Know Your Rights: Preparing for Next School Year
Know Your Rights: Preparing for Next School Year!
The end of the school year is when many discussions and plans are made for the following school year. Here are a few contractual rights for SDEA members to keep in mind during those conversations and decisions at each school site, and resources to help enforce our rights!
You have a right to participate in important decisions.
SDEA members have a powerful and unique right to have a voice in the decisions that impact their working conditions through Site Governance Teams (SGTs). SGTs empower educators to collaborate with their entire school community to make decisions like schedules, instructional changes, before and after school programming, and more.
You have a right to site plans that include your voice.
The SDEA Contract says that within ten days of reporting to work at the beginning of the year, members should be given a copy of the existing School Safety Plan and Site Restorative Discipline Plan. Starting the year with everyone on the same page prepares school communities for emergencies and for effective collaboration on student discipline, and because you have a union, you get to have a voice in the decisions about those plans!
The School Safety Plan should be developed by your supervisor with the input of unit members, and the Site Restorative Discipline Plan should be reviewed annually and developed with the Site Governance Team.
- Read more about the right to School Safety Plans in 11.6 and the right to Restorative Discipline Plans in 11.7.
- Did you know there’s a state law that requires lockdown drills to be more trauma-informed? Since California passed AB 1858, schools should not be doing surprise lockdown drills.
- Know Your Rights: Restorative Justice
- Know Your Rights: Student Discipline
- Know Your Rights: Shared Decision-Making
You have a right to preparation time.
To effectively do your job as an educator, you need time to prepare! Our union contract outlines our rights to prep time, in your daily schedule, and also during non-instructional days at the beginning and end of the school year. Every unit member has the right to prep time - that includes prep time teachers, non-classroom teachers, and even Visiting Teachers! Your prep time is protected so you can use it to actually prepare. While any unit member can be asked to cover a class in an emergency, that coverage needs to be equitable and is paid if you cover more than one hour in a school year.
As your school discusses next year’s schedule, schedule decisions must respect the rights of all members. That’s why elementary schools should have a Preparation Time and Enrichment Advisory Committee (PTEAC) to collaborate on an equitable schedule.
- Modified days need to be protected for prep, especially before report cards are due - check out Section 8.6.6.!
- Know Your Rights: Preparation Days
- Know Your Rights: Secondary Preparation Time
- Know Your Rights: Elementary Preparation Time
- FAQs re: Elementary Prep Time
- Know Your Rights: Class Coverage
- Know Your Rights: Visiting Teachers
You have a right to bathroom breaks.
This has always been a basic worker right, but our recently ratified contract clarified that each school is now required to create a plan for emergency student supervision coverage when educators need to use the restroom. (This means that violations are enforceable under the grievance procedure instead of filing a Labor Code complaint!)
- Check out the newly added 8.9.3!
You have a right to a reasonable number of meetings.
As plans for next year start to fill up calendars, remember that you have a contractual right to a reasonable number of meetings within the “balance of the 40-hour work week” (your work time that is not instructional time.) The SDEA contract also sets limits on IEP scheduling to balance educators’ time with family needs. Additionally, our newest contract says that staff needs to get a full-year meeting schedule by September 30th, with reasonable notice for changes and exceptions for prior commitments.
- Check out the newly added 8.5.3.2.!
- Know Your Rights: Limits on Meetings
- Know Your Rights: IEP Meetings
You have a right to elect your union representatives.
Our union is a democracy, which means YOU decide who represents you! Union Representatives represent members when issues come up, but the primary duty of a union representative is that of connection. Reps help unify and organize SDEA members within their site and program, and they help connect their site or program to bigger picture solidarity across our large union.
Each year, sites and programs elect Association Representatives, Council Representatives, and Alternates, depending on the size of the site. SDEA members recently elected officers and board members, and there is a Run-Off Election coming up for several positions (including President and Vice President.) To keep elections fair, they are run by someone not running.
- Know Your Rights: Union Representation
- Flowchart: What do I do if I have an issue at work?
- AR/CR/Alternate site election materials are available for download to elect next year’s reps this April
- For the Run-Off Election, Members will get electronic ballots through Simply Voting to vote Mon., April 13 – Fri., April 17. See full timeline, details, and a voter guide.
- See SDEA’s Standing Rules and other Governance Documents.
See lots more resources about your rights on SDEA’s Contract Resources page, and about how our newly ratified contract has changed on the 2025-2027 Contract Resources Page.
Sign our petition: Release Prop 98 Funds!
Governor Newsom’s proposed budget withholds $5.6 billion in school funding guaranteed by Proposition 98.
