Who Stands With Our Students?

by Christy Lozano

"WE STAND with Santa Barbara TEACHERS"

These signs appear around town, most often on the suburban lawns of family-friendly neighborhoods. The message is easily relatable ... who doesn't stand with teachers? That question would make more sense in another era, when schools were teaching time-honored best practices in the basics: reading, writing, and mathematics. Once upon a time (the 1950s), states like Iowa, California, and New York, led the nation in practical effective instruction. Presently, the number 1, 2, and 3 positions are held by the states of Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maryland; Iowa is now #33, California is #29, and New York is #15.*

The question that hardly anyone can answer in local schools, is just what these signs actually mean. Anyone even marginally aware of local politics will assume the signs represent support for the Santa Barbara Teachers Union (SBTA). Most people would also expect that standing behind local teachers would involve – for the most part – the issue of increased wages.

The Rights of Teachers

People are not asking, however, what it is that the SBTA supports in addressing current conditions in our local public schools. Does SBTA address classroom teacher-to-student ratios, school safety, or teacher input for due process in decision making?

With the state of California falling from a rating of #3 in the nation in the mid-1950s to its present dismal rating of #29, how is the SBTA supporting teachers to implement time-honored effective instruction in schools that are safe, with a teachable classroom size, and policies that support teachers teaching?

These questions were posed to SBTA President, Hozby Galindo, who failed to respond:  

1) What are the top three things, besides salary, that you are working on in support of the teachers in the current learning environment?  

2) What did the union do in response to the change from a two-week Christmas break to a three-week break?  

3) Is it still within the rights of the teachers to vote upon district calendar changes?  

Since the public is aware that salary negotiations form the primary occupation of the teacher’s union, it would be helpful for Mr. Galindo to shed light upon what else they do. For example, in other districts the union president also teaches during the school day. In the Santa Barbara School District, this is not the case. The union president’s full-time job in this district is union activity.

Teachers’ Dues are Paramount

The current income of the local SBTA is about $82,225 per month. With 715 teachers paying monthly dues of $115 per month per teacher, that comes to about $822,225 per year for a ten-month contract.  

How can teachers be paid sufficiently when they are asked to teach classes with 36 to 42 students? Especially when teachers are told to follow a highly complex intervention system before they can request administrative support for any disciplinary situation (see photo attached*)?

There’s no salary in the world sufficient to make that a viable professional choice for anyone.  

Small print and confusing protocols. Source: DPHS Welcome Packet 2021-2021, slide 39, SBUSD

*This is just a fraction of the protocol required by teachers before receiving administrative support for disciplinary action…  **Chart used by Santa Barbara Unified School District.

Regarding the question about the teachers’ rights for due process within the District for such matters as the school calendar (extension of Christmas break for two weeks to three weeks), the bell schedule, and the extension or changes to their workday – how is the union supporting and protecting teachers in these areas?

The District is making unilateral decisions in these matters without teachers being given the opportunity to vote on them. Those subjects are well within their rights, but teachers are afraid to stand up and claim them. They are rights that have been in place since the inception of teachers’ unions. Clearly a school climate that excludes input by the primary stakeholders – the teachers – must have a strong bearing on effective and safe instructional practices.

Since the State of California ranks at such a dismal national level, it might be interesting for the teachers’ unions to investigate such matters as teacher input in those successful states where education is highly rated.

Teacher Union Sexual Misconduct Protection proves Costly

With the prevailing public perception that the union’s main purpose is increasing salaries for teachers, another underlying and sadly insidious function is the union’s continuing protection of those teachers who have been accused of sexual misconduct. Clearly, at least a dozen such “known” cases in the last 15 years have resulted in not a single administrator who has been held responsible for the oversight of such cases which have brought so much harm to our children. The two most current settlements ($1 million and $25 million, respectively) have resulted in an increase of $750,000 in yearly insurance premiums for the district. Just how does that factor in for teacher/student ratio, or teacher salaries?

On the first night at the 2024 Republican National Committee (RNC) rally, an immigrant from Nicaragua, Linda Fornos, who entered the U.S. legally with her sons, spoke about the state of education in America. When she first arrived, she recounted, that her sons were being well educated in the classic and time-honored traditions. She spoke eloquently, illustrating how well they now know all the gender pronouns and other meaningless things, but are presently being poorly instructed in what really matters: reading, writing, math, and history. Another perception about the unions here and elsewhere is that they are protecting and promoting these distractions from true classroom instruction.

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Note to Santa Barbara teachers: If support is an action and the SBTA's actions do not support teachers, then an appropriate response from the teachers would be to take action (per the Supreme Court’s landmark decision Janus v. AFSCME in 2018) and opt out of the Teachers Association. You can opt out of SBUSD's association here.  

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