SERP Bargaining Update
This morning our bargaining team met with the District to provide a counteroffer to their initial proposal for the Supplemental Early Retirement Program (SERP).
Our proposal increases the District’s annuity incentive to a full year’s salary. It also acknowledges that the SERP will further impact special education by creating more vacancies.
To address special education vacancies, we proposed the creation of a program for the District to pay for current unit members – including those on temporary contracts and visiting teachers – to earn a credential in special education with the guarantee of a job. We believe this creates a pathway for educators to continue working in our District on a track to permanent status and also a solution to preemptively reduce the need for layoffs during a challenging budget year.
The District’s bargaining team plans to present our proposal to the School Board in closed session on Tuesday and will respond after receiving guidance and parameters.
More information on the SERP, including a FAQ, is available here.
Letters in Solidarity: Support Our Students - The Time is Now - We Can’t Wait!
As we write this, our NEA endorsed candidate Kamala Harris has lost the presidential election and this now puts the well-being of our most vulnerable immigrant and LGBTQ+ students at risk. In the face of this threat to our communities, we are inspired by the words of Shawn Fain, the president of the United Auto Workers union, who said that, “You can disagree with me and you can vote however you’re going to vote. But you cannot ignore our duty as a union to fight like hell for social and economic justice.”
As a fighting union and as part of the statewide We Can’t Wait coalition of education unions, we must be prepared as SDEA members to confront the forces of extremism head-on and accelerate our struggle for social and economic justice. We are doing this locally through maintaining the pro-educator, pro-public education majority on the SDUSD school board and reelecting our SDEA endorsed candidate Sabrina Bazzo. This was accomplished through the efforts of SDEA union educators who passed out flyers supporting Sabrina at schools in District A, canvassed door-to-door, text-banked to thousands of voters and made monthly contributions to keep our SDEA Political Action Fund strong.
Educators at Toler, Longfellow & other District A schools getting out the vote for Sabrina Bazzo.
Across California, we are seeing the impact of one-time COVID relief funds drying up that finally funded schools at levels that began to meet the needs of the largest population of low-income students in the United States. Without these additional funds and with California’s abysmal school funding in the wealthiest state in the country, this means that our schools are understaffed, educators can’t afford to live in the neighborhoods we serve and our communities are destabilized by harmful cuts that continue to be proposed as budget solutions.
It doesn’t have to be this way. California has the resources to invest in our schools and communities. We Can’t Wait for politicians to prioritize our students and support our schools. So we are coming together to organize and combine the power of unions across the state to win the schools and the funding that our students deserve. This starts in November with all SDEA members having the opportunity to vote to ratify our contract campaign bargaining platform that incorporates priorities developed through 150+ input sessions at schools and programs throughout the district. And as SDEA leaders, we are committed to fight alongside you and union educators from across California to win the demands in our transformational platform!
Bringing Solidarity to the Bargaining Table
Coming together to win a strong contract
A strong union contract is one that meets the needs of the community and amplifies all voices. As SDEA members prepare for their next contract, Bargaining Input Sessions were held at all sites and programs at the start of the 2024-25 school year. Educators shared their ideas on how to improve the contract in four key areas: Wages, Benefits, Working Conditions, and Common Good. Representatives gathered these ideas in union meetings at 150+ schools, including a chance for members to individually identify their top priorities.
Photos from a few Bargaining Input Sessions
Finding common ground across our community and our state
As SDEA members shared ideas for their next contract, educators in unions statewide were doing the same. Many discussions in San Diego are reflected across the state: understaffed schools, low pay amidst rising costs, and a lack of school funding which is heightened by the lack of other resources like affordable housing. While educators in each district have unique needs and priorities, they are all encountering the same, big problem: California’s inadequate investment in public education. Despite being the largest economy in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world, California ranks 33rd in the country for per-pupil funding. This underfunding is nothing new, but the need for solutions is increasingly urgent as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic linger on after specific COVID-related funds dry up.
Because of the strong voices of SDEA educators, SDUSD already dedicates a significant portion of its budget to school staffing and maintains reserves near the legal minimum - two priorities that many other educator unions are still fighting for. Yet even a strong union and a strong contract aren’t enough to balance the broader issue of anemic school funding by the state. San Diego schools remain understaffed, with burned-out educators struggling to afford to live in our expensive city, and drops in enrollment further threatening school budgets. Along with continuing to demand a contract prioritizing educators, improving staffing, and ensuring stability for our communities, SDEA educators need comprehensive, long-term solutions. California can and should invest more in public education, and union educators statewide are strategizing how to make that happen.
