On Wednesday Oct. 9, 2024, at the Berkeley Unified School District School Board meeting, several teachers spoke during the public comment portion about receiving higher pay. Berkeley teachers have been advocating for higher pay for a long time.
Back in 2019, during a one-day walkout, 150 Berkeley Unified School District educators “sicked out” (where teachers call in sick), according to a Berkeleyside article from the time. The fight for increased salary has been going on for years across other districts as well. In 2019, Oakland teachers struck for a week, which led them to receive an 11 percent raise in salary. Recently, on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, teachers in the Bay Area, decided to strike as well. According to KTVU, they are “asking the Las Lomitas Elementary School District to increase pay to a ‘livable wage’ and provide fully funded health benefits.”
As for Berkeley teacher’s fight for fair pay, there were extensive public comments made from teachers at the recent school board meeting. Azhia Long, a third-grade teacher at Rosa Parks Elementary who spoke at the meeting on Wednesday Oct. 9, 2024, has recently picked up a second job at the Oakland Public Library. Long said that with her job at the library and at Rosa Parks Elementary combined, she often works from eight a.m. to eight p.m. and six to seven days a week in order to pay bills and earn enough income.
With the intensive nature of teaching, working two jobs is especially challenging. “Being a teacher is not a job that you can turn on and off when you leave. We spend much of our free time thinking about our students, planning lessons, corresponding with parents, attending meetings and PDs, and the list goes on,” Long said.
However, having two jobs is common for many teachers. According to a study by the Learning Policy Institute, around 17.1 percent of teachers take on a second job outside of the school system during the school year. This is one of the many reasons teachers are demanding higher salaries. “I want education to be a field that we can see ourselves in for years to come, especially with the level of time and money we have invested to become certified teachers,” Long said.
Arun Khanna, a fifth-grade teacher at Ruth Acty Elementary School, said, “Due to Berkeley’s high cost of living, my family and I had to move far away to find an affordable place, and we commute an hour each way. My three kids attend Berkeley schools, which means waking them up very early.” Khanna explained that they also have to spend money to commute that far.
Khanna also mentioned another issue, health insurance pay. According to Khanna, while many jobs and districts will pay a percentage of healthcare for their employees, the resulting cost is still steep. “(BUSD) requires that we pay around $1000 a month for our health insurance coverage,” Khanna said.
At the prior school board meeting, several speakers expressed discontent about low wages for BUSD preschool teachers. Cynthia Dickerson, who has been teaching preschool in BUSD since 2013, spoke about the lacking pay and benefits for preschool teachers. During the meeting, Dickerson said, “Our preschool teachers sometimes make less than our substitute teachers.”
The difficulties that these teachers have faced led them to talk at the school board meeting in hope of gaining support in their struggle for higher pay. “Berkeley is a unique place, and its teachers are a big part of what gives it that unmistakable spirit. Right now, the average new teacher in the U.S. stays in the profession for about five years. High job stress, low pay, and challenging work environments drive many out early … That’s part of why I spoke up — to help educate the public and advocate for better support for new teachers,” Khanna said.