Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA) advised educators and parents to prepare for a strike tomorrow as Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) management continues to fail the community by refusing to address a staffing crisis that has left 10,000 Sac City students without a permanent teacher.

SCTA and the district are back at the bargaining table today in a last-ditch effort to get SCUSD to provide the resources Sacramento students deserve and avert a strike. After a weekend when SCUSD management refused to negotiate, the district spent only an hour at the table yesterday before leaving “to caucus” and never returning, prompting a state mediator to cancel the session.

It’s just another example of SCUSD management not taking seriously the problems facing the district or acting in the best interests of students. Absent a settlement at the 11^th hour, SCTA and SEIU Local 1021, which represents classified staff in SCUSD, will go on strike tomorrow.

“The district has misplaced priorities and no sense of urgency,” said SCTA president David Fisher. “My advice to educators and parents is to prepare for a strike. The district’s actions make it look inevitable.”

SCTA President David Fisher

Last week, a report by a neutral fact-finder sided with SCTA, finding that teacher salaries and benefits are “clearly relevant to recruitment and retention of staff.” While SCUSD made a written commitment to follow the fact-finder’s recommendation to the maximum extent possible, district negotiators on Monday refused to address the staffing crisis. This central issue facing the district has left 3,000 to 5,000 students warehoused in auditoriums or forced to double- and triple-up in classrooms every day, due to a lack of staffing.

SCUSD is short 250 teachers, more than 100 substitute teachers and 400 essential school staff. Nearly 600 students who have applied for independent study because they are unable to attend school in-person, receive no instruction at all.

But rather than work collaboratively and negotiate fairly with educators to find solutions to this glaring problem, SCUSD is instead engaging in bad-faith bargaining, violating ground rules set by the mediator by releasing its proposal in a press release.

At a time when educators have been working harder than ever and the district is sitting on a record $125 million in reserves, SCUSD negotiators are demanding massive cuts to educators’ health benefits, which would cost an additional $12,000 a year for coverage. The district now receives more than $20,000 a student per year, but rather than use available funds and increased state support to retain and recruit teachers and staff, SCUSD continues to propose concessions.

“The district’s cynical, bad faith proposal shows that the superintendent and school board are motivated by an agenda to maximize operating profit at the expense of student learning,” said Smith.

Keep up with the Sac City educators strike!

Follow SCTA on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for up-to-date news and information, and visit their website at www.sacteachers.org. A strike fund has also been set up to provide financial support for educators struggling to make ends meet while on the picket line. Please consider donating and sharing with your networks.

#SCTA4Students #SacCitySolidarity

Click here to donate to the #SacCitySolidarity Strike Fund