nnajera, Author at San Diego Education Association

New Face, Same Privatizer Attacks

Local anti-union forces launch postcard blitz

There is a new front in the attack on public education. Carl DeMaio, a failed politician here in San Diego who fought to deny San Diego City workers a pension, has now set his sights on the educators of San Diego. DeMaio and his fellow privatizers are seeking to weaken educators’ unions by encouraging us to drop our union membership under the guise of requesting a “rebate”. DeMaio is funded by the same anti-union, anti-public education billionaires who seek to weaken our union and privatize our schools in order to turn a profit.

Why are educators’ unions the current target? Because we’re winning! The Janus decision didn’t stop us. In some ways, it made us stronger! Last spring, we saw thousands of members recommit to our union as an act of solidarity. More recently, the UTLA and OEA strikes showed us the power of collective action and the amazing level of support for public education by our parents and communities. We helped elect Tony Thurmond as State Superintendent of Public Instruction, as well as a supportive state legislature that just passed a bill that will hold charters to the same accountability rules as district schools.

And we finally found something we can agree on with US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos: educator unions are the only thing standing in the way of corporate school privatization efforts. SDEA is fully committed to striking a huge blow against those same anti-public education forces with the long-overdue Schools and Communities First Initiative in November 2020, which could bring billions of tax dollars back to our schools every year.

In order to see these gains, we must double our efforts to ensure every educator is a member of our union. Our success depends on our power, and our power depends on our membership. Together we have the resources to win a fair contract, charter accountability and transparency, and increase state funding for schools. We are not alone in our fight. We are in the midst of a nationwide teacher uprising, with new locals standing up every day. SDEA is part of a statewide coalition of teacher unions united together around connected struggles.

The attacks against us are not going to stop anytime soon. Can we count on you to reach out to every non-member at your school site? We have to make membership a priority. Together we can push back against any campaign launched to weaken our union. Together we can launch a winning contract campaign. Together we can win the battle for the schools our students deserve. Together we are stronger!

by nnajera

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!

by nnajera

SDEA Fights for More SPED Staff, SDUSD Proposes Bigger Caseloads

On Monday, SDEA and SDUSD met to bargain over special education caseloads for Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teachers and Resource Specialists. This was the first bargaining session of the reopener bargaining.

SDEA took our yearlong fight to increase special education staffing to the bargaining table. Based on feedback from educators and parents at an input session last Thursday, SDEA’s bargaining team proposed:

One job title of Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teacher for all current Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teachers and Resource Specialists.
An immediate hard cap of 20 for Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teachers.
No new Initial or PPPSS assessments for Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teachers already at a full caseload.
Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teachers shall be assigned to no more than two schools.
Mandatory parent notification to any parent whose child is on the caseload of an Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teacher who is over caseload.

To say our union and the District are far apart on these issues right now is an understatement. Here is what the District’s team proposed:

One job title of Mild/Moderate Teacher for all educators currently under either of these titles.
A soft cap of 22 for all current Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teachers and Resource Specialists.
The cap would not go into effect until the eighth week of school.
Overages of 23 or 24 would not increase staffing. Instead, Mild/Moderate Teachers with 23 or 24 students for 20 consecutive workdays (after the first seven weeks of school) would receive a $1,000 stipend.
Overages of 25 might increase staffing. Sites with a Mild/Moderate Teacher with 25 or more students for 10 consecutive workdays (after the first seven weeks of school) could receive a proportional staffing allocation. After another 20 workdays days, if the allocation is not filled, the teacher would receive another $1,000 stipend.

The District also proposed a new joint job description and shared plans for additional professional development around special education.

While SDEA and the District are on the same page about having one job title and one caseload, the similarities end there. SDEA’s proposal would strengthen the current Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate teacher cap of 20, while lowering the current Resource Specialist cap of 24 to 20. Our proposal would increase special education staffing and better enable student service hours to be met.

The District’s proposal would weaken current special educator caseload protections. It would essentially set everyone’s caseload at 24, with a stipend for some educators with over 22 students after 11 weeks or longer. The proposed stipends are far less than the cost of actually hiring additional staff, effectively incentivizing the District to pay off special educators over caseload without bringing in the staff our students with disabilities need. That is the opposite of what we are fighting for!

The District has two more chances to get it right, or we are taking our fight to Superintendent Cindy Marten. There are two more bargaining dates on the calendar for the the Parties to discuss special education: March 11 and March 18. If we don’t reach agreement by the 18^th, the accountability session with Cindy Marten is set for 4:30 p.m. on March 20 at the SDEA office. Save the date now!

There are also two more special educator input sessions at the SDEA office to make sure the SDEA bargaining team knows your priorities:

Proposals and Ground Rules

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!

by nnajera

SPED Organizing Leads to District Caseload Proposal, Supt. Forum Postponed

Our collective organizing to address the understaffing of Special Education is working, thanks to you and the pressure educators and parents have put on the District. In response to our organizing, the District has made a new proposal to SDEA to negotiate over the caseloads of Resource Specialists and Mild-Moderate Ed. Specialists. What the district is proposing is nowhere near what we need to address the SpEd understaffing issues our members and students are dealing with; however, it is an opening to possible real improvements.

