OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – The Oakland Education Association, a teachers’ union, is giving its members one week to vote to authorize a strike even as negotiations continue with the Oakland Unified School District.

Some parents said they do not want another disruption for students with just weeks left in the school year. “We’re upset because our kids’ schooling has been disrupted enough. Every three years we go through this, and we never question why,” said Lakisha Young, an Oakland parent.

Young is a mom of three and the CEO and founder of Oakland Reach, one of the organizations behind a petition against teachers going on strike. “Parents need to have a bigger seat at the table. We need to know what’s going on because backdoor negotiations have front-door implications,” said Young.

After unsuccessful negotiations, the Oakland Education Association is now calling on teachers to vote to authorize a strike. They posted a video on Facebook saying, “OUSD bargaining team has negotiated in bad faith. They cancel sessions and give unserious proposals. Unfortunately, this behavior is continuing, and we can’t trust OUSD to come with serious proposals.”

The union posted to Facebook saying Oakland spends a smaller percentage on teachers’ salaries than any other Bay Area school district. The teachers also did a walk out last month which was not authorized by the union.

OUSD officials admit they cannot agree to all of OEA’s demands. The district, however, did release its proposals for compensation saying the current salary for a teacher in Oakland ranges from around $52,000 to just under $99,000. The district said they are proposing to raise salaries on average by $15,000.

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OUSD released a statement that read in part:

“It is imperative that OUSD teachers are paid higher salaries as compensation is critical to retention. OUSD’s proposed compensation package would mean teachers in Oakland will, for the first time in decades, be paid higher than the average salary for educators in our region.”

Young thinks state mediation could help work out issues between the two and added students are still recovering from the disruption the pandemic caused to their education.

“I would say even before the pandemic our kids were not where they needed to be. Everyone is just trying to get to normalcy and to recovery of our kids’ education,” said Young.

OUSD said they want to come to an agreement by the end of this school year. Eighty percent of the union’s members are strike ready, the union told KRON4.