The story of a teacher, out on sick leave due to having breast cancer has begun to spread across the country. The reason is because KQED in California came upon a GoFundMe page for the San Francisco teacher, set up by parents, to help provide income to the teacher. The reason she needed more money, besides not making a billion dollars and living in the Bay Area, is that part of her paycheck is going to pay for the substitute teacher replacing her while she fights breast cancer. The teacher has said she wants to remain anonymous.
The Washington Post says that the GoFundMe page includes stories about the beloved teacher, saying her “dedication and love for her students can’t be understated.” According to the Post, the teacher wrote personal letters to all 22 of her students after her surgery, telling them how much she missed them and to continue working on their studies.
The San Francisco Unified School District and the United Educators of San Francisco’s collective bargaining agreement, teachers have 10 sick leave days a year that can accumulate over years. Once those sick leaves days are used, teachers can have 100 extended sick leave days at “partial payment,” as their paycheck will be shared with the cost of the substitute teacher in their place. NBC Los Angeles reports that San Francisco teachers in this predicament pay out $195 every day for a substitute teacher filling in for them.
KQED spoke with Chuck King who was one of the negotiators for the California Teachers Association, who explained that "It was likely a compromise to limit the cost of a district's liability.” King explained that the best way to fix this issue is to change the law, making it the state’s liability and not the school district, as the districts themselves have enormous budget crises.
There have been similar issues for teachers out on extended sick leave, and frequently teachers set up something called a “catastrophic sick-bank pool,” where fellow colleagues can donate unused sick leave days to teachers in need. Unfortunately for the San Francisco teacher in quesiton, she had not signed up for the catastrophic fund during the window a teacher needs to.
Democratic State Sen. Connie Leyva was surprised to hear about this situation. More surprising since she heads California’s Senate Education Committee, telling KQED that, "It really does seem like we need to do something to rectify this problem. Maybe what worked back then doesn't work now, and maybe we need to reconsider that law." It’s never “worked.” It was a financial compromise on the backs of teachers because public school districts across the country are expected to act like Fortune 500 companies with none of resources or big bailout money offered by our taxpayers to Fortune 500 companies.