VEBA Dependent Eligibility Audit - 2025

Every five years, SDUSD is required to verify that all dependents (including spouses and domestic partners) enrolled in our healthcare plan are eligible for coverage. VEBA manages our healthcare benefits and will be conducting this audit, so keep an eye out for a letter - the District has let SDEA leaders know that it will be sent soon. This audit is important to keep your family’s benefits, so make sure to respond by following the instructions you receive!

by Sara Kennedy

Fixing elementary prep time issues: Agreement reached

Scheduling elementary prep time has been more complex this year, with the contractual right to at least 180 minutes of prep time every two weeks and the addition of VAPA teachers funded by Prop 28. The Joint District-SDEA Elementary Preparation & Enrichment Committee has been working to address these challenges. 

This year SDEA members have reported a variety of issues, including:

  • Not enough prep teachers allocated at some sites
  • Vacancies even when prep teachers are allocated, leading to missed prep time
  • Fully staffed sites struggling to reschedule missed prep due to holidays or other disruptions

Recently this joint committee agreed on a solution:

  • Visiting Teachers will cover any missed prep time before the end of the school year. They may follow pre-planned PE lessons, eliminating extra prep work for educators (so that they can use prep time to actually prep!). If you are owed prep time, reach out to your site administrator to start this process now!
  • When a site is fully staffed, a schedule analysis will help determine whether enrichment teacher allocation adjustments are needed at sites with ongoing scheduling challenges.

This will ensure that all educators can receive their full prep time, including make-ups, as intended.

by Sara Kennedy

Letters in Solidarity: This is Why - We Can't Wait.

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.

 

by Sara Kennedy

Local & Statewide Solidarity: We Can’t Wait!

SDEA members are spreading the word!

In January, SDEA members passed out multilingual flyers to families to let them know about what we are bargaining for, and to ask for their support!

We let the SDUSD Board know: We can’t wait to fully staff our schools!

At the SDUSD Board Meeting on January 28 , SDEA members, classified colleagues, and community supporters showed up to demand two things:

SDEA and CSEA members spoke up about the daily student impact of understaffed Special Education programs, and then walked into the board meeting in solidarity chanting “We Can’t Wait!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYyVMC1sXmY

We officially shared our “Sunshine” proposal: We’re ready to bargain!

Along with a rally to specifically highlight the Special Education staffing crisis, this was the meeting where SDEA presented a “Sunshine” proposal - the official beginning of bargaining our next contract, where we share which parts of the contract we intend to bargain over.

While a “Sunshine” is designed for bargaining teams to plan out their negotiations, this document can also help SDEA members connect our bargaining platform (built by members through our input across our sites and programs!) to specific articles of our existing contract.

We aren’t alone in our fight!

While SDEA has a history of solidarity among our members, we know that what educators are facing today is bigger than just San Diego. So often when we ask for what our students and educators need, we’re told there isn’t enough money in the budget. Schools already lack the staff and resources they need, and are now facing additional threats to federal funding. SDEA members need to continue urging San Diego Unified to invest every available resource to support our students, but the reality is that we need to pressure the state, too. Even with the largest economy in the country, California spends less per student than most other states - and it’s our students who are suffering the consequences.

That’s why SDEA is joining over 77,000 union educators in over 30 districts across California to say: We Can’t Wait! It’s time to finally invest in the schools our students deserve.

While each union will negotiate with their individual districts, we are all aligning our proposals in three shared categories:

  • Fully staff our schools
  • Improve educator pay
  • Stability for students & communities

On Tuesday, unions held press conferences and actions across the state to announce the statewide campaign:

SDEA educators were joined by classified colleagues, National City educators, CTA board members, and community partners for a press conference on Tuesday to announce our statewide “We Can’t Wait” campaign.

Local news coverage of SDEA’s press conference at Perkins:

See all the unions involved in the We Can’t Wait campaign, and check out the #WeCantWaitCA hashtag on social media to see more!

More resources for our statewide campaign:

by Sara Kennedy

10-Point Program To Support Our Students & Communities

The new federal administration is threatening the well-being of our most vulnerable students (and the funding our schools rely on to support them.)

Read the 10-point policy recently adopted by the SDEA Board and representatives.

by Sara Kennedy

Resources to Support Our Immigrant Communities

 

Know Your Rights as SDEA members:

 

See an overview of the protections available in California law, our SDEA Contract, and District policies in our new Know Your Rights flyer about Protections for Immigrant Communities.

 

 

 

 

 

Important things for educators to remember:

San Diego Unified Resources:

Red Cards:

These cards from the ILRC are to inform citizens and non-citizens of their rights if an immigration official comes to their door.

Note: These are not for educators to distribute to students, for your protection. Check with your site rep for more information.

SDEA supported in printing 20,000 cards in English & Spanish to give to reps at the Feb 5 Rep Council. Representatives picked up cards to give to principals, who have directions from the District on how to utilize them.

Resources for Educators: 

Community Resources:

DACA - Frequently Asked Questions

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a policy that allowed certain individuals who met program requirements to request a grant of deferred action. 

See a variety of FAQs from AFT & uploaded by UTLA:

Keep in mind that things are changing quickly at the federal level. If you find that any of these resources are out of date or have broken links, please reach out to kennedy_s@sdea.net.