To that end, we are rescheduling the forum with Supt. Marten that was scheduled for February 28^th and will instead use that time to discuss the District’s proposal and get input from you (and parents) on a response that will result in real improvements for Special Education educators and students.

The forum with Supt. Marten will be re-scheduled for late March, to allow for negotiations to take place. It is still critical that Supt. Marten face parents and teachers, but she now has a chance to show her commitment to Special Education by directing her staff to negotiate real improvements in Special Education staffing.

If you invited parents to attend the Supt. Marten Forum you can let them know about the meeting change and that they are welcome to attend and discuss the district’s proposal.

The District’s request to negotiate (link to proposal) includes a plan to have:

One caseload number for both Resource Specialists and Mild-Moderate Ed. Specialists.
A caseload cap for the new positions and compensation for caseload overages.
Monitoring systems to ensure caseload adherence.

Make no mistake, the initial proposal from the District is not good enough! However, it is a response to our organizing and an opportunity to address caseload language in our contract now. We must keep the pressure up on the District leadership to make them realize adequate change will only come from adequate staffing.

In addition to the repurposed meeting this upcoming Thursday, there will also be additional opportunities for impacted SDEA members to give their input on the District’s proposal. These additional meetings will be held on Tuesday, March 5 and Thursday, March 7.

Sign up here to attend one of the SDEA Special Education Union Meetings to be held at the SDEA Building located at 10393 San Diego Mission Road, Suite 100 San Diego, CA 92108:

a. Thur. February 28, 2019 - 4:00-5:30pm (open to parents)

b. Tues. March 5, 2019 - 3:30-4:30pm

c. Thur. March 7, 2019 - 4:15-5:15pm

by nnajera

What UTLA’s Strike Win Means for Us

After six days on the picket lines, LA’s educators have some huge wins to celebrate. One victory that stands out is the increase to nurse and counselor staffing. LAUSD will hire at least 300 additional nurses in the next two years to guarantee a nurse at every school, five days a week. Plus, their counselor ratios have been reduced from 1:1000+ down to 1:500. They also made big progress in class size. English and math classes at the secondary level will be reduced by seven students, bringing the class-size cap to 39.

Another huge win for public education in LA was the cap on additional charters that was passed by the LAUSD School Board at their first meeting after the end of the strike. This is significant, in that unregulated charter growth costs LAUSD upwards of $600 million every year.

Thankfully, we don’t have those sorts of factors in place at SDUSD—for now. Also, our contract already has things that UTLA was fighting for—like better secondary class size caps, and student-to-counselor ratios. However, that isn’t to say that we do not have disputes with SDUSD. We saw that at the last board meeting when SDUSD’s initial bargaining proposal called for a reduced work year, despite the increased spending for education in the Governor’s proposed budget. We see that in the current fight around special education understaffing. In fact, we have gone to impasse in our last two rounds of bargaining with SDUSD.

Hopefully SDUSD will deal with its educators in a fair way when we begin bargaining again in the next month. No union wishes to go on strike. It is something that is always forced on them by bad employer behavior. If SDUSD deals with its employees, our members, in a fair manner then there is no opening for a strike. Whatever happens, we will stand strong together. There is power in our numbers. Together we are stronger!

by nnajera

District Proposes Furlough Days Despite State Funding Increases

Despite an increasingly positive education funding forecast statewide, at today’s School Board meeting the SDUSD Board will be “sunshining” a proposal to cut our pay in the form of furlough days starting next year. If this shocks you, it should. This proposal is insulting and goes against the grain of what’s happening everywhere else in the state. Even the rightfully maligned LAUSD leadership, in the face of a successful, massive weeklong teacher strike, has responded positively to the Governor’s proposed 2019-20 budget and reached a contract settlement today. With these proposed cuts, our School Board and Superintendent could not be more out of touch with reality.

These are the facts:

We don’t believe their budget assumptions, because history and our current analysis tell us not to.
The School Board has been missing in action. They need to actually show leadership here. They run our District, not the bloated bureaucracy that they’ve allowed to take over.
Given the improved state funding, the question the Board should be asking is how much we should improve, not how much we should cut.
SDUSD’s educator pay is flat-out not competitive. They need to invest in us and our schools, not make needless cuts to fund more pet projects.
Cutting the school year will harm students. It will make SDUSD less competitive in recruitment of educators. And it will tell the community that just voted to approve a $3.5 billion bond that the School Board is not serious about investing in schools.

We cannot take this lying down! As union members, we must move forward with our fight for competitive wages and safer schools, which is what wewill be sunshining at today’s School Board meeting.

If you want to fight back against these attacks on our schools and our pay, be at today’s School Board meeting! Educators across our state and nation are standing up and fighting back against attacks on public education. Now it’s our turn.

When: TODAY at 4:30 p.m.

Where: 4100 Normal St.

Who: YOU! Be there and bring a friend!

TOGETHER WE ARE STRONGER!

by nnajera