Both strikes yielded gains for teachers, but larger structural issues, such as declining enrollments, unaffordable housing, and pension costs eroding what can be spent on children, were not addressed.
District increased salary hike offer, but teachers' union and supporters are holding out. Demands include higher raises, smaller classes and student resources.
With a high percentage of students and teachers honoring picket line, Oakland Unified is losing state funds, partially offset by savings in not having to pay striking teachers’ salaries.
Striking teachers have forced California districts to address student-to-nurse ratios that are among the worst in the nation. But they have to compete with the higher-paying private sector in the midst of an overall shortage of nurses.
Senate Bill 126, which was passed in the Senate Feb. 21, would require that California charter school boards comply with the same open meeting, conflict-of-interest and disclosure laws as district school boards, including holding public board meetings, opening records to the public upon request and ensuring board members don’t have a financial interest in contracts on which they vote.
As teachers are joined by parents, students and community members on picket lines, the school board faces pressure to settle with teachers and put students first when making budget cuts for next year.
Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell, a former Oakland Unified teacher and principal, says district has to live within its "current financial reality" and end the "same repeated conversations that we have been having for decades."
Oakland teachers voted overwhelmingly to support a strike if their union can't negotiate a new contract.
They rallied Tuesday outside Oakland city hall and won support from the city council which has no authority to settle the contract dispute with the Oakland Unified School District. A strike can not legally occur until after Feb. 15 when a neutral fact-finding report is expected to be issued.
