We hope that the school year is starting off well for you and your students! We are proud to enter this school year again as SDEA leaders standing alongside over 6,000 fellow union educators in SDUSD. Together, we have the power to enforce our historic new contract.
We learned in our contract campaign last year that when we fight, we win! Through our organizing with massive rallies at the Ed Center and pickets at 140+ schools, we were able to achieve new heights on wages that will help fill vacancies, as well as numerous other improvements to our working conditions that directly affect our students’ learning conditions. Together, we’ve achieved one of the strongest union contracts in our state.
But we aren’t done fighting! There are many pressing issues that we still need to take on collectively. Our schools are underfunded and under-resourced. Despite having the most students from low-income families in the US, California has one of the worst ratios in the country between our wealth (GDP) and how much we invest in TK-12 education. The funding situation will only get worse when the hundreds of millions of dollars that our district has received through COVID relief from the federal government expire at the end of this school year. This means that we must continue to advocate alongside community allies, SDUSD families, and our district leadership for ongoing, equitable funding for the highest need student population in San Diego County.
We also need to improve student and educator safety. Last school year, we saw an uptick in challenging student behaviors and growing mental health needs as we continued to transition back from the COVID shutdown. In response, we bargained for additional counselor staffing and new safety language in our contract that requires ongoing training and resources for incorporating restorative practices that provide a proactive, trauma-informed response to student behavior. In order to be committed to implementing this together successfully, educators, families, students, and administrators must be involved in developing Restorative Discipline Plans through Site Governance Teams. A top SDEA priority for this school year is to support schools in expanding shared decision-making that will bring more voices into the conversation and result in better practices in our classrooms.
While we continue to face serious issues that will test our resolve, we know that our union solidarity is the best way to meet these challenges head on. Together, we will enforce our standard-setting contract that we have consistently strengthened with each successive agreement going back to the 1970s, when we had to go on strike to win the right to bargain with the district. We have organized in the past and must continue to stand united in defense of public education funding that will provide the resources that our students deserve. None of us has that ability alone, but together, we have the power to continue to strengthen our schools and the communities we serve.
