Teacher shortages at center of negotiations between Sacramento City teachers and district

As the Sacramento City Unified School District and the union representing district teachers negotiate their contract ahead of the 2023-24 school year, teacher shortages have emerged as a top issue, The Sacramento Bee reported.

Teachers in the district went on an eight-day strike last year before reaching an agreement with the district, but, according to the Bee, the two sides agreed to negotiate three issues before the 2023-24 school year: staff salaries, class sizes and hiring new teachers.

The district currently has 78 full-time teacher vacancies and many students in the district have gone several months without a teacher as the district relies on long-term substitutes.

District officials said in a statement that the district plans to “enhance hiring and assignment timelines and procedures to give our district earlier and increased opportunities to fill teaching vacancies,” according to the Bee. The union, the Sacramento City Teachers Association, told the Bee in a statement that the district’s staffing crisis “is far more serious than a few tweaks to the hiring process is going to fix.”

“Staff have no confidence in the current superintendent to address the real issues in the district that will ensure that every student has a teacher in the classroom: improved learning conditions for students and salaries and benefits necessary to recruit and retain certificated and classified staff in Sac City,” the union added.