Our Line in the Sand...
By Camille Zombro, SDEA President and
Marc Capitelli, SDEA Vice President

W e always hope that we can deal with the fun stuff in union life. Listening to members, fighting the good fight, bargaining to improve our working conditions, or providing members with information that can make their lives better-these are the things we hope our day will include when we wake up and "go to the office." Informing members about "a possible Reduction in Force" ("RIF") is not our idea of a good day.

But the RIF process is happening parallel to our bargaining campaign.
In fact, the same day RIF notices could be approved by the School Board, March 11, is the day we'll present our initial bargaining proposals (known as "sunshine proposals"). SDEA leaders and staff have gone out to every K-12 site in the District and held special sessions here at SDEA to find out what members want in our contract with SDUSD. We are choosing to bargain from a position of strength and from the will of our membership. We are prepared and we will not be deterred. Our proposals will reflect our membership-not the Governor's draconian budget projections.

Remember when Governor Davis was recalled because the state budget was in the tank (and he was going to keep the extra motor vehicle tax to help balance the budget)? Challenger Arnold Schwarzenegger rode the wave of public sentiment into office. The irony is that if the tax had continued we would not be in this financial pickle now. We know that makes a big assumption that politicians would not have spent it, but still...

We could be labeled "tax and spend" liberals by the supposedly fiscally conservative (anybody checked the national debt lately?). But it would be a misnomer because we are "pay as you go" liberals. It is fashionable lately to keep harping on cutting taxes and implicitly promise that services will continue to pour forth.  We know that streets don't get fixed, or libraries stay open, or schools function properly without money. When society funds things on the cheap you get streets with potholes, libraries that are open short hours, and schools that struggle mightily to provide quality education with a stingy bankroll. NCLB is a great example of demanding much and providing little. You get more out of a buck that any other sector of government. That is because you work on the cheap and you work long. SDUSD gets 10 teachers for what other area districts pay for eight and when was the last time you worked 40 hours in the week?

Now we are facing, for the second time in five years, another RIF. If our politicians were people with courage we would not face this problem. We have not funded education from a sustainable and stable source in decades. Nobody wants to say that we need to pay for those things we value as a society. All we hear is cut taxes, cut fat, cut this, cut that. Politicians should be leading the discussion about what it is that we value and then establish funding that will deliver. Every poll ever taken says that society values education and worthy politicians should be leading the fight to pay for quality education. No one has an issue with being accountable as long as we are provided the tools to do the job and we are held accountable for things that we (teachers) can control.

That's why SDEA will organize and why we'll bargain for a strong contract.  We must stay focused. The upcoming months will bring accusations that our salaries are to blame for layoffs, or our demands for smaller class sizes are the reason for low salary proposals, or the old standby-that we're "obstructionists." We cannot and will not get demoralized-we have too much to gain by working together to save public education!

We remember the stress imposed on our members during the last round of RIFs. SDEA will be in the fight to protect our rights. SDEA is gearing up on the home front and the Sacramento front, teaming with CTA and letting our legislators know what they need to do, but this notice is a "call to arms" for you to get involved. You need to write, call, email, and VISIT your legislator. Let them know that they must protect education and then build a funding system that will provide for an education system that can accomplish the goals that society has said it wants. If you have been an educator for 30 years or 1 year you need to be developing carpal tunnel syndrome in your writing/typing hand. This is not somebody else's fight.

What is happening now happens when we let someone else make the rules we have to live by. This fiscal crisis is not simply a bubble in the real estate market. This is years of politicians on both sides telling us lies and us wanting to believe them. The illusionists will only stop when we, the people, demand that politicians put down the "looking glass" and meet us face to face. If we really value something we must be willing to pay for a good product.

Still think that educators should not be involved in politics?