SCTA Agrees to Fact-Finder’s Recommendation

Disappointed that SCUSD School Board Dissented

“It is counter-intuitive to expect that proposals to shift healthcare costs to employees, or to freeze wages for several years, would help any employer recruit and retain staff.”

Report and Recommendation, Case No. SA-IM-3546-E
March 17, 2022

Today, a neutral fact-finder jointly agreed to by both the Sacramento City Unified District and the Sacramento City Teachers Association released his recommendation to resolve a long-standing dispute between the parties.

You can view the Fact-Finder’s Report here, including the response from both SCTA and SCUSD.

The Sacramento City Teachers Association has concurred with the report.

The Sacramento City Unified School District has stated its position is “concurrence and dissent,” which means that they agree with the parts that the fact-finder agrees with the District, and dissents to those substantial parts where he does not.

“Our bargaining team voted unanimously to concur with the fact-finder’s recommendation because it provides a carefully-reasoned pathway for the parties to follow to resolve the three issues that divide them: 1) the staffing crisis in SCUSD; 2) health and safety protocols related to COVID, and 3) independent study/continuity of learning for students,” said David Fisher, the SCTA president.

The staffing crisis in SCUSD is the most significant issue facing students in the District, with 10,000 students per day without a permanent, credentialed teacher, 3,000 students a day without even a substitute teacher, and 600 students still waiting to receive live instruction this year as they await being enrolled in independent study.

Notably, the fact-finder accepted the central premise of SCTA’s position (which is set forth here) – that the way to address the staffing crisis in SCUSD which has left thousands of students without a teacher is to improve compensation and working conditions.

At the same time, he rejected the District’s effort to avoid even discussing improvements to wages and benefits.

“We are extremely disappointed that after the District declared impasse and stated they were committed to reaching a fair settlement on these issues, the District is unprepared to accept the recommendation of the very neutral third party they agreed to oversee the process,” Fisher added. “PERB has already issued two complaints against the District for its bad faith bargaining as part of this process, so while disappointing, the District’s response is consistent with that bad faith.”