Bargaining Update - February 5

Yesterday was our fourteenth bargaining session. If you feel like you’ve gotten a lot of bargaining updates this week, that’s because you have! We’ve scheduled a lot of extra sessions this month, trying to reach an agreement on as much as possible. Unfortunately, this session had very little meaningful movement. Especially when the District’s team continues to say that they want to do anything possible to avoid our scheduled ULP strike, we were disappointed at what they proposed today for Special Education in particular. It’s one thing to say you want to fix Special Education staffing. It’s another thing to get concrete solutions on paper. Our students and educators deserve more than empty promises… they need real, concrete solutions. Instead, today the District offered us more of the same.

Not enough movement on Special Education:

Part of yesterday’s discussion focused on future collaboration. The District described plans to form a joint workgroup with labor representatives (from SDEA and other unions), parents, and administrators to identify needs across Special Education and advocate together for long-term funding. Joint collaboration and shared advocacy matter… but they are not enough. We need concrete solutions in our next contract. The District offered a package proposal they said would resolve the issues raised in our Unfair Labor Practice over Special Education caseload overages. Read the entire package proposal here, which includes:

• Article 29: Special Education
• Appendix A: Salary Schedule & Rules
• SPED Caseload Grievance Settlement 
• SPED Credential Pathways

There were modest improvements in this package, such as a small increase for the middle-tier caseload overage stipend. But the District still fails to address the core issue: Financially incentivizing leaving vacancies unfilled, educators overwhelmed, and students without services. We’ve proposed more enforceable caseload caps where educators are automatically paid whenever they go beyond contractual limits, rather than waiting years for union-wide grievances to be settled. We’ve even included a ten-day grace period for the District to gauge staffing needs and allocate needed staff. With the District’s current proposal, they could overload educators for free for three months with no compensation at all. This proposal dismally fails to break the cycle of caseload overages. It also doesn’t address other urgent issues members face every day, like assessment workloads, and inadequate support with staff stretched thin by bare-bones allocations. Although settling existing grievances and creating credential pathways matter, we can’t accept a proposal that locks us into the same cycle of vacancies, grievances, delayed settlements, and overwhelmed educators unable to give students the support they deserve.

Some Tentative Agreements:

We reached tentative agreement on a few articles:

• We officially finalized Article 35: Safe and Supportive Communities, our new equity article with protections for our community members targeted by the current federal administration… on the same day that educators and community partners in the Education Justice Coalition turned out at the Federal courthouse to protest the ongoing impact of ICE terror on our school communities.

• We accepted the District’s final tweaks to Article 5: Employee Organization Rights, which ensures new employees get compensated for attending orientations.

• While we’re still negotiating other salary appendices, we did finalize Appendix C: Military Science Instructors' Salary Schedule & Rules.

As a reminder, these tentative agreements are the individual pieces of the contract that both teams have reached agreement on. When all open articles are agreed upon, members will get to vote on whether to ratify the entire contract. You can see all those tentative agreements linked on our proposal tracker. If the full document isn’t linked yet, it’s because the document is still being signed by both teams, but you can always view the last proposal of each article for the language that was agreed upon.

Still Negotiating:

Wages

Last session, the District’s salary proposal included language that said in essence that they would pay the specified wages after they get the funds… to anyone still employed at that time. We know that we’re working with very tight budgets right now, and that our proposals continue to push the District close to their limit on legal reserves. Especially with the state deferring funding to future years, we might need to choose between deferred raises or smaller raises. With this in mind, yesterday we proposed a 3% raise for the current school year and another 3% next school year, to be paid once the District gets the funds. This would give them the wiggle room necessary to give educators a raise above the state COLA, which is confirmed 2.3% for this school year and estimated 2.41% for next school year. Read our full proposal for Article 7: Wages: 2025-2026 & 2026-2027.

