The Oakland Teachers’ Strike Revealed California’s Education Crisis
The struggle for fair funding goes way beyond the district. So now the teachers are taking their fight to Sacramento.
ast month, public-school teachers in Oakland, California, walked off the job for seven days; it was the longest strike since 1996. Teachers demanded a 12 percent raise retroactive to 2017, when their contract had expired; more support staff, like nurses, counselors, and librarians; a reduction in class sizes; and a halt to the proliferation of charter schools. By the second day, 96 percent of members of the Oakland Education Association union were on the strike line, joined by 4,000 members of the community. “This contract fight was not only about bread-and-butter issues, but it was a fight for the soul of public education,” said Keith Brown, president of the Oakland Education Association (OEA).
The strike ended on March 3, returning teachers to their classrooms the next day. In the agreement struck between the union and the district, teachers got an 11 percent raise over four years, and a 3 percent bonus on ratification. Nurses will see an increase in pay, and the district promised an increase in other kinds of support staff. The agreement also reduces class sizes starting in 2021 and the school-board president pledged to introduce a resolution calling for a five-month pause on school closures and a moratorium on charter schools. Brown called the strike a success, saying, “We forced the Oakland Unified school district to change the way they budget for our students and we made significant gains in each one of our core demands.” But, he added, “Because of…the years of neglect by our school district, we need much more.” Teachers evidently agreed. Only 64 percent of OEA members voted in favor of a contract for 2017–18 and just 58 voted for the 2020-2021 contract.
Alejandro Estrada, a bilingual fourth-grade teacher at the International Community School, was one of those who voted against the agreement. “Personally, [I felt] it didn’t go far enough,” he said.
Estrada has been teaching in Oakland for 23 years. “A lot of my students remind me of me growing up,” he noted. His parents were immigrants, and he too went to public school in California. “The public-school system basically gave me an opportunity to grow up to go to college and be part of the teaching profession,” he said. CONTINUE READING: The Oakland Teachers’ Strike Revealed California’s Education Crisis
