Dublin Teachers Set to Strike as District Negotiations Stall

Dublin teachers are set to strike next week, joining a growing wave of California educators taking to picket lines in recent months.

The East Bay school district’s teacher union announced Thursday that its 700 members would strike beginning Monday morning if they aren’t able to reach a labor agreement with Dublin Unified School District before then.

“It’s time for Dublin Unified to reprioritize the budget, support Dublin kids and start putting our students at the center of every financial decision they make,” Dublin Teachers Association President Brad Dobrzenski said in a statement announcing the strike.

Dobrzenski said that if Superintendent Chris Funk and the school board “won’t commit to the best for Dublin students,” the union is prepared to strike until Dublin Unified provides the resources all Dublin students deserve.”

The union and school district have been locked in contract negotiations for months after their previous deal expired last summer. So far, they’ve been unable to agree on proposed wage hikes, increased health care benefit coverage and class size reductions.

Like other school districts across the Bay Area, Dublin Unified has maintained that it doesn’t have the money to fund the union’s proposals, which would cost an estimated $14.2 million. The district said in a statement on its website that it has operated in budget deficits over the last three years, depleting its reserve fund, and will have to make millions more in budget cuts this year to pay its bills.

In November, the union declared an impasse and entered mediation. In January, it moved into the final step of the process, known as fact-finding, when a panel with representatives for the district, union and a neutral chair hears arguments from both parties and issues a non-binding settlement recommendation.

Hours after that settlement proposal was released on Thursday, the union announced its plan to strike.

The district said it would support the panel’s recommendation, which proposed a 2% wage increase and one-time payment equivalent to 1% of salaries this year, and the opportunity to reopen negotiations on raises ahead of the 2026-27 academic year. It also recommended that the district begin to cover the full price of employees’ healthcare premiums by 2028, and up its contributions for those with spouses or dependents on their benefit plans.

“The district remains committed to reaching a fair and responsible agreement that supports educators while maintaining the fiscal stability necessary to sustain strong programs for Dublin Unified students,” it said.

But the union has not agreed to the settlement’s terms, calling its proposed wage hike “meager.”

Dublin teachers are among the highest paid in the Bay Area, according to the report’s findings, but the union said the district’s raises have fallen behind California’s cost-of-living allowance in recent years.

Dobrzenski said educators haven’t gotten pay raises for the last two years. The union is demanding a 3.5% increase, along with one-time payments equivalent to 3% of educators’ current salaries.

“We want to make sure that we’re retaining the best educators,” he told KQED. We don’t want our teachers to be priced out of being able to teach, and we want to recruit some new amazing educators.”

And, though its wages are significantly above average compared to similar neighboring districts, according to the report, DUSD doesn’t match many of their healthcare contributions. Three of the four districts where the majority of Dublin employees live already fully cover the cost of their educators’ benefits.

In other surrounding districts where teachers have recently gone on strike, including San Francisco and West Contra Costa, educators have won paid coverage for their full families. Oakland’s school district also pays for educators’ and their families’ health plans.

The union agreed to the fact-finding report’s proposed benefits agreement, which would increase contributions for health plans, including spouses and dependents, but not fully cover those costs.

Class sizes are another major sticking point. The union is asking for classrooms to be capped at 20 students across elementary school classrooms, with high schools’ class sizes reduced to match middle school levels.

The proposal the district has agreed to would create a committee to look at funding options to meet that goal.

The strike threat comes at a turbulent time in Dublin’s school system. While it’s one of few districts across the state seeing rising enrollment and, in recent years, opening new schools to accommodate more students, it’s also facing budget challenges and major leadership changes.

In a December message to the district community, Funk announced a $3.6 million budgeting error — adding to an existing budget shortfall. The district now needs to cut $8.6 million in ongoing expenses, Funk said.

The following week, the superintendent announced that he would retire at the end of the year. In January, the teachers union overwhelmingly passed a vote of no confidence in Funk.

Dobrzenski said the union has tried to work with the district to “reprioritize” its budget, including considering early retirement incentives — similar to those employed by Oakland and San Francisco — and implementing independent study for absent students to recoup funding based on attendance.

“We’re trying to offer solutions,” he told KQED. “We’re ready to work for our kids, and our management team just doesn’t seem to have that same alignment in values.”

The parties are set to resume bargaining Friday afternoon, and Dobrzenski said the union’s negotiators are willing to continue through the weekend to avert a strike.

If the work stoppage does go forward, the district said campuses will be open Monday, though many will have modified half-day schedules. Operations would be uncertain“as we settle into a temporary, dynamic routine,” DUSD said on its website.

Breakfast and lunch will be served, and students will be supervised, the district added.

“We don’t want to strike, we want to be with our students,” Dobrzenski said.

But, he said, if they can’t reach an agreement before Monday morning, “our educators will be out picketing to demand that our district invests in our students.”

KQED’s Lakshmi Sarah contributed to this report.