And more:

Our team shared a variety of other counterproposals yesterday:

• We’re standing firm that ECE TK co-teachers deserve to keep their stipend in Appendix B: Early Childhood Education Programs Salary Schedule & Rules. We also proposed clarification of the summer school workday for ECE teachers in Appendix E.
• We’re still proposing more fair Summer School staffing in Article 17: Summer School/Intersession Hours & Conditions of Employment and Appendix E: Summer School Intersession Salary Schedule & Rules.
• We’re continuing to propose expanded, clarified, and fairer leave policies in Article 10: Leave Policies.
• We’ve proposed limits to combo classroom assignments in Article 13: Class Size.
• We’ve proposed a significant Visiting Teacher pay increase for Special Education assignments that are hard to staff in Article 32: Visiting Teachers, packaged with Appendix D: Visiting Teacher Salary Schedule & Rules.

What’s Next?

We have our next bargaining session scheduled for February 12… mark your calendars and wear red in solidarity! The District keeps saying they want to fix Special Education staffing. Will those promises finally make it onto paper next week? We Can’t Wait for the District to decide that it’s urgent to address the SpEd staffing crisis in our district - we need to leave them with no other choice but to do the right thing for our students and our colleagues. As SDEA union educators, we must stand firm and be ready to show up! Watch your email for further updates, and - most importantly - attend your next union meeting!

See our tracker for all proposals exchanged so far and all tentative agreements, with links to read the full text of each.

In Solidarity,

SDEA’s Bargaining Team

Kyle Weinberg, SDEA President, Ed. Specialist: Mild/Moderate, English and History Teacher; Laurie Bailon, Social Science & Restorative Justice Teacher, Bell MS; Carly Bresee, Ed. Specialist: Moderate/Severe, Lafayette ES, Sarah Darr, SDEA Secretary, WCW Campaign Organizer & SLP; Christina Gallegos, ECSE Teacher, Rodriguez ES; Candace Gyure, School Nurse; Stacy Hernandez, SDEA Bargaining Chair & 2nd Grade Teacher, Dailard El.; Andrew Melia, School Psychologist, Riley School; Elizabeth Miller, Ed. Specialist: Mild/Moderate, Lewis MS; Eri Nall, Head Counselor; Kiki Ochoa, History and Ethnic Studies Lead Teacher, Lincoln HS; Lori Schmersal, PE Teacher & Coach, Clairemont HS; plus SDEA staff Anthony Saavedra, Executive Director,  Sara Holerud, Organizer, and Rafal Dobrowolski, Contract Specialist

by Sara Kennedy

Bargaining Update - February 3

Yesterday was our thirteenth bargaining session, and we’re continuing the escalated pace! There’s been movement from both sides, because both the District and our team are motivated to come to an agreement on as much as possible this month. The District has been clear that their priority is to do whatever they can to avoid a strike. Even though our strike is specifically about our Unfair Labor Practice for the District’s violations of our current contract on Special Education staffing, the fact is that the District is discussing the entire contract in a room full of picket signs that are a constant reminder that SDEA educators are ready to hit the picket lines. The District is also seeing other unions escalate across the state, and seeing other union educators stand up when their own bargaining stalls (like the big recent win of our We Can’t Wait siblings United Teachers of Richmond in the East Bay.) That bigger picture may be providing extra motivation to keep things moving at our own table. That’s the point of a statewide coordinated bargaining campaign - ramping up the pressure for the schools our students deserve!

Our team’s priority is to use that momentum to reach quick resolution on as many things as possible, and to set the stage for anything best resolved in our next bargain, since next school year we’ll already be collectively developing our demands for our next round of negotiations.

Important Movement:

Layoffs 

The District proposed a package of proposals that included a sideletter promising no layoffs this school year. They packaged this with their proposal for Transfers and class sizes. We’re still negotiating over a more fair and standardized process for extended day units, and for limits to assignments to combo classrooms, so won’t be accepting this particular full package deal, but the fact that the District is willing to offer no layoffs would be a big win for our members and our schools. See the District’s full package proposal for Article 12: Transfer Policies, Article 13: Class Size, and a Sideletter: Reassignment of Certificated Unit Members in Lieu of Layoff Notices.

Our new Equity Article

The District proposed their own changes to our new Equity article, which is informed by the 10-Point Program that was adopted by SDEA’s elected representatives in January 2025, with protections for the members of our community most susceptible to current federal attacks.

