How California punishes teachers for having children

By Erika Jones, special for Calmatters

This comment was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

As a teacher at the kindergarten in Los Angeles, I am accused of caring for, teaching and starting the world’s most junior Angelos, but it is still difficult for me to find time to take care of my own daughter.

After a month intended to celebrate Both mothers and teachers, I think about my own parenting trip, and wonder when we will finally fix this broken system in California, which sanction the teachers for having children.

In August 2023, I gave birth to my first child Josephine. Bringing her into the world was one of the biggest moments of my life. And it continues to be a joy, but it is also a struggle to take care of beyond just sleepless nights.

I, like other teachers and school staff throughout the country, Get zero paid pregnancy or maternity leaveS Schools in Los Angeles and throughout California treat pregnancy as a disease. A teacher who takes leave for pregnancy or recovery after birth is forced to use sick leave.

As their sick leave is exhausted, teachers then continue to be paid. This means that they are paid the salary minus the cost of a replacement teacher, which leads to 50% or a higher pay reduction.

In California, 73% of teaching workforce is femaleS Because women who give birth are inclined to be younger and teachers who have children are usually at an earlier stage in their careers, most, like me, will not have enough sick leave to carry them in the absence of pregnancy. They will have to go to differential pay.

This disability disability leave of pregnancy disability is a double dose of gender discrimination. Most women are not only forced to exhaust sick leave at the beginning of their careers, but are less likely to have an adequate amount of leave, if they later have a serious illness or medical need.

I cannot tell you how many conversations I have had in the teacher’s teachers’ lounge who still recover from birth – or miscarriage – who are forced to work at work. Or, mothers who are sick and have to be at home but work because they do not have enough leave to fall again.

In the 70s it is customary to pushed out of teaching or fired after you become pregnantS It was only in 1978 that this Congress has adopted a law He does this illegally. However, nearly 50 years later, pregnant teachers are still pushed out of the classroom because they do not have enough paid leave.

California is facing tastingS Among the factors moving this: a high percentage of retirement, teachers who have chosen to leave due to stress, political attacks against the profession, low pay compared to other fields, high levels of student debt and lack of support systems.

The lack of paid maternity leave is certainly also an contributing factor – the one that can be considered. There is an Assembly bill 65, Pregnancy Leave Law for Teacherswhich would provide public school employees up to 14 weeks of full fee when an employee is pregnant or experienced health problems related to pregnancy.

The important legislation has long been overdue. The bill will bring California into line with a worldwide, basic standard for reproductive rights. Most advanced democracies are far ahead of us in Treatment of maternity leave as human rightsS According to the World Economic Forum, the United States is the only rich country that has no policy for national parental leave for parents.

At a time when federal funding for our schools is attacked, California can commit to invest in our schools with measures that will recruit and retain highly qualified teachers for our students. Do not penalize teachers for taking care and not taking care of their children.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.