San Diego Unified and the San Diego Education
Association (SDEA) have reached a tentative agreement on revisions to
the 2012-13 school year contract that will result in the district
recalling all 1,372 of the K-12 teachers, librarians, counselors and
nurses who had received final layoff notices in May. An additional 109
Early Childhood Education teachers will be recalled under the agreement.
To
make this possible, SDEA members will defer raises and continue the
five furlough days in the current contract with possible additional
furlough days should the November tax initiatives fail.
The
membership of San Diego Education Association must now ratify the
revisions and the Board of Education must also approve the agreement.
Board of Education President Dr. John Lee Evans praised SDEA for coming forward to work with the district.
"On
behalf of the district and all of our students, I want to thank SDEA
for agreeing to come together with the district to save our schools,"
said Evans. “This marks a new era of cooperation between SDEA and the
district.”
SDEA President Bill Freeman acknowledged the continuing budget crisis made it necessary to make some tough decisions.
"Our
members have invested their lives in public education and deserve to be
rewarded for that investment. These are tough times that require tough
decisions and ultimately, I believe that this agreement protects our
schools and our members,” said Freeman.
Superintendent
Bill Kowba believes that this agreement will save the jobs of teachers,
librarians, counselors and nurses and allow San Diego Unified to
maintain current class sizes and educational programs for the 2012-13
school year.
"San Diego’s educators deserve a raise
but without this agreement to return teachers to our classrooms, we are
facing a new school year with higher class sizes and reduced programs
that threaten our positive record of increasing student achievement,"
said Kowba. "We would not have been able to develop an agreement that
protects our schools without SDEA.”
The Tentative Agreement, which must be ratified by the Association membership, contains the following elements:
- All SDEA members in the K-12 program released May 25 will be recalled in two phases: 1,090 unit members will receive a written notice of recall by June 30. The remaining 280 unit members will be sent a notice by June 30 stating they will be recalled no later than Sept. 30 as budgeted positions become available through attrition.
- 109 (full-time equivalent) SDEA members in the Early Childhood Education program will also be recalled on or before June 30.
- Raises will be deferred.
- Five furlough days will continue.
- Health care will remain the same; SDEA members who are not placed in a budgeted position by July 1 will maintain uninterrupted healthcare benefits for up to 3 months.
- A retirement incentive will be offered to eligible SDEA veteran members.
- Additional furlough days are possible if the November tax initiative ballot measure fails.
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