Dear SF Parent,
Over one thousand parent letters sent to SFUSD and UESF
In less than one day, over 1,100 parent letters were sent to district and union leadership urging them to continue daily talks and bring kids back to the classroom while they negotiate the final aspects of the deal. Two things can be true simultaneously: we can support our teachers in their call for fair compensation AND get our kids back in school while the adults finish negotiating. Unfortunately, we just learned this afternoon that the strike will continue tomorrow, Wednesday 2/11 and schools will remain closed. For families who are looking for resources and supports during this challenging time, please scroll further down for information on available child care, food, and other supports from the City and learning resources from SFUSD.
Negotiations update—How close or how far off?
Negotiations continue today, and they stretched yesterday until 11 p.m., with both sides making some movement and some key issues still unresolved. The district’s latest offer (as of last night) includes a 5% raise this year and 5% next year for classified workers (10% total over two years), a wage increase for paraeducators along with one additional hour added to the workday, and an increased wage offer for security guards. For teachers, the district increased from their original offer to a 6% raise over two years and two additional paid workdays for certificated staff. The union shifted its position on teacher salaries from a 9% raise demand to 8% over two years. As a reference point, the fact-finding neutral report recommended meeting at 6% over two years based on the differences between the two parties and the financial state of SFUSD. Fully-funded family health care is still an area of disagreement with active negotiations. Special education workload proposals also remain unresolved. Both sides have already reached agreement on sanctuary protections for immigrants and an AI policy.
City and state leaders call for strike delay — rebuffed
Parents were hopeful when we heard the urgent pleas on Sunday from Mayor Daniel Lurie and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi for a 72-hour delay on the strike to allow more time for serious talks based on the positive movement we saw last weekend with negotiations. This ask was, however, immediately turned down by UESF one hour later in their Sunday press conference. Five out of seven Board of Education Commissioners also supported the call for the delay: Phil Kim, Jaime Huling, Supryia Ray, Parag Gupta, and Lisa Weissman-Ward. Two out of seven commissioners gave us a non-answer (would neither say yes or no): Commissioners Matt Alexander and Alida Fisher.
Neighboring district struggles to pay for recent raises, after similar strike
Just across the Bay in Richmond, CA, we are seeing West Contra Costa Unified now propose significant teacher layoffs following increased expenses due to the 2025 agreement made after a similar CTA-coordinated strike. We don’t want to see the same issue happen here in San Francisco, with massive layoffs proposed following whatever deal is reached. We don’t want to sound like a broken record, but we continue to call on SFUSD and UESF to come to an agreement that truly values our teachers, but that is also financially viable given the status of our structural deficit. Following the neutral fact-finding report seems to parents like a great path to finalizing the contract.
Striking for local contract v. state advocacy for more public schools funding
Families are starting to ask us how much of the S.F. strike is about our local context versus state advocacy? Last week Politico covered how the state union, CTA, is coordinating local strikes across CA to support their push for more state funding for schools across California. SF Parents Coalition strongly supports—and has been lifting up parent advocacy for—the call for more state funding to our schools, particularly around special education funding. However, we feel concern around local strikes that are being explained to teachers and families as solely focused on local contracts, if there’s a bigger statewide political context at play here that that’s not being communicated.
Misinformation continues as a negotiations tactic
We are responding to daily questions from parents about misinformation being spread. We all hear different accounts from SFUSD and UESF on a variety of issues, and nobody knows who to believe. One thing we want to be very, very clear about is that SFUSD absolutely has a major financial problem. In fact, we are one out of fewer than ten districts across CA (and there are over 1,000 districts!!) that has a negative fiscal standing with the California Department of Education. This means that, yes, we have financial problems. This means that our district is “among the 1%” of worst financial standings across California. It is unhelpful to the community when misinformation is spread during challenging times like this. We hope to see both SFUSD and UESF only present factual information going forward.
Relatedly: What SFUSD and UESF both got wrong
An independent analysis suggests both SFUSD and UESF may be working with incomplete salary data. In a recent substack, Paul Gardiner argues that both sides’ salary comparisons may be flawed because they don’t account for SFUSD’s parcel tax add-ons (up to $10,600 per teacher annually) or the district’s costly lifetime retiree healthcare benefit. He also warns that the union’s $14 million estimate for fully funded family health coverage could be significantly underestimated if employees currently getting insurance through spouses switch to SFUSD’s free plan.
It is pro-teacher and pro-union to support fair wages and benefits *and* believe kids should be in school
We have been disappointed to hear from both parents and teachers that they are feeling uncomfortable sharing their opinions, particularly in online spaces and school communications apps, because of some of the heated rhetoric and pressure tactics being employed. We want to be clear: You can absolutely stand with teachers and their call for better wages and benefits, while also believing that kids should be in school while leaders from both sides work out a deal. This is our stance, and our parent community is 110% pro-teacher, pro-union, and pro-kid. Our schools are stronger when we come together to support each other, not tear each other apart.
