Bargaining Update: Fight for More SPED Staff Continues

Bargaining Update

March 12, 2019

Yesterday, SDEA and SDUSD met for a second time for reopener discussions and to bargain over special education caseloads for Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teachers and Resource Specialists.

SDEA’s bargaining team is continuing our fight to increase special education staffing. In response to continued pressure from SDEA members, the District’s team did make improvements to their proposal from a week ago — but their proposal continues to fall short of what our students need.

Here is where the teams DO agree:

One job title of Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teacher for all current Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teachers and Resource Specialists.
A cap for Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teachers effective for the 2019-20 school year.
Caseload overages would trigger automatic staffing allocation increases for affected Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teachers.
Unfilled vacancies would trigger automatic stipends for affected Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teachers.
Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teachers shall be assigned to no more than three schools.

These items above will only be implemented IF we reach agreement on the entire caseload negotiation, including what the caseload cap itself will be. Unfortunately, we are not in agreement on caseload sizes, overage stipends, or staffing increases.

SDEA’s bargaining team proposed:

A hard cap of 20.
Unfilled vacancies would trigger a monthly stipend of roughly $250 per student over caseload. The stipend would be tied to .25% of Step 17, Column 5 of the SDEA teacher salary schedule. The stipend is designed to create an incentive for the District to actually fill vacancies and increase staff.
A requirement to hire at least 30 more Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teachers for next year.
A requirement to notify parents of caseload overages after attempts to fill a vacancy

The District’s team proposed:

A hard cap of 22.
Unfilled vacancies would trigger a $1,000 stipend for the semester, regardless of the number of students over or the length of the overage.
A cap on new initial or PPPSS assessments for Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teachers who are at full caseload,with additional staffing support or release time after the fourth initial/PPPSS assessment.

Throughout this year, SDEA members and parents have made it clear to District admin that we need more special education staffing. The District’s proposal still fails to guarantee the staffing increases and caseload caps that our students need. The District’s proposal would still allow the District to essentially pay special educators off for far less than it would cost to actually hire staff. While it’s good news that we are getting closer, the District still has a long way to go.

Proposals:

They have one more chance to get it right at our bargaining session March 18, or we are taking our fight to Superintendent Cindy Marten. If we don’t reach agreement by the 18^th, the accountability session with Cindy Marten is set for 4:00 p.m. on March 20 at the SDEA office. Click HERE RSVP for the Marten forum and for location information.

SDEA will continue reopener bargaining with the District on Wages and Safety for the remainder of this school year. Stay tuned for more updates.

Together we are stronger!