If we don’t act now, on behalf of our students, educators and schools when will the time be right? We can’t wait any longer.
We can’t wait – for adequate school staffing.
We can’t wait – for our schools to have sufficient resources.
We can’t wait – for schools to be safe and stable.
We can’t wait – for Washington to get its act together or for the next election.
We can’t wait – California’s students deserve better.
Although we live in the fifth largest economy in the world, California ranks in the bottom half of states for per-student funding. It’s unacceptable that in the “Golden State,” with its vast wealth and resources, we struggle to fully staff our schools. It is shameful that four out of five educators cannot afford to live near their school and the pay gap between educators in California and other professions grows ever wider. This is why San Diego Unified has an educator recruitment and retention crisis.
There are 93 schools in our district where special education teachers have student caseloads that exceed contractual limits. We are stretched thin and are unable to get our students the support they need. Burned-out educators and underserved students deserve real solutions.
This is why SDEA is coming together with union educators across the state to organize the We Can’t Wait campaign. On February 4, we joined our colleagues in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, Anaheim and two dozen other school districts across the state to kickoff bargaining for our shared demands. We are calling on our districts to prioritize resources for our students and calling on the state to improve school funding so that California regains its status as the national leader in public education.
77,000 educators, in 32 California school districts, serving 1 million students, are joining with parents, students and communities, raising common issues, refusing to accept excuses, for the first time aligning shared demands and union contract expiration dates, driving a hard bargain with our districts and the state government, can force change — now.
This month, SDEA members will be joining classified staff, families and community organizations for walk-ins at every school to support our bargaining team and stand up for our shared priorities. Ask your school’s elected SDEA leader for more information on our next collective action! Especially with the looming threats of cuts by the new federal administration, it’s even more urgent that we unite with local allies and education unions across the state to coordinate our campaign for fully staffed schools, improved pay, and stability for students and communities.
Let’s fix this.
Now is the time. We can’t wait.
