Strike is over, but Sacramento students must make up lost time — or their schools face penalties
The Sacramento City Unified School District and its employee unions have a new problem to figure out now that they’ve resolved their labor disagreement and ended an eight-day strike: How to make up for lost class time.
By law, the district must provide at least 180 days of instructional time. If it doesn’t, it faces serious financial penalties that can run into the millions of dollars.
The Sacramento district has a 181-day school year, meaning it has to make up for at least seven strike days to avoid sending money back to the state.
About 40,000 students returned to the classroom Monday after a late Sunday labor agreement ended the strike by the Sacramento City Teachers Association and the classified employee union SEIU 1021.
The agreement for the teachers includes ongoing 4% salary increases, 3% one-time stipends for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years, one-time payments of $1,250 in the current school year, and a 25% rate increase for substitutes who filled in for absent teachers this year. The district will also provide 100% paid health coverage through Kaiser and a mutually agreed upon alternative plan, which is currently HealthNet.
The classified employees also are getting a 4% raise and a combination of one-time bonuses.
Because the unions represent teachers, substitutes and school staff, the district had to close campuses during the strike, causing a loss of eight instructional days. It’s still unclear how those days will be compensated, according to district and union officials.
Any change in the district calendar must be negotiated with unions because it would affect employee work schedules.
The Sacramento City Teachers Association said it has not discussed changing the schedule with the district.
There are a few options: The school district could extend the school year past its scheduled last day of school on June 16, add instructional minutes to its school days or apply for a waiver from the California Department of Education.
The state of California requires districts to provide a minimum of 180 days of instruction, and levees heavy financial penalties on districts that fail to meet the requirement. The annual minute requirements are just over 50,000 for elementary students and 64,800 for high school students.
Generally, an employee strike doesn’t meet the conditions for a waiver, according to a statement from the California Department of Education. In an email to The Sacramento Bee, the education department added that a district could avoid a penalty by adding days or instructional minutes to the school calendar.
Sacramento City Unified officials said many school districts use professional development days to make up for lost instruction during a strike. The district has one professional development day scheduled for June 17, the day after the school year ends.
Sacramento’s school year
While the district could avoid a penalty by adding days or instructional minutes to the school calendar, that may not be possible for Sacramento City Unified.
Other school districts in Sacramento County have a longer academic year than Sacramento City Unified, giving the district little room to maneuver.
“These extra calendar days range from one to seven in our neighboring school districts,” the district said in a statement to The Sacramento Bee. “SCUSD has the shortest work year at 181 days, the bare minimum, so the district does not have a cushion to fall back on.”
Sacramento City Unified is already scheduled to be one of the last school districts in the region to end classes in mid June. Adding days could mean the school year would end in late June. In 2020, district and union officials had hoped to revise the annual calendar so that students will start and finish the school year earlier. Negotiations on that decision had stalled.
What other districts paid in strike penalties
The district said it is analyzing fiscal penalties it may face it they cannot meet the 180 day requirement. The state penalty doubles after the fifth day of a strike.
If those penalties cannot be avoided, the district can file an appeal with the Education Audit of Appeals Panel, or apply for a waiver that would allow the district to make up the days over the next two school years.
School districts don’t pay striking employees, giving them some budget savings during walkouts.
But a strike can still be painfully expensive for school districts. Oakland Unified’s seven-day teacher strike in 2019 cost the district about $1 million per day after total savings from not paying teacher salaries, according to School Services of California. Los Angeles Unified’s week long strike in 2019 cost the district $15 million.
Teachers and classified staff in the district began a strike on March 23, citing issues related to teacher staffing, pay and health and safety protocols. In an email, the SCTA said a ratification vote of the deal would be held this week. The school board is expected to vote on the agreement at Thursday’s school board meeting.
This story was originally published April 5, 2022 at 5:25 AM.