The Abridged version:
- Teachers in Twin Rivers Unified and Natomas Unified school districts are less than a week away from the picket line. Their demands to the district include higher wages, full health care coverage and smaller class sizes.
- Leaders in both North Sacramento districts have plans in place to keep schools open, with substitutes or administrators filling in as instructors.
- Union leaders are asking parents to keep students home during a strike, to put additional pressure on districts. If schools do close, California law provides some parents leave from work.
Two Sacramento area school districts are anticipating one of the most significant disruptors to the classroom and families’ daily lives — a teacher strike.
Educators in Twin Rivers Unified and Natomas Unified school districts are pushing for higher wages, better benefits and smaller class sizes. Negotiations have stretched for about a year in both districts.
The capital region teachers are following in the steps of educators statewide.
Teachers in San Francisco Unified and West Contra Costa Unified each walked out for four days earlier this school year. Teacher unions in half a dozen other districts, including Washington Unified in West Sacramento, have voted to approve strikes.
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A handful, including Woodland Joint Unified, were anticipating work stoppages but reached an 11th-hour deal.
Bargaining teams in Natomas still have a few days to find their own last-minute consensus and are optimistic about the possibility. In Twin Rivers, the clock is ticking before campus operations are upended this week.
When will teachers go on strike?
Twin Rivers teachers confirmed their strike will begin this Thursday, March 5.
In Natomas, union leaders announced their start date will be Tuesday, March 10, if additional negotiations this week fail.
Could the strikes be averted?
Twin Rivers is barreling towards a strike, after a neutral mediator’s report Monday did not settle disputes. The document included recommendations for modest raises and health benefit increases short of the fully paid coverage teachers are asking for.
Barring a last-minute deal Wednesday, educators will be out of the classroom starting Thursday.
Talks in Natomas, meanwhile, are sounding more optimistic.
Both the union and district said they were hopeful coming out of meetings Tuesday and with further negotiations scheduled for Wednesday.
Yet if the two groups still cannot meet in the middle, the teacher unions must give administrators 48-hour notice of a planned strike.
Will schools be open?
Schools in both districts are expected to stay open.
“Plans are in place to continue providing instruction and student supervision,” according to the Natomas district webpage with information for families. After-school programs are expected to continue operating, as well.
The same webpage states the district will work with the Sacramento Police Department “to ensure that any traffic or access caused by picket lines or other strike activities do not compromise student safety.”
The Natomas school board last week approved emergency protocols for the district during a teacher strike. They include paying substitutes up to $600 a day and reassigning current administrators to the classroom.
Twin Rivers trustees passed a similar resolution earlier in February.
In the document, district leaders said they are obligated “to take all appropriate steps to ensure schools remain open and available to students to continue their education.”
The emergency resolution also gives Superintendent Steve Martinez authority to temporarily close schools or modify campus schedules. A message to parents Tuesday, though, said the district plans to keep facilities open as usual.
Can students go to school during a strike?
If schools remain open, students will still be able to attend class during a strike.
“While the day may look different,” Natomas district leaders stated online, “our priority is to ensure that students are highly engaged in educational experiences throughout the school day.”
Union members, though, are urging parents, if they can, to keep children at home during a strike. Absences, they say, put additional pressure on the district since state funding is so dependent on attendance.
Natomas Unified’s communication states that missing school for a strike will count as an unexcused absence. The Natomas teachers union says it will ensure strike-related absences do not affect students’ grades.
Teachers on the picket line will go without pay through the duration of a strike.
Mariana Cavallin, a parent and educator in West Contra Costa Unified, said families there worked together to keep students out of school during their December strike. That included parents taking turns staying home to care for groups of children, she said at a union-hosted town hall Tuesday.
Can working parents stay home with their kids?
If schools in Twin Rivers or Natomas are forced to close during a teacher strike, some parents may have the legal option to stay home from work.
Under California law, employers with 25 or more employees in the same location must provide up to 40 hours of leave a year for reasons including sudden school closures.
The SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity is also offering all families in strike-affected districts free admission for students and discounted admission for parents and caretakers.
What are teachers asking for?
Teachers in Twin Rivers and Natomas are calling for many of the same changes. Their demands also echo those of educators across California.
They include:
- Wage increases, in an effort to retain teachers and fill current vacancies.
- Fully covered health care benefits.
- Smaller class sizes, particularly in special education classrooms.
How do Twin Rivers and Natomas teachers’ salaries compare to other districts?
The average salary in Twin Rivers Unified was $98,027 in 2024-25, according to the state Department of Education.
In Natomas, teachers that year earned an average of $90,931.
The average for teachers across California is $103,552. Sacramento City Unified has one of the highest averages in the county at $109,230.
How are districts responding?
Twin Rivers officials pushed back in communications Wednesday.
“The independent expert said the evidence does not support (the union’s) demands,” the district stated, referring to the mediator’s report. “The math does not support those demands.”
The union has highlighted five other California districts as examples to follow, including Sacramento City Unified, which offers employees fully paid health coverage for the staff member and their families.
The district pointed to millions in budget crises, hundreds of layoff notices and threats of state takeover across these districts are the reason they are being more cautious in negotiations.
“That is what the union is pointing to and saying: ‘Do what they did,'” officials wrote.
How many students are in Twin Rivers and Natomas?
Enrollment at Twin Rivers Unified was just shy of 25,000 students during the 2024-25 school year.
Natomas Unified was home to a little more than 16,000 students that same year.
Why are teachers striking in so many places?
Sacramento is not the only California city where the threat of teacher strikes loom.
Educators from more than 30 school districts across the state have coalesced under the same California Teacher Association campaign. Led by the statewide union and titled We Can’t Wait, the effort began last year.
The unions are banding together to put pressure on officials at all levels, from individual school boards to state lawmakers, according to David Goldberg, CTA president.
“It’s all connected,” Goldberg told Abridged. “Locals are never going to get what they deserve — really deserve — until we really have more state funding.”
Savannah Kuchar is a reporter covering education. She came to Sacramento to be a part of the Abridged team and contribute to a crucial local news source.