(That’s a loss of about $80 million for San Diego Unified!)
The timing of SDEA’s raises is tied to Prop 98 funding. In our new contract, we won a 5% raise over two years. The question isn’t if we get those raises, but when. With Prop 98 funds being held hostage by Governor Newsom, SDEA members’ raises might be delayed until Summer 2027.
This is even bigger than just our raises: California schools need the funds voters promised when they passed Prop 98! As the richest state in the country, we can and should invest in our future by investing in our public schools.
Take action!
- Sign SDEA’s petition to urge local state representatives to stand up for school funding!
- Amplify this petition to your network by sharing these posts on Facebook, Instagram, and BlueSky
- Learn more about Prop 98 and school funding from CTA’s resources
- Join educators across California in sharing your stories of how budget cuts impact you and your students.
May Day 2026
Will you march with our union siblings this May Day? Labor and community are taking over the streets on May 1st after school! RSVP here!
Want to ride the trolley together and avoid trying to find parking downtown? Meet at SDEA at 3:30 PM to take the trolley together!
2026-2027 SDEA Budget Input Sessions
The SDEA Bylaws give members the opportunity to provide feedback (input) on the SDEA Budget. There are two budget input sessions scheduled, one via Zoom and the other in person. Please RSVP for the session of your choice:
???? Budget Input Session 1: Zoom
Monday, April 13, 2026 @ 4 PM
Link provided upon RSVP
RSVP here: bit.ly/sdeazoom41326
???? Budget Input Session 2: In Person
Monday, April 20 @ 4 PM
SDEA Auditorium: 10393 San Diego Mission Rd, Suite 100
RSVP here: bit.ly/sdearsvp42026
Summer Organizing Institute: Students' Civil Liberties Union
The Students' Civil Liberties Union has a Summer Organizing Institute focused on leadership, advocacy, and community impact! Interested in being an advisor or learning more to recommend your students? Join a Zoom Orientation on Monday, April 27, at 4:30 PM! Register here for the link.
The votes are in... we ratified our contract!
The votes are in: Our 2025-2027 contract has been ratified!
An overwhelming 93% of SDEA members voted to ratify our tentative agreement, with 4957 ballots turned in! The contract will go into effect as soon as the District signs off at next month’s board meeting (a minor step!) It’s our votes and our voices that built this contract and voted to implement it!
The Election Committee has been the lead on both the votes members recently completed. Please reach out with questions or concerns directly to the committee via email at sdeaelections@sdea.net.
Our improved contract:
This contract includes improvements to staffing, pay, and stability… including:
- Concrete fixes for Special Education staffing
- 5% pay raise over 2 years - see what that looks like for you with this calculator
- Locked in fully-paid family healthcare (including Kaiser $10 co-pay)
- Side Letter for no layoffs
- No fall excessing at Title I schools – that’s 150 out of 175 schools
- Restored Early Childhood Education Teacher stipend
- Seniority for summer school hiring
- Protections for immigrant and LGBTQ+ educators and students
- …and more!
See more details of what has changed and answers to frequently asked questions in our 2025-2027 Contract Resources!
This is a contract built for members and by members!
Your union is a democracy, which means YOU have a voice in the decisions that shape your working conditions. SDEA members participated in every step of this contract process, and the improvements that we won are because members showed up to fight for them!
- In Fall of 2024, members identified priorities at Bargaining Input Sessions across the District and ratified a bargaining platform.
- In Spring of 2025, members kicked off bargaining by holding rallies and walk-ins across the District, and won our first significant tentative agreement after a week of rolling pickets.
- Members kept showing up throughout Fall 2025 as negotiations continued.
- As bargaining progressed and the Special Education staffing crisis worsened, SDEA union educators proved we’re willing to do whatever it takes to fight for what our students need… even to go on strike, if needed.
- Once members on the bargaining team reached a tentative agreement with the District, site reps led meetings at each school to discuss the agreement, answer questions, and vote whether or not to ratify it.
Every step of the way, member voices are the foundation of our democratic union: Brainstorming priorities, negotiating contract language at the bargaining table, explaining our fight to families, chanting on picket lines, talking to colleagues to make sure everyone has a chance to participate, asking questions, and having the hard conversations about what our schools need and how to make it happen.
Members rallying with their community in May 2025!
We’ve ratified a contract… but remember that there’s more to come.
This coming Fall, we’ll already be beginning the brainstorming process again about what we might include in our next contract. As you review what’s changed in our contract and see how the changes impact you and your students, remember to keep the conversation going about how we can all fight to keep improving our teaching and learning conditions next time.
