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Released 4/15/2025

 Last updated 4/17/2025

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. What is “priority consideration”?

2. Are senior teachers being “skipped” in the proposed agreement?

3. What was wrong with the old transfer process?

4. Why are we being asked to vote on this amendment?

5. How was this agreement reached? How were members involved in this process? *Added 4/17/25

6. How many people have been excessed?

1. What is “priority consideration”?

In our existing contract, the transfer process includes “Priority Consideration” for members who lost their position through situations beyond their control, such as excessing. There are existing protections in place to make sure that members who had to move get a position before members who want to move. Transfer language can feel complicated because it is balancing the rights of all members. See the definition of “Priority Consideration” in Section 12.1.10. of our existing CBA and Section 3.1 of the proposed agreement. 

2. Are senior teachers being “skipped” in the proposed agreement?

In our current union contract, priority consideration during Post & Bid exists (see question above) as a right for unit members who are being involuntarily transferred. In fact, a similar provision has existed since 1977, found in our first union contract with SDUSD. Under the existing procedures, HR routes up to 12 candidates for consideration for vacancies at any non-exempt site, which includes both priority consideration candidates, and the most senior voluntary transfer applicants, but only priority consideration candidates must be interviewed (Section 12.2.1.5.). Additionally, the existing contract language allows for sites to skip all applicants from being interviewed, regardless of seniority or priority consideration status, because it exempts more than 40% of schools from the post and bid interview and selection process (See Sections 12.1.11. & 12.4.1.). Under the existing language, no members have a right to a voluntary transfer, or even to an interview unless excessed (Sections 12.1.10, 12.1.11, 12.2.1.5, and 12.4.1). 

In the proposed agreement, the routing and final placement for the subsequent school year of priority consideration candidates happens in Phase 1 (Section 4.1) except in the extremely rare instance of an excessed unit member having a credential for which there was no available vacancy. Once all priority consideration candidates have their assignments, the six most senior voluntary transfer candidates must be routed and interviewed for all remaining vacancies in Phase 2 (Section 4.2.3. In the proposed agreement). In Phase 3, any new or remaining vacancies are posted, and then staffed, via any bidders who did not have priority consideration. During Phase 3, all applicants are routed by seniority, and the six most senior applicants are guaranteed interviews. Any positions not staffed during Phase 3 are then staffed by HR, incentivizing sites to have agency in selecting from the routed applicants list. These proposed procedures provide meaningful access to positions that voluntary bidders were excluded from under the existing contract language.

3. What was wrong with the old transfer process?

For years, Fall Excessing has been incredibly disruptive, with educators forced to pack up classrooms they just set up, and break the connections with students, families, and colleagues in their school communities that they were just starting to build. A big motivation in changing staffing procedures over the last several contracts has been to get rid of this disruptive process. This incremental elimination of fall excessing has required the district to reevaluate enrollment procedures and accounting, reducing not only fall excessing, but also having an effect of reducing excessing in the spring as well.

Another issue with the old procedures was that for staff looking to change schools, they were often unable to get a position, due to the number of sites that were exempt from having to use seniority as a consideration for vacancies at their site. Members seeking a voluntary transfer had no right to an interview, so candidates could be arbitrarily selected for an interview, or even for the position, without giving all applicants a fair chance. This is why the 2024 pilot agreement was implemented to improve the process, and find out what tweaks could lead to better outcomes for all members, and our school communities.

The old process also created an incentive for positions to be “hidden” as the contract afforded no rights to any members for positions that became available after Post and Bid. Sites would not report vacancies to HR for staffing in the spring, and then create positions in the summer that were then staffed outside of any transfer provisions in the contract. The District maintained the right to place whoever they want, including new hires, in these positions without even interviewing candidates, or considering voluntary transfer requests.

For members looking to move voluntarily, reducing Fall Excessing and streamlining the process of placing excessed staff means that more of the available vacancies can be accessed by members looking to voluntarily transfer during the Spring Post & Bid.

