There are probably more teacher strikes in California

from Carolyn JonesCalMatters

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If your child’s teacher hasn’t threatened to go on strike soon, he probably will.

Thousands of California K-12 teachers have walked off the job or voted to strike over the past few months as part of a strategic, statewide effort by the California Teachers Association to raise pay and benefits — and gain public attention.

“All these districts are going on strike — it’s not a coincidence at all,” said David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers union. “There are people with unmet needs all over the state. The conditions are long overdue.”

San Francisco teachers went on strike for four days this month. West Contra Costa teachers went on strike in December. San DiegoWoodland, Apple Valley, Duarte and Madera teachers had planned to strike for the past several months, but reached a last-minute agreement. Teachers in Los Angeles, Oakland, Dublin, West Sacramento, Twin Rivers and Natomas have voted by a large majority to strike. In Berkeley, Sockel and other neighborhoods, teachers are holding rallies and seem headed for a strike vote.

Ten local teachers unions under the aegis of the California Teachers Association worked for years to get their contracts to expire at the same time: June 30, 2025. The idea, Goldberg said, was to set off a flurry of negotiations and potential strikes to garner public attention and show political muscle. Teachers unions from at least a dozen other districts also joined the effort, though they were not part of the original cohort.

“We’re a strong union with a lot of resources, and we’re taking advantage of that,” said Goldberg, whose union represents about 310,000 teachers. “Teachers learn from each other and gain some clarity on how to win resources for public schools.”

Public and political priorities

Teacher contracts vary by district, but the demands are similar: higher wages, better benefits and amenities that affect student well-being, such as asylum protections for immigrants.

Given the ever-increasing cost of living in California, the requests are not surprising, said Julia Kopich, an education consultant who specializes in employee relations.

Teachers in expensive cities like San Francisco often can’t afford to live near their jobs, she said, noting that starting teachers in San Francisco Unified earn about $80,000. By comparison, entry-level police officers in San Francisco earn about $120,000.

It has been a disappointment to the teaching profession for decades, she said. But districts don’t have much control over their revenue, and significant spending increases would have to come from the state, she said.

“Certainly, the question of directing enough resources is a district conversation about the value of a teacher,” Kopich said. “But at the end of the day, this is a state discussion about public and political priorities.”

Financial difficulties in the district

At the same time that teachers are asking for more money, school districts are facing financial difficulties. Declining enrollment, especially in urban areas, means half-empty classrooms and less money from the state, which funds schools based on how many students show up each day. Closing schools is the obvious answer, but it has been proven deeply unpopular and few school boards seem willing to take that step.

Another financial challenge was the end of pandemic relief money. California schools received more than $23.4 billion in one-time grants designed to help students recover from pandemic-related learning loss. State and federal officials have advised schools to spend the money on temporary teachers, after-school and summer programs and other short-term expenses. But some areas, incl Los Angeles United, San Diego United and San Francisco Unitedused some of their funds to increase teacher pay or hire permanent staff, which they are now struggling to pay after the end of the grants.

So even though the state increased funding for K-12 schools in the last few years some areas have been in financial difficulty. It’s unclear whether they can afford teachers’ demands for higher wages or more generous benefits, said Marguerite Rosa, director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University.

The California Teachers Association initially coordinated with 10 district unions to agree to have their contracts expire on the same date:

San Diego United
Anaheim Union High School District
Los Angeles United
San Francisco United
Oakland United
United Berkeley
West Contra Costa Unified
Sacramento City United
Twin Rivers Unified
Natomas Unified

Los Angeles Unified, for example, gave its teachers 5 percent raises plus a $2,000 one-time stipend and a $500 bonus. Area nurses, who are also represented by the union, received a $5,000 scholarship.

“The unions are saying, ‘We know you have an ATM there. If you were good, you’d be pushing the buttons,” Rosa said. But the districts’ money is limited, she said, “so we’re in a bind.”

If districts agree to the teachers’ demands, the cuts will have to come from somewhere — most likely from programs considered non-essential, such as sports, electives, advanced placement classes and other offerings, she said.

This could also mean staff cuts. Lecturers, classroom assistants and newer teachers would be most vulnerable.

Those cuts would hurt low-income students the most, Rosa said, because they are more likely to rely on special school programs and attend schools with newer teachers. Low-income students are also more likely to be affected by a strike, she said, because families typically have fewer childcare options and those students are more likely to suffer academic disruption.

School boards need to stand up for those students, she said, and negotiate better with teacher unions. This suggests more transparency about finances and a willingness to close underutilized schools.

“It’s so irresponsible to undermine services for vulnerable students because you have no backbone,” Rosa said.

“Children as leverage”

Lance Christensen, vice president of education policy at the California Policy Center, said California needs to get rid of teacher unions altogether. Teachers deserve higher wages, he said, but the teachers union doesn’t always act in the best interest of students.

The union spends too much time defending incompetent teachers, he said, and strikes are harmful to students and families. He also said the California Teachers Association has a political stranglehold over Sacramento that “overshadows any conversation in the Legislature, even if it’s not about education.”

He noted that charter schools and private schools are rarely unionized and sometimes perform better than traditional public schools. Several other states do not allow teachers to bargain collectively, and at least 35 do not allow teacher unions to strike.

“The union is using kids as leverage,” said Christensen, who is running for state superintendent of public instruction in 2022. “The CTA is the biggest evil in California education right now.”

Next steps in San Francisco

In San Francisco, parent Meredith Dodson said she was relieved the strike was over. Although most parents support teachers and believe they deserve better pay, the strike has been stressful for families and disrupted the education of thousands of students.

The $183 million settlement includes raises and improved benefits for teachers that the district plans to pay by draining its reserve funds.

Parents are now preparing for the inevitable layoffs. The district’s finances remain shaky and are not likely to improve anytime soon.

“What’s next? Cuts? Class sizes? Government intervention?” said Dodson, who is executive director of the San Francisco Parents Coalition, a parent advocacy group. “There are going to be some tough questions for the board and they’re going to have to ask themselves what’s best for the kids?”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.