Letters in Solidarity: Fighting for Equity & Support for Our Students

Fighting for Equity and Support for Our Students

As SDEA union educators, we serve the highest-need student population in the county. We know that in order to set our students up for success, we need to address the needs of the whole child inside and outside the classroom. Advocating for the well-being of our students has been a guiding principle for SDEA elected leaders from schools and programs throughout the district as we have voted to adopt several policies in recent years that have oriented us as a fighting, social justice union.

With the constant threats by the new federal administration to target our most vulnerable students and communities, the impact of politics on our schools is undeniable. As a union, we could choose to sit on the sidelines, hoping that more humane values eventually prevail. Our SDEA Board and Representative Council, however, have set us on a path to not acquiesce to the status quo and to instead organize together with union and community allies to secure protections and supports that advance equity and human rights.

We took on this mission when we ratified our contract bargaining platform and collectively committed to fight for the 3 pillars in our statewide We Can’t Wait campaign: fully-staffed schools, improving our pay and stability for our students and communities. Locally, we are building on our history of successful community demands campaigns where we as union educators have joined with families and other members of our education justice coalition to win agreements on community schools, stronger shared decision-making, and affordable housing. 

This year, guided by the feedback provided through our SDEA bargaining input process and by coalition partners, we honed in on expanded housing and mental health supports as the community demands for our campaign. At our first bargaining session on February 27, we proposed a new equity article in our contract that includes solutions to address the housing crisis in San Diego that is contributing to declining student enrollment. We also proposed a 10% combined salary increase by 2026 so that we can continue to afford to live near the schools where we teach. 

These proposals by the SDEA bargaining team were backed by walk-ins across SDUSD as we chanted, shared our contract campaign platform with families and added signatures to petitions with our demands for the schools our students deserve. Through the participation of thousands of SDEA union educators in our collective actions, we are building the power needed to get the district to prioritize resources for our students and also send a unified message to decision-makers up and down the state that Now Is The Time to reverse decades of disinvestment in public education in California. We Can’t Wait!