• The District accepted our proposal to provide up to 10 days of unpaid release for educators to attend to immigration or citizenship matters.
• They also agreed to establish at least 1 immigrant family legal clinic in partnership with a local law school or community organization.
• They accepted a variety of our proposals to protect LGBTQ+ students and staff, like the use of our preferred name and pronouns.
• They agreed to provide at least one private gender neutral bathroom at each school, and will ensure that all bathrooms and locker rooms, regardless of designated gender identity, will contain free menstrual products and stall-based trash receptacles for menstrual products.

Even when some protections exist in current District policies and initiatives, putting protections in our union contract means that these cannot be changed without negotiating with us. See the District’s full proposal for the new Article 35, which they’ve suggested naming “Safe and Supportive Communities”. 

Still Negotiating:

Special Education Staffing and Supports

We’re still negotiating over exactly what our Special Education contract article should look like, as this is a critical part of our contract (and as the District seeks to avoid our strike over violations of our contract related to Special Education!) We discussed the need to address the “continuum of services” - all support our students get, not just from SDEA members. We’re hoping to set the foundation for future negotiations where we hope to work alongside our District union siblings like CSEA to address the big picture issues with SpEd staffing. In the meantime, we urgently need to get fixes into this contract. Yesterday we proposed a few changes to the District’s last proposal:

• As we seek to replace years of caseload grievances with more enforceable language, we proposed adjustments to the tiers of stipends for when the District goes over caseload limits. Right now it’s been possible for the District to save some money by leaving positions vacant and educators overloaded, and we’re trying to find ways to incentivize actually supporting students and educators!
• Similarly, we proposed parameters around staffing 0.2 positions after Fall excessing.
• We’re holding firm on our proposal that all SpEd teachers get a $4000 stipend.
• See all our proposed changes for Article 29: Special Education and for Appendix A: Salary Schedules & Rules.

Wages 

Yesterday both our teams countered on wages for this next contract. The discussion of how raises should be distributed across the two school years in our contract is influenced by what the District gets as funding through the state COLA, which is confirmed 2.3% for this school year and estimated 2.41% for next school year.

• We proposed 3.5% this current school year and another 3.5% next school year. See our full proposal on Article 7: Wages: 2025-2026 & 2026-2027.
• The District proposed a 1.87% raise this current school year, and another 2% next school year. They also want to add a lot of contingency language tying these numbers to state funding, and specifying that they wouldn’t necessarily have to pay members retroactively if they retire or resign. See the District’s full proposal on Article 7: Wages: 2025-2026 & 2026-2027, and their proposals for related Appendices B through G.

ECE Stipend 

The District still hasn’t come through on the most urgently felt issue for ECE Teachers: A pay cut of $4250 when the District let the ECE Teacher Stipend expire in June. The District’s proposals yesterday did not include renewing that stipend, so this is something we’ll have to continue to stand firm on. ECE Teachers are the lowest-paid contracted teachers in the District, and any proposal that represents a pay cut for these members is unacceptable. See the District’s full proposal for Appendix B: Early Childhood Education Programs Salary Schedule & Rules.

Other proposals:

We’re still negotiating over a variety of other open articles, including:

• Hours: The District rejected most of our proposal from almost a year ago, where we tried to expand and clarify prep time and the support needed to be successful. They did accept our proposed right to bathroom breaks. We’re also negotiating minimum days, and the definition of an 8 hour “consecutive” work day, which would impact required attendance at evening events and attendance at more frequent department meetings for some members. See the District’s proposal for Article 8: Hours of Employment.
• Employee Organization Rights: We’re very close to agreement. Read the District’s proposed changes to Article 5. 
• Leave Policies: The District rejected our last proposals to expand and clarify leave policies and make the process more fair. Read the District’s proposal for Article 10: Leave Policies.
• Discipline: We’ve made significant movement toward our SDEA proposal to make discipline more fair, and are negotiating the details. Read the District’s proposed changes to Article 33: Discipline.

What’s Next?

As we take advantage of the District’s motivation to settle as much as possible, there is a real possibility we could reach a deal on fixing Special Education Staffing before our scheduled ULP strike. If so, SDEA leaders would call a special Rep Council to give your site and program leaders the information needed to pivot to next steps, like contract ratification if we end up settling even more than just SpEd. Attend your union meetings and stay in communication with your colleagues - we are stronger together!

We’re bargaining again tomorrow, February 5, and again on February 12 & February 26… mark your calendar and put your red shirts in the laundry so you can wear red in solidarity!

