Teacher Strikes Continue Amid Year of Labor Strife

Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, March 11, 2026

• About one in ten K-12 students in the US attend a California public school. And those schools are seeing a lot of turmoil this year. San Francisco educators went on strike in February. Teachers in Oakland and San Diego narrowly avoided a strike themselves. And now, their colleagues in Dublin — in the Bay Area — have also been on strike this week. 
• San Diego County has followed through on its ultimatum to the Department of Homeland Security, by suing the agency over access to the Otay Mesa Detention Center.

School labor challenges continue to roil districts across the state

Thousands of California K-12 teachers have walked off their jobs or voted to strike in the past few months. Some are ongoing, like in Dublin. And two school districts in the Sacramento area, Twin Rivers and and Natomas, had teachers walk out in the past week.

California limits how much local governments can charge for property taxes. That means the majority of school funding comes from the state. But with declining enrollment in most districts, state funding – which is tied to student attendance – isn’t keeping up with costs. “This is one of the challenges with education. It is very expensive,” said Iwunze Ugo, an education researcher at the Public Policy Institute of California. “You have this kind of ironic dual problem where we’re spending a lot of money, but then also it’s not enough.

California is one of the most expensive states to live in. And school district officials are in a tight spot. They have little control over how much state money they get, and are wary of committing to higher wages and benefits without knowing how they’ll pay for it.

Another financial challenge has been the end of pandemic relief money. California schools received more than $23.4 billion in one-time grants intended to help students recover from pandemic-related learning loss. State and federal authorities advised schools to spend the money on temporary tutors, after-school and summer programs and other short-term expenses. But some districts, including Los Angeles Unified, San Diego Unified and San Francisco Unified, used some of their funds to increase teacher pay or hire permanent staff, which they’re now struggling to pay for after the grant money ended. So even though the state has increased K-12 school funding the past few years, some districts are financially strapped. It’s unclear whether they can afford teachers’ demands for higher salaries or more generous benefits.

San Diego County sues DHS over access to Otay Mesa Detention Center

San Diego County on Tuesday followed through on its ultimatum and sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for access to the Otay Mesa Detention Center, weeks after DHS denied that access for a public health inspection.

San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer said the lawsuit was about following the law. “We live in a nation that’s governed by laws,” she said. “Transparency and public health oversight are not optional.”

California law allows counties to inspect private detention centers for public health purposes. San Diego is the first to try to exercise that right. County officials say detainees have reported freezing temperatures, untreated medical conditions, and food unfit for human consumption at the facility, prompting requests for elected officials and public health personnel to inspect the detention center.

Federal and county officials were turned away from the Otay Mesa Detention Center last month when they tried to inspect the facility. Last Wednesday, the county gave DHS until the end of the business day to grant access. County Counsel Damon Brown said DHS did not respond until the next day and asked duplicative questions that had already been answered before.