With weeks to go before a scheduled strike, parents and teachers rallied Tuesday afternoon in front of the San Diego Unified School District’s headquarters.
Members of the San Diego Educator Association (SDEA) say schools are underfunded and understaffed, especially when it comes to special education.
In a news release sent out earlier this month, SDEA said that “chronic understaffing and large caseloads are overwhelming educators and denying students with disabilities the support they are legally entitled to. SDEA leaders will outline the district’s ongoing contract violations, including the failure to adhere to caseload caps for years and the inability to provide accurate caseload data.”
“As a teacher, we see the needs, the population needs in order to give a justified education,” teacher Guillermo Antonio Gomez said. “Unfortunately, that community of special ed students, they need the most, but they receive the less.”
The district made the decision after a local educators union announced a one-day strike.
The strike is scheduled for Feb. 26. Superintendent Dr. Fabi Bagula said in a statement earlier this month that the district would “honor” the strike date and close schools.
“Families should begin to find alternative arrangements for their children for that day,” Bagula said. “Closing schools for one day will ensure that students are not placed in situations where adequate supervision, instructional continuity, and campus safety cannot be reliably maintained. I am deeply committed to protecting instructional time and will ensure that this learning is fully recovered.”
Further complicating the issue is a scheduled make-up date for students on March 9 “to ensure students receive the instructional time and services to support their success,” according to the district. That date had been one of three scheduled non-instruction days on SDUSD’s 2025-26 calendar.
Before winter break, SDEA members voted to go on a one-day strike, the district said. The union has filed claims against some of SDUSD’s practices, but both parties are in negotiations.
The district added that it remains committed to bargaining in good faith with the teachers.