Sacramento City Educators Plan To Strike Next Week
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The Sacramento City Teacher's Association announced Tuesday they intend to strike next Thursday, April 11, over alleged violations of the collective bargaining agreement with the district.
Members of the union had earlier voted to authorize a strike on March 15, with 92% of members supporting a walkout.
The union says the strike is scheduled to last one day and teachers will return to work on April 12.
SCTA said they identified 30 violations of the collective bargaining agreement. One of the alleged violations includes using money that was supposed to be directed to lowering class sizes and funding improvements in student services to instead fund administrative salaries.
Sacramento City Unified School District released the following statement in response to the SCTA's plans to strike:
"This strike is unnecessary and will only hurt students, families and employees by putting the district on the fast track to a state takeover. A state takeover will result in less money for our students and do serious harm to the city's public schools for many years to come. Our students do not deserve to be put through the hardships that will be caused by this strike. We will continue encouraging SCTA leaders to work with us in the coming days to focus on saving our schools from a state takeover and finding more collaborative ways to resolve their disagreements with the District."
The district has been preparing for a potential strike and prepping replacement instructors.
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District officials confirmed on Monday that potential replacement teachers are getting paid $200 to attend meetings. The replacements would be paid $500 per day if a strike does indeed happen, the district says.
The district is facing a $35 million budget deficit. City leaders, including Mayor Darrell Steinberg, have called for renewed negotiations between the teachers association and the school district.
District officials have warned that Sac City Unified schools are projected to run out of cash by November. A state takeover of the district looms if a solution can't be found.