See our tracker for all proposals exchanged so far and all tentative agreements, with links to read the full text of each.

In Solidarity,

SDEA’s Bargaining Team

Kyle Weinberg, SDEA President, Ed. Specialist: Mild/Moderate, English and History Teacher; Laurie Bailon, Restorative Justice Teacher, Bell MS; Carly Bresee, Ed. Specialist: Moderate/Severe, Lafayette ES, Sarah Darr, SDEA Secretary, WCW Campaign Organizer & SLP; Christina Gallegos, ECSE Teacher, Rodriguez ES; Candace Gyure, School Nurse; Stacy Hernandez, SDEA Bargaining Chair & 2nd Grade Teacher, Dailard El.; Andrew Melia, School Psychologist, Riley School; Elizabeth Miller, Ed. Specialist: Mild/Moderate, Lewis MS; Eri Nall, Head Counselor; Kiki Ochoa, History and Ethnic Studies Lead Teacher, Lincoln HS; Lori Schmersal, PE Teacher & Coach, Clairemont HS; plus SDEA staff Anthony Saavedra, Executive Director,  Sara Holerud, Organizer, and Rafal Dobrowolski, Contract Specialist

by Sara Kennedy

Bargaining Update - January 29

Thursday was our twelfth bargaining session with the District, and what a change in pace! The District’s team started the session by expressing that their priority is to avoid a strike. Even though our ULP strike is not specifically tied to bargaining, they’ve felt the heat: Not just of the 90% ULP strike vote, but of members and community allies showing up strong to rally for Special Education at the board meeting on Tuesday. District leaders now want a deal, including settling the entire contract as quickly as possible. That means scheduling additional bargaining dates and serious movement on many of the areas that our SDEA bargaining team has identified as top priorities: Special Education solutions, wages, mental health supports, restoring the ECE stipend, and elimination of Fall excessing. With so many articles still open, speeding up the bargaining process will mean prioritizing getting the best deal we can now while also setting the stage for future improvements.

This update is structured a little differently to share what we’ve already agreed on, what we’ve made significant movement on, and what we’re still negotiating.

Tentative Agreements Reached:

At this session we came to agreement on quite a few points - a direct result of the collective pressure the District is feeling from SDEA members!

• Article 9: Our copay limits are protected! The District retracted their proposal to remove the limit on Kaiser co-pays - $10 limit restored! 

• Articles 14 & 18: Our improved evaluation system is now enshrined in the contract, with the flexibility needed to continue to tweak the system as issues arise. 
• Article 11: We’ve ensured that safety conditions include access to clean, cool air and a more streamlined process for requesting the most urgent repairs.
• Article 36: We won stronger, more sustainable Community Schools rooted in shared decision making.
• Article 22: We won protections for the workload of English Language Development teachers.

These tentative agreements are the individual puzzle pieces that will make up the full contract that members will vote on, after we’ve reached agreement on all the individual articles. Tentative agreements need to be signed by both District and SDEA teams, which is still in progress for some, but you can view an ongoing list of all tentative agreements in their own tab in our proposal tracker.

Important movement on Special Education staffing:

With a looming strike date over Special Education staffing, the District brought a package of proposed Special Education solutions. 

• They agreed to settle the still pending caseload grievances for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, and to enforceable monthly stipends for caseload overages in the contract - more enforceable than the current language which led to years of unresolved grievances that did nothing to ensure students had the staffing needed. (This would allow settlement for educators currently over caseload in the current school year, without a years-long wait on a union-wide grievance!)
• They agreed to case management days for Mild/Moderate Ed Specialists.
• They agreed to codify the current ECSE instructional model in the contract: Maintaining the weekly indirect service day, coverage provided by ECSE Itinerant teachers and non-classroom teachers, 4-day instructional options, and infant teacher caseload caps.
• They proposed a sideletter to continue the Special Education Credential Pathway from this year’s SERP agreement, so that educators can add a credential and fill SpEd vacancies.
• See the District’s full package of proposed Special Education solutions.

This proposal from the District represents important movement on these Special Education staffing solutions and their motivation to avoid a strike over Special Education.

