Will Sacramento teacher strike shake up city school board? Union backs newcomers in election

Sacramento’s teachers’ union is putting its weight behind three newcomers this election, aiming to flip seats on the city school board months after an eight-day strike ground the district to a halt.

The union, which held out in the strike for better compensation and a package of issues related to COVID-19 spending, is not supporting either of the incumbents — Leticia Garcia and Darrell Woo — on the ballot.

Instead, it’s behind nonprofit director Jasjit Singh against Trustee Garcia to represent East Sacramento and Tahoe Park in the district’s Area 2; and it’s supporting parent activist and state worker Taylor Kayatta over Trustee Woo in the race to represent Pocket/Greenhaven in the school district’s Area 6.

In the open race to succeed outgoing Trustee Lisa Murawski, the union endorsed teacher Tara Jeane over attorney Anna Molander to represent Land Park and midtown in the school district’s Area 1. Molander has had the union’s support in past elections.

The strike was the most dramatic event in a series of labor disputes between the teachers union and the administration dating back to 2017. It was the union’s fourth vote to strike since that year, and its second walkout following a one-day demonstration in 2019.

The union helped oust an incumbent after the 2019 walkout when it supported Lavinia Grace Phillips over then-school board President Jessie Ryan. Phillips trounced Ryan that year. Earlier this year, Phillips was the first trustee to call for the administration to accept the union’s terms in the strike.

But getting the union’s support does not guarantee a win. Woo had the teachers’ union’s support in 2010. It backed his opponent in 2014, and he won reelection. Woo did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Sacramento City Teachers Association President David Fisher said the union wants more accountability from its leadership and believes the candidates it has endorsed will provide that.

“It’s the combination of great candidates who really helped our students, our community and our educators,” Fisher said. “Also who would hold accountable school board members that have been essentially silent to the concerns of the community and staff administrators.”

He said the district has been in “chaos” the past few years and expressed his disapproval of how the district has handled issues such as hiring, teacher salaries and staff shortages.

“All we want is the same thing as anyone else in our district, whether you’re a staff member, educator, parent or student,” Fisher said. “(We) want things to be run well, we want the best outcomes possible.”

Race in Sacramento schools

In addition to the strikes, some Black students, parents, community members and district staff members have felt unsafe because of racial incidents at schools involving students, teachers and, in some cases, administrators.

In June 2021, a white teacher at Kit Carson used a racial slur during a class discussion. She later resigned. In November 2021, a Black vice principal at West Campus High School was targeted with racist graffiti and online harassment. The district never identified a suspect, and the vice principal sued the district alleging officials failed to protect her from racist harassment.

Swastikas were found carved into school property and some students were caught writing racial epithets on buildings.

Jeane, Singh and Kayatta have all made statements expressing desires to bridge the gap between the school board, educators and community members.

“However we achieve that, whether it’s with a governing board that can hold the superintendent more accountable, or with a different superintendent,” Fisher said. “The most important thing is we get to a place where the governance of our school board tries to work with the educators to create better outcomes.”

SCTA donations in school board election

So far, the union has put $10,000 behind each of the candidates it supports, according to campaign finance records. Notably those are the largest donations in the race. According to campaign finance disclosures, the only comparable sum was the $10,000 loan that Molander made to herself.

Four years ago, the union put much more money behind Phillips. She received over $100,000 from SCTA, a staggering amount for a local school board candidate.

After her loss, former school board President Ryan seemed to take issue with the influence wielded by organized labor. She wrote that her campaign was “up against powerful forces willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to win at all costs.”

Kayatta, a parent activist, said he reached out to the union not because he needed the money, but rather because he felt a connection to the underlying issues the teachers have faced in the district. Families who Kayatta has spoken with tell him that they feel the system is broken.

“We need someone in there who’s really trying to take an active role in fixing it,” Kayatta said. “What we’ve been doing so far is not working, and we need to take a different approach.”

This story was originally published October 18, 2022 at 5:30 AM.