"If you do not know where you are going,
any road will take you there."
By Dick Gale, SDEA Executive Director

With the 2006-2007 bargaining and the November general election now in the rear view mirror, it is time to take stock of our efforts and to ask where we go next. Even without knowing the outcome of the contract ratification vote, SDEA owes thanks to the hundreds of teachers who attended School Board
meetings in support of our bargaining proposals. Were we able to achieve all of our goals? Certainly not, but we did achieve an agreement that respects teachers in San Diego Unified and takes the right steps to ensure that there is a place at the table for our bargaining unit members when critical decisions are being made.

SDEA also thanks the many staff that made member-to-member phone calls in support of education-friendly candidates and propositions. Did all of our recommended candidates and propositions always win? Certainly not, but because of the efforts of our members and thousands more like them all over the country, there will be more than one party controlling the institutions of government in Washington and Sacramento.

Nevertheless, there are difficult legislative days ahead as Congress prepares for the next reauthorization of ESEA. In Sacramento, there will be additional attention focused on issues of vital concern to our members, such as transfer rights, STRS funding and incentives. Depending on which version of Governor Schwarzenegger appears in 2007, there may be increased debate about public employee pensions.

Locally, as always, there is much work to be done. As part of this year's tentative agreement, both SDEA and the District committed to working together to tackle the issue of teacher compensation and to make recommendations to move member salaries to at least the median position among teachers in San Diego County. While we recognize that "strive to be average" is hardly an inspirational slogan, SDEA believes that median salary
benchmark can serve as a tangible goal to work toward.

The catch is that the work is not going to be easy or painless. San Diego Unified, like many districts throughout California, is in a chronically declining
enrollment phase. As the first chart on the next page illustrates, we have fewer students and, hence, less school funding each year. This decline is caused by a number of factors, including charter schools, private educational institutions, and families priced out of the housing market. The District's projection is for continued decline for the next several years.

At the same time (please review page 5 of the November 2006 Advocate - second chart) staff reductions are being made but not at the same pace as the declining enrollment. This leads to a reduced ratio of students to staff and raises the obvious question of how long such reduced staffing ratios can be sustained.

SDEA knows that grappling with this issue will force all of us to confront difficult choices. We have demonstrated our commitment to work cooperatively with the District to deal with many of the complex issues that arise in the day-to-day operation of the second largest district in California. But, we urge the District to work with us to extend this shared decision-making to the sites and to the programs where our students' lives are being directly impacted.

It will take discipline on the part of both sides to make hard staffing decisions. But, we would much rather be at the table participating in the discussions than trying to pick up the pieces after the district is forced by economic necessity to implement a modified staffing plan without our input. As quoted above, even the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland knows that having a specific goal in mind will help determine which course to chart.