Letters in Solidarity: We Are All Special Educators

We hope that everyone had a restful break and are energized for this last stretch with students in 2024 before we move into the new year. 2025 will bring new challenges for our union as president-elect Trump has threatened to cut off all federal funding to California public schools in retaliation for supporting vulnerable students and families.

11% of San Diego Unified’s budget comes from the federal government, which includes Title I funding for low-income students, Title III funding for immigrant and multilingual students, and IDEA funding for students with disabilities. We must be prepared as SDEA union educators to fight to protect our students amidst the chaos of a Trump administration that seeks to eliminate the US Department of Education, privatize our schools, and disrupt our students’ right to a high-quality public education.

Protecting high-needs students starts with taking proactive measures to address the chronic understaffing of Special Education in our district that is impacting all educators as we stretch ourselves thin to pick up the slack of ongoing vacancies. Despite the 15% salary increase that we deserved, fought for, and won in our last contract campaign, SDUSD still cannot find enough special educators to fill the growing number of vacant positions in our schools. Visiting teachers are hired to staff the vacancies, but cannot do case management that is then assigned to other Education Specialists who are already overwhelmed with caseload overages. This creates a vicious cycle where overworked educators leave Special Education, further exacerbating the staffing crisis.

The 17,000+ SDUSD students with disabilities (18% of total enrollment) can’t wait any longer for a solution to Special Education understaffing that is limiting the supports that we can provide to set them up for success. That’s why we advocated for a groundbreaking provision in the Early Retirement Incentive agreement to reimburse educators who agree to teach in Special Education positions for the cost of obtaining an Education Specialist credential. That’s also why the District needs to immediately agree to a fair settlement for our unionwide Education Specialist caseload overage grievance from last school year and provide hope to overloaded educators who continue to be case managing beyond contractual limits.

We are all special educators with the increasing population of high-needs students with IEPs in our classrooms. As the relentless special education staffing crisis continues year after year, we need to find solutions NOW when we see our students being underserved. The centrality of special education in our school system and our organizing is reflected in the We Can’t Wait contract platform that SDEA members are voting to ratify at all schools this month. As we move toward launching our contract campaign in 2025, we will be ready as SDEA leaders who have taught in special education and general education to fight alongside you to win the staffing that our students deserve!