EVERY STUDENT DESERVES fully staffed and resourced schools. Every educator deserves a living wage that reflects their vital role in our communities.

The reality, unfortunately, is very different. Our union aims to change that.

CTA Vice President Leslie Littman (far left), board member Kisha Borden (middle) and San Diego Education Assn. President Kyle Weinberg (far right) at the SDEA We Can’t Wait launch. Bottom photo: Sacramento City Teachers Assn. President Nikki Milevsky speaks at the We Can’t Wait press conference in Sacramento.

On Feb. 4, more than 80,000 educators across California launched “We Can’t Wait,” a campaign involving CTA locals’ shared demands and coordinated negotiations with 32 school districts. Educators from Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Oakland, Anaheim, Sacramento, Richmond and two dozen other school districts — who teach and serve 1 million students — participated.

“It’s unacceptable that in the “Golden State,” with its vast wealth and resources, our communities struggle with fully staffing our neighborhood schools,” said CTA President David Goldberg at the kickoff press conference in Sacramento. “This is why educators are coordinating to take a stand statewide. Together with parents, students and our communities, we demand that districts prioritize resources for our students and ensure California leads the country in providing a quality public education for every student.”

Participating locals’ shared demands include:
• Fully staffed schools, with smaller class sizes and caseloads
• Safe and stable schools, with no layoffs, budget cuts or school closures
• Competitive wages and benefits for educators, to match the essential role they play in society

“It’s unacceptable that in the “Golden State,” with its vast wealth and resources, our communities struggle with fully staffing our neighborhood schools.”—CTA President David Goldberg

While locals will bargain separately with their districts, the campaign aligns bargaining sessions during the same time period this spring and early summer, with many locals’ contracts expiring at the end of June 2025. Multiple locals negotiating contracts at the same time will bring heightened public awareness and support for educators, students and schools, and also put pressure on the state.

The goal is to give students and educators what they need and deserve — long term.

“Whenever we’re able to improve our working conditions as teachers, we’re able to improve our students’ learning conditions,” said Sacramento City Teachers Association President Nikki Milevsky at the press conference.

CTA Secretary-Treasurer Erika Jones speaks at the OEA/UTR/BFT rally.

At the campaign rally in Oakland, Parent Voices Oakland Executive Director Clarissa Doutherd said that the unified action of “We Can’t Wait” will benefit students and schools.

“We unite across California to demand that districts prioritize spending that directly impacts our children and our schools, so that our kids have stability, so that our kids have fully staffed schools that aren’t in threat of closure every single other year,” Doutherd said.

United Educators of San Francisco used a cable car to visit multiple school sites on We Can’t Wait launch day.

Quality public education — and our very democracy — is at stake. “We’re hoping that this campaign … will bring a light to the circumstances that we work under to achieve what is the foundation of our democratic society every day, said Cassondra Curiel, president of United Educators of San Francisco, at the UESF campaign launch, “and what it needs to survive moving forward and how that represents what [California] families and citizens should really be expecting in public schools.”

Why We Can’t Wait

• Education funding at the state level is unstable and unreliable — leading to cycles of budget cuts, educator layoffs, school closures and an ongoing lack of resources and staffing.
• Educator wages are considerably lower than those of similar workers in other professions, making it difficult for educators to meet their own and family needs, including affordable housing.
• This has resulted in a growing educator recruitment and retention crisis, with thousands of vacancies across California.

SJTA President Renata Sanchez at the We Can’t Wait press conference in San Jose.

California boasts the fifth-largest economy in the world, with corporate interests and the wealthy growing ever richer. Yet educator wages are far below those of other college-educated workers, leading to many educators struggling to get by, having to take on second and third jobs or living far from the communities where they work. Schools are inadequately staffed, resulting in reprehensible class sizes and little to no student access to school counselors, nurses and mental health professionals. Essential school programs and resources are being cut, and educator layoff notices are a regular occurrence.

Meanwhile, funding for public education remains precarious and subject to vicious cycles of budget cuts. Many schools are facing closure or have closed. It’s little wonder that there’s an ongoing crisis in educator recruitment and retention.

Our union recognizes that the status quo is untenable, and the situation is urgent. We also know that there are solutions
to these problems. Remedying the issues will take all our collective power — and is the driving force behind the “We Can’t
Wait” campaign.

“Local chapters have been preparing for this campaign for a couple years. We are organizing internally and mobilizing externally with the support of parents and community groups,” said San Diego Education Association President Kyle Weinberg at the “We Can’t Wait” kickoff press conference.

“Why? Because 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. California’s students deserve better.”

“We Can’t Wait” helps our locals — those involved now and those joining in the future — support each other, learn from each other and build collective pressure on the state to respond.

We Can’t Wait launch day at Del Mar Elementary in Santa Cruz; Live Oak Elementary Teachers Association President Lauren Pomrantz is standing fourth from right.

“It’s incredible to feel the unity with our fellow educators across the state to win for public education and our students,” said Live Oak Elementary Teachers Association President Lauren Pomrantz, who noted that despite Santa Cruz County being one of the least affordable places for educators to live, none of its districts pay the statewide average. Teachers often pay for their own supplies and have had to pay between $1,200 and $1,500 in health benefits out of their own pockets.

“Santa Cruz educators are tired of being told to wait by school district administrators and school boards. We can’t wait to close the pay gap and fund public education the way that educators and students deserve.”

It’s simple: If we want change, we have to come together in our union to fight for it. Collective action by all of us exponentially increases the impact and can effect great and broad change in policy and public opinion. Together with support from allies and communities, CTA’s solidarity and work toward our shared goals are powerful and unbeatable.

Find more information about “We Can’t Wait” and get involved with the campaign at wecantwait.info.