Unions statewide chose a name for our campaign that reflects that urgency: We Can’t Wait! It’s time to finally fund the schools our students deserve.
Crafting a bargaining platform that reflects our collective priorities
With the data from Bargaining Input Sessions and notes from statewide conversations, the SDEA Bargaining Commission began work in October on crafting a bargaining platform. This Commission includes SDEA members representing various grade levels, programs, and specialties, ensuring the diverse needs and perspectives of over 6000 members are represented.
In October, the Bargaining Commission reviewed the survey results from Bargaining Input Sessions and identified themes in the top ideas that educators shared related to wages, benefits, working conditions, and the common good. They condensed similar ideas to create a master list of priorities for the Bargaining Team to bring to negotiations. In alignment with statewide demands, the Commission organized these priorities into three main categories:
- Fully staff our schools
- Improve educator pay
- Stability for students & communities
A bargaining platform is the big picture!
Bargaining platforms are the key demands that members, families, and communities will show up to fight for. Platforms are different than contract proposals, which are more detailed, cover more topics, and eventually become the language of our union contract.
For example, in 2023 SDEA members successfully fought for lower class sizes in younger grades, increased nurse staffing, and a 15% pay raise - all under our broad Recover, Rebuild, Rise Together! Platform. Other platform examples from past contract campaigns include the Fight For 5 and L.E.A.R.N.
Platforms are always the big picture for our community, but this year the picture is even bigger as we align our demands with a statewide fight. Together we are stronger!
What platform will we bring to the bargaining table?
Click here to read the platform that SDEA members are voting on at their November or December union meetings!
Time to Ratify: We Can’t Wait
SDEA members are voting on their priorities for our next contract!
The We Can’t Wait platform was built by members using feedback from bargaining input sessions across the district, and is aligned with a statewide campaign to finally fund the schools our students deserve. (Read more about the process!)
- On October 23, 2024, the SDEA Board approved this platform to go to members for a vote.
- Now it’s time for every SDEA member to vote on the bargaining platform and decide whether or not to bring this platform to the bargaining table! Voting will take place November 7th through December 9th, at union meetings at each site and program.
- Remember, only members can vote!
- Reminder: We moved bargaining over 2024-25 raises to this year’s bargaining to have maximum power to push for the best possible increase. (Also, during the timeframe of the last contract bargain, the State budget was not yet finalized.)
Bargaining Platform: We Can’t Wait
Click here to access as a PDF.
What’s Next?
If members vote to ratify the platform, bargaining can begin in January when the District and our union “sunshine” - the official beginning of negotiations, when both parties present what they intend to bargain over. Our existing union contract expires on June 30, 2025.
Your Voice, Our Future: Evolving Union Communications
In 2024, our schools are different than when San Diego educators first unionized over a century ago. Our union communications have also changed. The most important communication is always at individual sites or programs, where the collaboration of colleagues and site leaders builds the most immediate and most effective union power. In addition, SDEA leaders use a range of tools to connect members across all sites and programs:
- The Advocate: A newsletter that is published online approximately monthly (Including this article!)
- Union Notes: Emails to all members to communicate important updates and reminders
- Social Media: Currently SDEA is on Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter)
- SDEA Website: SDEA.net has information for members and leaders, including specific resources to help members understand (and enforce) their contractual rights
How can union communications evolve to meet current needs?
Especially as members prepare to bargain a new contract, it’s vital to evaluate the effectiveness of these tools and to adjust if needed. Your feedback can help shape future communication tools and enhance our collective voice. Take the Fall 2024 SDEA Communications Survey!
Want to be more involved?
Are you interested in being more involved in union communications? Consider joining the SDEA Communications Team. This member-driven group will brainstorm ways to improve outreach, share site stories, and create content highlighting member voices Join us by sharing your information at the end of the Communications Survey above. The idea is to hold regular meetings and involve members and community partners based on their interests and capacity, even if busy educators cannot attend every meeting.
Even though this article is no longer printed on paper next to typewritten messages or classified ads for Commodore 64 computers, this illustration from The Advocate in 1986 still feels relevant.
Know Your Rights: Elementary Prep Time & Enrichment
SDEA members successfully advocated for increased prep time, and beginning this 2024-25 school year, all elementary school teachers (including both classroom and enrichment teachers) must have a minimum of 180 minutes of preparation on a bi-weekly basis. New Prop 28 funding has allowed the District to expand the number of VAPA teachers who provide some of this prep time. With these new changes, the District and SDEA negotiated a side letter in July 2024 to clarify some ways to ensure equitable prep time.
