Sacramento Schools Close As Thousands Of Teachers Strike

SACRAMENTO, CA — Members of the Sacramento City Teachers Association and Service Employees International Union Local 1021 will not be in school Wednesday, and instead hit the picket lines after union officials said negotiations with the school district "broke off" over staffing and student needs.

The unions and Sacramento City Unified School District failed to reach a bargaining deal Tuesday night, the union said. The teachers' union said the strike, which will last "until an agreement is reached," will start Wednesday morning at McClatchy High School and at the Serna Center.

The district schools will close Wednesday, Jorge Aguilar, the superintendent, said this week.

Teachers and classified staff will be on picket lines Wednesday, according to a statement released late Tuesday, starting as early as 7 a.m. at McClatchy High School and 11 a.m. at the Serna Center, the district offices.

"Every single day 3,000 SCUSD students go without even a substitute teacher and nearly 600 students go without any instruction due to a lack of independent study instructors," the union said on its website. "Nobody wants to be on strike. But educators are willing to advocate for the schools our children deserve."

The teachers' association has about 2,500 members and represents all full and part-time teachers and substitutes, adult education, special education, pre-school and children’s centers, school counselors, psychologists, nurses, social workers, librarians and others in the Sacramento City Unified School District.

The SEIU Local 1021 represents nearly 60,000 workers in local governments, non-profit agencies, health care programs and schools throughout northern California.

The United Public Employees organization said its members are willing to take a no-confidence vote against Aguilar, saying the district's senior leadership was on an "unsustainable" path.

Aguilar told KMAX-TV in a statement that school site leaders worked "tirelessly" to ensure that the needs of students and families were met prior to and throughout the pandemic.

"Principals have often personally filled in for absent teaching staff and covered other roles to ensure that we support our students’ personal and academic growth – inside and outside of school," he said. " I share UPE’s commitment to maintain a collaborative and mutually respectful relationship, and am listening to the concerns of school principals. We hope to work together toward restoration of trust in order to continue serving the needs of our Sac City students.”

The union said the school district can afford to recruit — and keep — educators.

"SCUSD is in the best financial position in its history," the teachers' association said. "The district has hundreds of millions in federal funds and has had budget surpluses in the last 11 out of 12 years. Instead of spending resources on students by recruiting and retaining staff, Superintendent Jorge Aguilar and the SCUSD school board have demanded cuts in the average educator’s take-home pay of $10,000 per year. This will worsen our staffing crisis."

The union said an independent review sided with the union on staffing and wage issues, finding that teacher salaries and benefits were “clearly relevant to recruitment and retention of staff.”

The school district is short 250 teachers, over 100 substitutes and 400 school staff, the union added.

"Every day, 3,000 to 5,000 students are warehoused in auditoriums or forced to double- or triple-up in classrooms due to a lack of staffing. Nearly 600 students who have applied for independent study because they are unable to attend school in-person, receive no instruction at all," the union said in a news release.

Christina Pritchett, president of the district's board of education, said in a statement that they're "very concerned" about students and their families amid the strike. She said the district's latest proposals would increase compensation and reflect what they can afford.

"We urge SCTA to return to the bargaining table and give these proposals to increase employee compensation due consideration," Pritchett said.

The district’s updated proposals can be viewed on the district's Negotiations Update page, including ongoing 2-percent salary bumps for union members, three paid professional learning days and full health care coverage for employees and their immediate family family members.