Still negotiating: 

Raises

In response to our last proposal of 7% across two school years, the District proposed a little over half of that: 1.87% for 2025-26 and another 1.87% for 2026-27, but delayed until after the District gets state funds. This is still less than COLA, which is confirmed 2.3% for this school year and estimated 2.41% for next school year. See the District’s full proposal for Article 7 - Wages: Wages: 2025-2026 & 2026-2027.

Expanded leave

We proposed a variety of changes to expand access to leave:

• We proposed increased and more flexible pregnancy leave, and expanded the definition of “immediate family” when it comes to leaves.

• We re-proposed the option to work elsewhere during long-term unpaid leaves. (In current language, if a member has to temporarily leave to care for a family member or to follow a deployed partner, they would have to resign if they wanted to get any employment - even while on unpaid leave.) 

• We also proposed language to make it harder for admin to require a doctor’s note for sick leave.

• See all SDEA’s proposed changes for Article 10: Leave Policies.

Transfers and Excessing

We proposed a variety of updates to Article 12 to codify and continue to build on the improvements piloted this past Spring, as we seek to entirely end the chaos of Fall Excessing. 

• We proposed that VAPA be itinerant rather than multiple assignment staff, which would address a variety of issues that have arisen.
• We proposed changes to make excessing more fair, like making it harder for admin to play favorites with indispensable services and extended day assignments, and tiebreaking procedures for excessing and for when multiple people want to volunteer to be excessed.
• See all SDEA’s proposed changes to Article 12: Transfer Policies.

Staffing and class sizes

• We revisited the addition of a pilot program of 19 intervention counselors in each high school cluster.
• We proposed improvements to nurse staffing to end the unsustainable workloads created by inadequate health office staffing, ensuring legally mandated services are provided as well as protecting student safety and access to care. We also re-proposed language to ensure a full time nurse at specialized schools and to strengthen language around vision, hearing, immunization and itinerant nurses.
• We proposed class size caps for combo classes and protections for members assigned to combo classes.
• We proposed leaving the current language around class size and athletic periods. Members have brought up issues with the current limit for PE classes, which impacts sports programs. However, other members brought up the issue that removing those limits would allow administrators to dump giant class sizes on one person. By keeping status quo language, individual members and programs (for example, coaches) can still submit an exception through the contract waiver process in Article 24.3 (with a deadline of April 15.)
• See all SDEA’s proposed changes to Article 13: Class Size.

Protecting the time of new members

In the interest of coming to an agreement, we’ve backed off on additional pay for NEO scheduled for during instructional days, since those are already paid days. However, we’re holding firm on educators being paid for the time they attend outside of work hours during the school year. See all SDEA’s proposed changes to Article 5:Employee Organization Rights.

What’s Next?

With the District eager to settle, we’ve scheduled additional bargaining dates. Mark your calendar and wear red in solidarity on our upcoming bargaining dates: February 3, February 5, February 12, & February 26.

Most importantly, stay tuned for updates - watch for our emails, attend your union meetings, and keep showing up! Our solidarity and our collective power is what makes the difference.

See our tracker for all proposals exchanged so far and all tentative agreements, with links to read the full text of each.

In Solidarity,

SDEA’s Bargaining Team

Kyle Weinberg, SDEA President, Ed. Specialist: Mild/Moderate, English and History Teacher; Laurie Bailon, Restorative Justice Teacher, Bell MS; Carly Bresee, Ed. Specialist: Moderate/Severe, Lafayette ES, Sarah Darr, SDEA Secretary, WCW Campaign Organizer & SLP; Christina Gallegos, ECSE Teacher, Rodriguez ES; Candace Gyure, School Nurse; Stacy Hernandez, SDEA Bargaining Chair & 2nd Grade Teacher, Dailard El.; Andrew Melia, School Psychologist, Riley School; Elizabeth Miller, Ed. Specialist: Mild/Moderate, Lewis MS; Eri Nall, Head Counselor; Kiki Ochoa, History and Ethnic Studies Lead Teacher, Lincoln HS; Lori Schmersal, PE Teacher & Coach, Clairemont HS; plus SDEA staff Anthony Saavedra, Executive Director,  Sara Holerud, Organizer, and Rafal Dobrowolski, Contract Specialist

by Sara Kennedy