San Diego teacher’s union facilitates the layoff of 1,500 educators
By
Norisa Diaz and Archie Stone
25 March 2017
Last week, the San Diego Education Association (SDEA), held a series of layoff meetings at the end of the workday for the 1,500 pre-kindergarten to 12th grade educators who have been issued pink slip layoff notices by the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) for the 2017-2018 academic year.
In February, following hours of pleas and testimonies from employees, students and community members, the SDUSD Board of Trustees voted 5-0 to proceed with the layoffs, justified by the need to cover a $124 million budget deficit. Following the vote, the board told the devastated attendees it was their “fiduciary responsibility” to balance the budget.
The focus of the SDEA layoff information meetings was, in the words of union officials, to “make sure that everyone is being laid off properly.” In addition to educators, the layoffs include counselors, library clerks, custodians, art instructors, food service workers and occupational therapy specialists. Since 2008, nearly $8.1 billion in funding has been slashed from California’s public education and community colleges, and another $2 billion from its higher education institutions.
Offering no significant challenge, the SDEA presents the layoffs as an acceptable action undertaken during “budgetary crises,” so long as they are “legal” and carried out according to the contract parameters. The union made no pretense of appealing to teachers and other sections of workers throughout the state and beyond to oppose the layoffs, let alone rallying the 7,000 members who run the second largest school district in the state of California.
In fact, the sole focus of SDEA’s response is the preparations for a…