We did it!
Back in Fall 2024, SDEA members collectively decided on priorities for our next contract. After sixteen intense bargaining sessions and nearly a year of relentless organizing, our SDEA bargaining team reached agreement with the District late last Thursday.
Because SDEA members showed up and even got ready to strike, we won:
✔ An agreement to settle the Special Education caseload overage ULP and call off our strike. If ratified, this finally breaks the cycle of years of grievances. Educators will automatically receive a monthly stipend when over contractual caseload limits – no more waiting months or years for relief. This compensates educators and financially incentivizes the District to fix chronic understaffing instead of saving money by leaving vacancies unfilled and educators overloaded.
✔A tentative agreement on our entire next contract… delivering improved staffing, pay, and stability for students, educators, and communities! That includes:
- A 5% raise over two years
- Restored ECE TK co-teacher stipends
- Improved evaluation and discipline processes
- Protections for immigrant & LGBTQ+ students and colleagues
- More stable transfer process
- NO LAYOFFS!
We proved that when we say we’re ready to fight for our students, we mean it. And across California, 80,000 educators are organizing for better staffing, pay, and stability. Our local wins are part of that broader movement to secure the funding that our public schools deserve.
Click here to read all Tentative Agreements!
Shout out to Sarah Hillard at Millennial Tech for this drone shot of one of our parachutes at our Jan 27 rally
Big picture funding: Prop 55 and the fine print in our wages contract article
Our raises in contract Article 7 include contingency language for two reasons:
- First, we’ve successfully pushed SDUSD to invest in classrooms. That means that unlike other large Districts, they’re not sitting on huge reserves – in fact, they’re close to the legal limit in reserves!
- Second, with Governor Newsom threatening to withhold Prop 98 school funding, the District may not receive state dollars immediately.
The negotiations over these raises included a give and take regarding how much and when educators would get funds. By accepting contingency language in Article 7, we were able to secure raises above COLA while giving the District time to issue retroactive pay once state funds arrive.
That’s also why we must finish the job on extending Proposition 55. Without it, California public schools face $14.6 billion in cuts which would disappear overnight if Prop 55 isn’t extended. SDEA reps have been collecting signatures at union meetings – If you haven’t signed yet to extend Prop 55, reach out to your site rep now! We can’t win local gains while losing statewide funding.
We organized. We built to strike readiness. We won. Now it’s time to vote!
Ratification timeline:
- Feb 12: Tentative agreement reached & strike called off
- Feb 23 & Feb 24: Community town halls for families – originally scheduled to get the word out to the community about the strike, the meetings will now be about what we won in the tentative agreement, how we won it together and the next steps in our fight for the schools our students deserve
- Feb 26 – March 23: Site-based union meetings and in-person voting
- Mar 24: SDEA Elections Committee counts ballots and announces results
Let’s ratify the progress we fought for… and keep building our power!
Only SDEA members will be able to vote on this contract. Not a member yet? Join now!