Site representatives, enrichment teachers, and SDEA leaders have collaborated to answer questions that come up, and a joint District-SDEA Elementary Preparation and Enrichment Committee is meeting regularly to discuss issues that come up with implementation. Especially in this first year of implementing prep time changes, it is extra important to stay in communication and leverage our collective voice to ensure these changes are implemented equitably.
Here are a few resources to help members understand and advocate for their contractual rights:
- Elementary Preparation and Enrichment Program: Overview & What’s Different This Year
- July 2024 Sideletter
- Know Your Rights Flyer - Secondary Prep Time
- Know Your Rights Flyer - Elementary Prep Time
- Frequently Asked Questions - This is a living document that will be updated as members highlight more issues
Bargaining Update: Preschool & TK Toileting Policy
SDUSD recently changed its toileting policy to come into compliance with state law, which says that Preschool and TK students can’t be denied attendance if they haven’t yet reached toileting mastery. But what it means to be a union is that SDUSD doesn’t just get to decide how that new policy will be implemented. Instead, members get to bargain over the implementation of the policy as it relates to issues that impact members – like job duties, training and safety.
The SDEA Bargaining Team includes union members Michelle Bryant (Education Specialist, Johnson El.), Sandra Alvarado (ECE Teacher, Balboa El.), Anna McAllister (Elementary Teacher, TK, Balboa El.), and Monique Barrett (Education Specialist, SDEA Vice President).
After two bargaining sessions, here’s where we’re at:
SDEA Members Proposed:
- Diapering & accident clean-up remain non-teacher duties
- Teacher job duties include:
- Teaching intellectual & physiological awareness for toileting
- Direct toileting support such as pulling pants up/down, handwashing
- Staff assistance for bathroom emergencies so teachers don’t have to stop teaching & leave the classroom
- District to supply every classroom with books/posters to teach toileting
- Optional, paid training on toileting support
- Sanitary supplies in every classroom
- Newly built classrooms will have bathrooms inside or within 50 feet
SDUSD Counter-Proposed:
- Teachers do diapering & accident clean-up (They said teachers must do this because it is “part of educating the whole child”)
- No staff assistance for bathroom emergencies so teachers don’t have to stop teaching & leave the classroom
- No books/posters to teach toileting, just online resources
- Unpaid, optional training on toileting support
- Sanitary supplies in every classroom
- Newly built classrooms will have bathrooms inside or within the complex
The SDEA Team clearly can’t accept SDUSD’s counterproposal and will keep bargaining. Members, stand by because the SDEA Team may call on you for support!
District proposal for a 2024-25 Supplementary Early Retirement Plan (SERP)
This week the District provided SDEA with a proposal for a Supplementary Early Retirement Plan (SERP) for the 2024-25 school year, and the SDEA bargaining team is calendaring a date to bargain over this offer. Briefly, the proposal is to offer 70% of final pay, paid out over 5 years for qualified employees. You can read the full proposal here.
Please note: This offer is not yet in effect, and the specific mechanics (such as when members should submit, specific steps, timelines, etc.) need to be decided at the bargaining table. This means that SDEA Leaders may be unable to answer some questions right away. However, SDEA will collaborate with the District to schedule informational sessions to make sure members have the information they need regarding this offer.
Until the final details are available, members considering retirement can access additional resources here.
Bargaining Update: Mandatory Trainings
SDEA members and staff met with the District on October 15 to bargain over this year’s increase in mandatory trainings. Our proposal recognizes the increased workload on our members and sets aside three additional minimum/modified days for members to complete the 6 hours of trainings.
The District’s bargaining team argued that the increase for this year is only 48 minutes because of new cybersecurity trainings. They argued that the remaining notifications and trainings have been required in previous years. As such, they provided a counterproposal that only extends the deadline for all trainings except the legally required mandated reporter training. Their proposal provides no additional time within the 6:35-day to complete all tasks.
Our next bargaining session on this topic is scheduled for October 30.
Indigenous Peoples' Day: October 14, 2024
Monday, October 14, 2024 is Indigenous Peoples' Day. Here are three resources to explore:
- This Cal Matters article about the new California law that requires history lessons to include historically accurate information about the treatment of Native Americans - and requires that California tribes are involved in the review of statewide curriculum frameworks.
- California Indian Education For All has a variety of cuturally responsive resources (including online resources and live gatherings) for teaching and learning about California's first people.
- Native Land Digital is a digital, interactive map to explore territories, languages, treaties, and tribes.
