Special Education Workload Bargaining Update
July 15, 2010
Special Education Workload Settlement Reached!
SDEA and SDUSD have reached an agreement that will create better caseloads and new workload protections for special educators, concluding the special 60-day workload bargaining process agreed to during negotiations for the 2008-2013 contracts. This settlement marks real progress toward the priorities that SDEA’s special educators shared during the bargaining listening sessions with 4,000+ members two years ago. The language of the agreement will be incorporated into Article 30: Special Education of the new 2010-2013 contract, and will take effect for the 2010-2011 school year. However, there remain real areas of need that will be addressed through a joint SDEA-SDUSD process to continue negotiating special education workload. The parties will work over the course of the coming year to create and refine a workload model that must be implemented in the 2011-2012 school year.
Click here to download the signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Real Relief for Educators
At the opening of the 2008-2009 school year, SDEA members discovered that the District had begun unilaterally implementing a new model for special education — the Specialized Academic Instruction (SAI), or full-inclusion, model — without providing the supports and structures required to ensure that this new model would be successful for students and educators. SDEA held a series of all-member union meetings in the fall to discuss solutions to the problems created by the District’s decision. Members’ stories at those meetings underscored the need for new contract language designed to better protect educators and meet the needs of our students under the poorly implemented new model.
The SDEA Bargaining Team’s goal was to provide immediate relief to our membership in the form of strong caseload caps that match current special education job titles, as well as to ensure that workloads are equitable and realistic. We presented language that would improve special educators’ rights in relation to IEP meetings, create time to co-plan, and provide protections regarding class coverage for co-teachers.
We were able to achieve better protections around caseloads, in addition to new rights regarding IEP meetings and class coverage. We also ensured that the District will not reduce its special education workforce. We reached agreement to continue negotiating the parameters of special educators’ workload over the coming year, creating an opportunity for even stronger protections if we continue to collectively pressure the District to do the right thing.
Overview of the Settlement
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Issue (These issues were identified by the membership as being top concerns within Special Education and within the scope of bargaining.)
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Members’ Identified Needs |
SDEA’s Bargaining Proposal(s) |
OVERVIEW OF THE SETTLEMENT |
Next Steps
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| Caseloads | Reasonable and enforceable contract language on caseloads. | Mild/Moderate caseloads not to exceed 20 (inclusive of students with IEPs and RTI students).
Moderate/Severe caseloads not to exceed 12 IEPs. Elementary and SEEC SLPs shall count RTI and SI students towards overall caseloads of 55 and 40 respectively. |
All of our proposed caseload numbers were agreed to by the District. | Enforce caseloads at sites. |
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Expanded special education planning time
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Planning time dedicated to co-planning, IEP meetings, curriculum modification, etc. | An additional prep period for special education teachers. | The District claimed that this would be cost-prohibitive, especially in the current fiscal environment. Expanded special education planning time will continue to be an SDEA bargaining goal. | Continue to demand time for co-planning, IEPs, curriculr modification, etc. during next year’s workload negotiations. |
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IEP meetings
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Time for IEP meetings within the workday. | No IEP meetings beyond the 8-hour day and no more than 3 IEP meetings beyond the 6-hour and 35-minute required on-site time. | The District will make every effort within the limitations of state and federal laws to ensure that no IEP meetings occur outside of the 8-hour day and no more than 3 meetings per month will occur outside of the 6-hour 35-minute required on-site time. | Ensure that meetings occur within the agreed upon parameters, unless the above provision would be too limiting for the parents. |
| Averting pitfalls of bargaining | Do not agree to language that would in any way reduce the protections already in Article 30: Special Education. | Nothing in the agreement reached shall be construed as allowing for or encouraging in District-wide average caseloads or class sizes standards to increase beyond what is in effect at the time the agreement is signed. | Language stipulates that nothing in the agreement reached can be construed to allow or encourage increases in the District-wide average caseloads or class sizes. | Monitor District-wide caseload and class sizes in relation to the special education workforce. |
| Workload model | Negotiate a workload model that captures all of the ancillary services provided by special education unit members. | Contract language around planning, IEP meetings and class coverage. | The District claimed IEP meetings and additional planning does not cover what real workload looks like. The District proposed a Joint Committee to design a District-wide workload model. We did reach agreement that special educators shall not be required to substitute for their general education co-planning partners except as already allowed under current contract language. | Organize. Special educators, general education teachers, parents, and other members of the community must come together in support of a workload model that makes sense for students and educators. We must exert pressure on the Board of Education to do the right thing. |
Next Steps
This agreement is a step in the right direction for special educators’ workloads, and will provide a measure of real and immediate relief for many of the problems created by the District’s poorly planned implementation of the SAI model. But it is only a first step if we are going to secure the strongest possible protections for educators and our students. During negotiations next year, we will work to create and refine workload requirements, but our Bargaining Team’s success will continue to be rooted in the strength of all 8,000+ SDEA members. Just as thousands of us came together to consistently apply pressure to the School Board during contract negotiations last year, our ability to secure the best possible workload model for special educators depends on our commitment to collective action.
Together we are stronger!