 

by Sara Kennedy

IFT Grants: Fund your classroom projects!

IFT Grant Applications Are Open! 

Apply now for the Institute for Teaching (IFT) Grant Program and bring your ideas to life for the 2025-2026 school year. 

  • Environmental Education Cohort (NEW!): Up to $5,000 (Environmental Educator Grant) or $20,000 (Environmental Impact Grant) for projects focused on environmental education, plus networking opportunities and an in-person convening! 
  • Educator Grant: Up to $5,000 for individual educators to impact a classroom or group of students. 
  • Impact Grant: Up to $20,000 for teams of two or more educators (three recommended) to make an impact across multiple classrooms or school sites. 

Applications close on March 31, 2025. Learn more and apply at cta.org/ift-institute-for-teaching. 

If you have questions, please email ift@cta.org.

See more scholarships and grants available to SDEA members here!

by Sara Kennedy

SPED caseload grievances: Counter proposal

SDEA has countered SDUSD’s lowball offer on Special Education caseload grievances.

After over a year of delay, SDUSD responded to union-wide caseload grievances filed by SDEA members with a lowball offer that would pay out less than in past years. In response, SDEA leaders have sent a counter offer to settle 2023-24 and 2024-25 caseload grievances. The SDEA offer is modeled off of previous grievance settlements and would:

  • Give Ed Specialists who were over caseload payments based on an hourly rate per student over caseload.
  • Include payments to Ed Specialists providing case management and services to students not technically on their caseloads.

Read the full proposals:

Format legend:

  • Red, bold, underlined = New language SDEA is proposing
  • Red strikethrough = Language SDUSD proposed that SDEA is rejecting
  • Black, bold, underlined = Language SDUSD proposed that SDEA is accepting

Note: The settlement proposals contain references to Exhibit A and B (a list of eligible members) and a Caseload Grievance Appeal Form. Those do not yet exist and will be released after an agreement is reached. The process of generating the list of eligible members (and ensuring no one is left off that list!) can begin after the details of the settlement are finalized.

Delayed Stipends ≠ Real Solutions!

For years Ed. Specialists have been overloaded with caseloads far beyond contractual limits - burning out educators and impacting the entire school community. Burned-out educators and underserved students deserve real solutions, not delayed and shrinking checks. It is clear that District leadership simply does not feel the same urgency as educators do to fully staff Special Education. It is long past time to get students and educators the support they need!

Show up on January 28th to make the SDUSD Board feel the urgency!

At the next SDUSD Board Meeting, let’s show up to demand that they:

  1. Settle grievances fairly
  2. Come to the bargaining table with an urgency to fully staff our schools

 

by Sara Kennedy

Letters in Solidarity: 2025 Brings An Urgent Need for Solidarity

Wishing everyone a 2025 packed with joy and fulfillment for you and your students. Our hearts go out to all those impacted by the still unfolding wildfire disaster in Los Angeles. So many educator families and communities are facing terrible losses. During this difficult time, our union will come together to support one another. Please consider making a donation to the Disaster Relief Fund of our state union, CTA. This fund exists thanks to the generosity of CTA members who have made contributions to help colleagues in need.

Sadly, the incoming federal administration has politicized the wildfires and threatened to cut off support for disaster relief along with the rest of federal funding to California that represents a third of the state budget. This continues President-elect Trump’s push to retaliate against our state and our district for committing to support vulnerable students and families that will be targeted by the inhumane policies he has proposed.

As union educators, we must be prepared to defend our students, public education, and our rights against any attack whether at the local, state or national level. We solidified this commitment last month through the ratification of our We Can’t Wait contract campaign platform by an overwhelming 98% of the 4000+ SDEA members who voted in the election. The platform establishes three top priorities that will guide our bargaining and organizing in 2025: fully-staffed schools, improved educator pay and stability for our students and communities.

These three pillars of our platform are our statewide coordinated response to the crisis we are facing with the underfunding of public education in California and the uncertainty that accompanies the new federal administration. We teach in the wealthiest state in the country, yet we are failing to fully staff schools, pay educators wages that allow us to live in the communities we serve and secure resources and protections that all students need to thrive.

With the national and state political climates in mind, elected educator leaders from 180+ schools and programs from across the district voted at the January 2025 SDEA Representative Council to adopt the Ten Point Program to Support Our Students and Communities that will guide the development of bargaining proposals for our contract campaign. The Ten Point Program lays out our values around establishing welcoming, safe and nurturing schools where all students can focus on learning. We are ready as SDEA leaders to join our fellow union educators, families, students, staff and community organizations to generate the combined power needed to fight for and win the transformational priorities in the Ten Point Program and the rest of our platform. We Can’t Wait!

by Sara Kennedy

January 28: Show Up in Support of Special Education Staffing!

Educators see the daily student impact of a lack of Special Education staffing, but it is clear that the District does not feel the same urgency to fix this crisis.

At the January 28th Board Meeting, let's show up in solidarity to demand that District leaders:

 

What: Show Up In Solidarity @ SDUSD Board Meeting!

When: Tuesday, January 28th, 2025, 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Where: 4100 Normal Street - We'll rally at the flagpole & walk into the meeting together!

by Sara Kennedy