Pending Sacramento Teacher Strike

Sacramento teachers thought they won their labor contract in December 2017 only to find that the school district is not willing to honor the contract. See
"The Sacramento Teacher Strike is A Warning to the #RedforEd Movement Everywhere" by Jeff Bryant, 4/8/19 at
https://www.alternet.org/2019/04/the-sacramento-teacher-strike-is-a-warning-to-the-redfored-movement-everywhere/

The till-tapping on the part of the school administration of funds that should go to teachers is described as follows:

"First, the district, a regional unified system made up of multiple smaller districts, poured huge amounts of money into salaries and bonuses for all the various superintendents, increasing administrator pay at a clip much faster than the rate of teacher pay boosts. The number of administrators also grew, the union contends, from 251 to 269.8, adding an additional 3.5 million to salaried positions. Fisher told me the average total compensation for district administrators is over $150,000. According to the union’s calculations, the district would save $16.6 million by reducing administrative staff levels to those in 2014–2015 when student enrollment was actually higher."

"Also, the district instituted a “use it or lose it” vacation policy that instantly led to a $6 million payout in stored vacation time to administrative employees. The district maintained there would be financial benefits long term, but teachers argue the district didn’t have to release the money all at once."

"Teachers also want the state to investigate a recent contract the district signed with the University of California – Merced that drained another at least $1.75 million from the budget. District Superintendent Jorge Aguilar, who helped lead the contract agreement, also happens to retain a paid position at UC – Merced at the same time he serves as superintendent, which seems like a huge conflict of interest. The contract is for establishing a new system to collect and share data on students transitioning from high school to college to “reduce barriers” to college and reduce placement in college remediation classes. Worthy goals for sure, but it’s so far not specified what this new “system” entails and what could be long-term costs to the district."