4. Why are we being asked to vote on this amendment?

As union educators, SDEA members have a say in decisions impacting their contractual rights. The terms of our contract cannot be changed without members voting on proposed changes. Representatives from across sites and programs on the SDEA Bargaining Team are currently bargaining our next contract with the District, since the current contract expires in June 2025. One of the things on the bargaining table is Article 12: Transfers, and discussions about that Article include things learned from a 2024 pilot agreement designed to reduce involuntary transfers in the Fall. This pilot agreement from last year expires in June, and vital pieces of the pilot would not be in place for this year’s post and bid process, and for next Fall’s limited excessing, if it was allowed to expire. The pilot agreement is the culmination of years of bargaining and changes to the Transfer Article, which the bargaining teams determined were necessary in prior rounds of bargaining, leading towards the goal of eliminating Fall excessing. Now, members need to decide whether to continue that pilot this year until we have a new Article 12 in our new contract.

5. How was this agreement reached? How were members involved in this process? *Added 4/17/25

• Our current contract spans 2022 - 2025.  Members gave input to get ready for bargaining in Fall of 2021. That included feedback that led to negotiations and an agreement on Article 12 that adjusted and streamlined our transfer processes, and a commitment between the parties to work towards eliminating Fall transfers.  That contract was ratified in Spring of 2023, with the 2023 Post and Bid being the first and only P&B that operated under the new rules.
• The agreement also established and empowered the Transfer Monitoring Committee (TMC) to explore a pilot process to eliminate fall transfers in reopener negotiations in the 2023 - 2024 school year.
• In the 2023 - 2024 reopener negotiations, Article 12 was open for negotiation. That led to the initial pilot agreement, which was reached by the TMC. All members voted on that pilot as part of the reopener ratification vote in Spring of 2024, including agreeing that the TMC would continue refining the pilot and make suggestions for the next contract, which would start in 2025 (which we are now negotiating).
• The process has included member input via bargaining input sessions that began this whole process back in 2021, focus groups set up to provide input on the transfer process in over 2022 - 2023 (both veteran and new educators, along with HR staff and principles), plus the members of the TMC giving input, along with SDEA leaders and staff.
• This year, knowing we have a lot more vacancies due to the SERP and since we won’t be finished negotiating our successor contract by the time our current contract expires in June 2025 (along with last year’s pilot agreement), we needed an agreement to bridge us into the successor agreement, to cover Fall 2025 transfers, and make small modifications to the 2024 pilot agreement.
• This proposed pilot MOU for 2025 needs to have the approval of members before going into effect. It is an agreement between SDEA and the District based on previous contract language designed to make changes to Article 12, in the spirit of eliminating fall excessing and improving the transfer process, but it cannot go into effect without being ratified by all members, since it modifies the terms found in the actual contract, much like last year’s pilot that was ratified in the contract reopener ratification.

6. How many people have been excessed?

Based on a list of excessed employees sent from the District to SDEA leaders on 4/15/25, 286 members are currently excessed with priority consideration status. That includes:

• 105 teachers in SpEd (many who work at two or more sites whose allocations at one or more sites are shifting up or down and whose position bundles are being adjusted),
• 15 ECE teachers (who work in TK classrooms that are closing or being moved),
• 27 counselors (the vast majority who are elementary counselors who work at two sites, where one or both site allocations are going up or down),
• and 139 elementary and secondary general education teachers, but

• 21 teachers in this group are elementary prep time teachers, mostly with PE credentials, who work at 2 or more schools, who have special staffing procedures for their multiple assignment positions that apply when their allocations at one or more sites change, affecting their position bundles, bringing this number down to 118 teachers in both elementary and secondary who are currently in excess status across several credential areas.

This is good news for staff looking to voluntarily transfer, since with nearly 600 vacancies posted, there are far more vacancies than there are staff with priority consideration. This means members looking to voluntarily transfer will have more opportunities to do so this year than last year (and potentially more rights to be interviewed, depending on if the agreement is ratified).