Sacramento teacher strike over. Schools to reopen Monday

The teacher strike that has shut down schools in the Sacramento City Unified School District for eight days is over.

District and union officials said Sunday that an agreement had been reached between the district, the classified employee union SEIU Local 1021 and the Sacramento City Teachers Association.

“Schools will reopen for our students on Monday, April 4,” district officials wrote to families in a Sunday night email. “School bus transportation schedules will also resume as usual. We encourage all families to send students back to school tomorrow.”

“We can’t wait to see your students and welcome them back,” the district added. “We’ve prepared social emotional learning strategies to support our school community as we recover from the impacts of school closures.”

The tentative agreement with the teachers union includes ongoing 4% salary increases starting with the current school year; 3% one-time stipends for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years; one-time payments of $1,250 in the current school year; 25% rate increases for substitutes who filled in for absent teachers this year; and 14 more sick days for subs who test positive for or have symptoms of COVID-19.

The deal also addresses teacher health benefits, which have been a point of contention for years between the district and union.

“The district will continue to provide 100% paid health coverage through Kaiser and a mutually agreed upon alternative plan or plans. The current alternative plan is HealthNet,” the district said.

The teachers union will also “withdraw a grievance and all of its pending unfair practice charges filed with the Public Employment Relations Board.”

Teachers and classified staff in the district serving more than 40,000 students began a strike on March 23, citing issues related to teacher staffing, pay and health and safety protocols.

The teachers union said in an email that a ratification vote of the deal would be held early this week with union members and that the school board was expected to vote on the agreement at its Thursday meeting.

In December, the district had proposed cutting teacher pay by 1% and capping spending on its most expensive employer-funded HealthNet health care plan. The teachers union countered by pressing for a cost-of-living wage increase and to protect the health care plan.

By last week, the district had offered teachers a combination of one-time bonuses, a 2% wage increase and other incentives even as it continued to press to limit its expenses on the HealthNet plan.

“From start to finish, our members have been united in the belief that schools should be adequately staffed with a teacher in front of every classroom,” SCTA President David Fisher said in an email. “Additionally, we were united in our belief that concessions in health care benefits were unacceptable at a time when the district was receiving increased funding. We stayed strong and as a result we now have a contract that will help us attract and retain staff and provide our members with modest raises. It’s important to note that there will be no take-aways.”

The SEIU union said in a separate email that the agreement “makes strides to address the causes of the classified staff shortage through a 4% ongoing cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) retroactive to July 1, 2021; thousands in one-time stipends; improvements to their dental and vision plans.” SEIU represents bus drivers, custodians, instructional aides and other workers in the district.

This story was originally published April 3, 2022 at 8:22 PM.