By: Kayla Mitchell 

Public Relations Manager

The labor contract between the United Educators of San Francisco (UESF) and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) expired last month, leading to conflict between the two groups. Unsuccessful negotiations increased tensions until the union voted to authorize a strike, prompting teachers to walk out of schools until they could reach a compromise with the district.

Many of the educators in the UESF, a union representing about 6,000 teachers, counselors, school nurses, and staff, were dissatisfied with their pay and health care benefits in the current labor contract. The San Francisco teachers were barely maintaining their livelihoods and pouring large sums into personal healthcare accounts. The union argued the district’s salaries were not keeping up with the increasing cost of living, and a change to the contract was necessary. The new teacher accommodations would maintain the district’s quality of education, stopping the occurring trend of teachers leaving for higher paying areas. In their initial proposal, the UESF demanded a 9% pay increase over two years, along with district-paid health insurance for their families, and more support in special-education departments to relieve workload. The SFUSD did not support the union’s proposal because of the district’s large budget deficit of over 100 million dollars. In response to the district’s inability to financially support the requests of the UESF, the teachers participated in a four–day strike, causing schools in San Francisco to shut down. In support of the walkout, president of UESF Cassondra Curiel stated, “We will continue to stand together until we win the schools our students deserve and the contracts our members deserve.”

After multiple days of striking, pressure to reopen schools led to a tentative agreement between the school district and the UESF. The agreement will give San Francisco teachers a 6% salary increase over the next two years and a formulated health care plan with Kaiser. Kaiser will completely cover the teachers’ health care costs starting in January of 2027, and the district will cover 50% of the teachers’ health care costs starting in July of this year. The final agreement did not completely satisfy the UESF’s initial demands, as the deal lacked the initial 9% pay increase and improvements to the workload of special education teachers.

While the teachers’ strike is over, the district will continue to face financial issues in the future. The new contract will drain a good portion of the district’s emergency reserve fund to cover the first two years of implementing the new contract. The district must also calculate the state funding lost during the strike, as state funding is based on daily student attendance. SFUSD Superintendent Maria Su stated, “We stretched our resources to the limit to get this agreement done. We still have a long way ahead of us where difficult choices remain.” The financial stresses on the district most likely will prompt the need to restructure and compromise to combat the district’s major financial problems. 

(Sources: EducationWeek, San Francisco Chronicle)