m.
  • Thursday, March 4 — 5:30 p.m.
  • Friday, March 5 — 3:30 p.m.
  • Friday, March 5 — 5:30 p.m.
  • Saturday, March 6 — 10:00 a.m.
  • Saturday, March 6 — Noon

The major features of the tentative agreement include:

  • No changes to the salary schedule during 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years.
  • Five student-contact furlough days each in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, equivalent to a 2.7% salary decrease each year for members on a 184-day contract.
  • Reinstatement of all furlough days in 2012-2013, plus additional increases as follows:
    • 2% on July 1, 2012,
    • 2% on Jan. 1, 2013, and
    • 3% on June 30, 2013.
    • This results in a compounded 7.16% salary increase on top of our current rate of pay as we head into the 2013-2014 school year.
  • An agreement to bargain the following four benefits changes proposed by VEBA through the joint District-Association Health and Welfare Benefits Committee:
    • A dependent eligibility audit.
    • A $100 monthly copayment for those who waive coverage through another employer and receive compensation for waiving coverage,
    • The change to the dual-coverage provision as proposed by VEBA, and
    • Ten-dollar co-pays in the Kaiser and Pacificare HMO plans, effective January 2011.
  • Contingency language designed to preclude budgetary hijinks, guaranteeing that improvements to the District’s fiscal circumstances would cancel the furlough days or result in direct compensation to members.
  • Strong protections for educators who retire during one of the furlough years, and whose retirement earnings through CalSTRS are negatively impacted due to the 2010-2012 salary reductions.
  • Class size caps as follows:
    • Effective fall 2012, a hard cap of 36 students at secondary levels, and
    • Effective fall 2012 and contingent upon action at the state level, a cap of two above the fully funded Class Size Reduction level (currently 20 students) for grades K-3.
  • Protections for nursing and counseling staffing levels – positions must be staffed, not simply funded with moneys that can be spent on other things.
  • A five-year evaluation cycle for eligible members.
  • Stronger protections for unit members who are required to move their classroom/work space due to Prop. S construction.
  • The ability to use three rather than two accumulated sick days for personal business each year.
  • The incorporation of agreements and MOU’s reached over the past two years, including strong workload protections and a forthcoming new model for special education workload.
  • Other non-monetary contract improvements.

Stay tuned for updates on our upcoming contract ratification vote.

Together we are stronger!