We had to threaten a strike just to settle the Special Education Unfair Labor Practice. We know we’re going to have to keep fighting to get what our students need!
Keep showing up. Keep participating. Keep our union strong.
SDEA members just voted on union leadership as well as on our union contract, and the results mean that there will be a runoff election for multiple seats. Stay tuned for another electronic ballot to vote in the runoff election between April 13 - 17. Our democracy is stronger every time we use our voices. Stay involved. Stay active. Continue the conversations.
Site leaders showing their solidarity at our February 2026 Strike Summit!
Rally this Tuesday with our classified colleagues!
The District has voted to move forward with layoffs for hundreds of our classified colleagues, and we need to fight back! SDEA educators are standing with our CSEA colleagues to oppose classified layoffs that harm our students and school communities. In our “We Can’t Wait” campaign we’ve been fighting for Fully Staffed Schools… and that means both educators AND classified staff. These layoffs move us further from the support our students deserve and reflect a larger issue: California’s inequitable school funding. In one of the wealthiest states in the country, we can and must do better.
Join our classified colleagues at a rally next Tuesday:
????️ Tuesday, March 24
???? 4:00 PM – Rally | 5:00 PM – Board Meeting (Make a public comment and speak up for classified workers if you can)
???? Morse High School Performing Arts Center (PAC) Auditorium
6905 Skyline Drive, San Diego, CA 92114
???? WEAR BLUE to stand with your CSEA classified workers!
Run Up to May Day: Week of Action!
As a union, we’ve been fighting for more than just our schools and more than just our District… we’re fighting for the conditions our students and families need to thrive. That’s why SDEA is collaborating with union educators across the state and with community allies here in San Diego.
ACCE and other community allies are organizing a Week of Action this week building up to May Day 2026. This includes learning about how to organize across entire communities, including but not limited to efforts to organize general strikes. As educators, we have specific legal limits around when and how we strike. But that doesn’t stop us from standing with our communities: By showing up, learning, and taking action together.
Join an action this week and share with your community:
- Mon 3/23 – How To Do A General Strike - Training
- Session 1: 10:30AM - 1PM
- Session 2: 5:30PM - 8PM
- PANA Office: 5577 University Avenue, San Diego
- Tue 3/24 – Immigrant & Tenants Rights Workshop
- 6PM - 8PM
- Olivewood Clubhouse: 541 E. 24th St, National City
- Wed 3/26 – ICE Out of San Diego Action
- 10:30AM - 12PM
- Federal Building: 880 Front St, San Diego
- More information: bit.ly/iceoutofsdmobilize
- Fri 3/27 – Artivism Day! Art Making for Taking Action!
- 2PM - 6PM (Arrive when you can!)
- Memorial Park, Chula Vista
- Sat 3/28 - No Kings - Tens of Thousands in the Streets
- 10AM - 12PM
- Waterfront Park: 1600 Pacific Highway, San Diego
- NoKings.org - San Diego Event
TA Highlight: Equity
A Commitment to Equity in our Tentative Agreement:
Preparing to negotiate our next contract, SDEA members identified priorities in three main categories: Staffing, Pay, and Stability. Even in the time between identifying priorities and negotiating agreements, destabilizing threats to our students and communities have only increased. Our tentative agreement includes a new article focused on protections for educators, students, and communities. Article 35: Safe and Supportive Communities contains a variety of measures that make our schools more equitable for everyone, including:
- Release days for staff to attend immigration appointments if needed
- An immigrant family legal clinic and other supports for immigrant communities, in partnership with community organizations
- Protections for the use of educators’ preferred name and pronouns
- Gender neutral bathrooms at each school
- Free menstrual supplies in all bathrooms and locker rooms
- More support for District’s Restorative Justice Practices
- Improved implementation of Ethnic Studies
This new article continues SDEA members’ history of bargaining beyond just the basics. Our collective power can improve our own pay, benefits, and working conditions… but it is also a tool we can use to fight for the rights of our entire communities, and to advance a more just and equitable world.
Read more in the full Tentative Agreement on Article 35: Safe and Supportive Communities.
Other key wins in our tentative agreement:
- Concrete fixes for Special Education staffing
- 5% pay raise over 2 years - see what that looks like for you with this calculator
- Locked in fully-paid family healthcare (including Kaiser $10 co-pay)
- Side Letter for no layoffs
- No fall excessing at Title I schools – that’s 150 out of 175 schools!
- Restored Early Childhood Education Teacher stipend
- Seniority for summer school hiring
- …and more! See lots more information here.