San Francisco teachers to begin strike next week for 1st time since 1979

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Unified District teachers plan to go on strike Monday, Feb. 9. This comes days after the United Educators of San Francisco voted 97.6% to give its negotiators the power to call the first strike by the city's teachers in 47 years, the union said. The 1979 strike lasted seven weeks.

For the last 11 months, the San Francisco Unified School district has been negotiating with the United Educators of San Francisco. On Wednesday afternoon, the fact-finding report from a state-appointed third party that outlined SFUSD's and the union's proposals failed to bring both sides together.

The two sides were able to agree on some points but remained unable to resolve differences on several key issues raised by the union, including pay increases, health coverage for family members, and putting a hard cap on class sizes.

"The report does not go far enough -- and the recommendations here alone will not solve the stability crisis in our district," said United Educators of San Francisco President Cassondra Curiel in a statement. "But we are happy to see validation of what we already know -- that SFUSD can and must stabilize staffing and special education programs for our students."

PREVIOUS REPORT: San Francisco teachers vote to authorize strike for 1st time since 1979

The sides also continued to differ on a policy on the use of artificial intelligence and about enacting policies to support unhoused and vulnerable immigrant students and families.

The third-party fact-finding report recommends a compromise that is closer to the district's offer.

"The report's recommendations do not go far enough, however, when it firmly acknowledges that our immigrant and housing-insecure students need our support," Curiel said.

Educators want the district to tap its reserve funds in order to help pay for raises. It's a move SFUSD has been hesitant to do with a $100 million deficit.

"We really want to make sure that we're spending within our means and that we are able to provide a raise that is something that we can afford," said SFUSD Spokesperson Laura Dudnick.

The district says it's ready to negotiate, but it's prepared if there's no deal by Monday.

"We do need to be prepared, and we are working on contingency plans, but really our focus and our priority is coming to an agreement with our labor partners," Dudnick said.

The arbitration panel said that the District offered to have dependents' health insurance fully covered, but the mechanism was rejected by the union. That's because the solution, which involved tapping into money from a previous parcel tax increase, would not be included in the new contract but would be formalized by a separate memorandum of understanding that would expire in three years, along with the parcel tax. Including full coverage in the contract remained one of the biggest sticking points as of Wednesday, along with bolstering the hiring of special education teachers.

The union was asking for a 9% raise that would be enacted over two years. That would be an additional $92 million of committed funds per year -- money the district says it doesn't have. The District countered with a 6% wage increase paid in three 2% increases through 2027.

The arbitration panel agreed a wage increase was warranted based on cost-of-living increases, but it split the difference, given the union's rejection of a three-year contract in favor of a two-year deal. The panel recommended the 6% raise but said it should be paid in two increments of 3% each.

Any spending changes must be approved by the state Department of Education, which began oversight of SFUSD in 2024 after the District received a negative certification for its steep financial deficits. The oversight included temporary hiring freezes and requires the District to get spending plans approved. That has increased pressure to make any spending adjustments as amenable to state regulators as possible. The school board passed a balanced $1.2 billion budget for the 2025-26 school year last summer that included about $113 million in cuts.

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Su was granted emergency authority at a meeting of the school board on Tuesday that gives her the ability to hire substitute teachers if a strike is called, make spending decisions to keep schools open, and monitor strike activities to ensure no District equipment or resources are used to support the teachers' union's messaging.

The panel also declined to endorse one of the union's main demands: hiring more special education teachers and alleviating overworked staff in that area by changing the way their workload is calculated. The report recommended creating a pilot program at a handful of elementary and middle schools but agreed with the District's position that the cost would not pass state scrutiny.

The union also wanted district leaders to agree to language declaring SFUSD a sanctuary school district for vulnerable immigrant populations and agree to provide resources, including housing support, for anyone who needed it if they had students in the district's schools.

Su said SFUSD would agree to issue a separate memo asserting its support for its students, including immigrant and housing insecure families. But she said she agreed with the arbitration report that said housing was not a mandatory point to resolve the labor negotiations.

The talks are scheduled to resume Thursday at 5 p.m., according to Su, who said it was her goal to avoid a strike.

"Our goal remains the same. We need to keep our students in our classrooms where they can continue to learn and receive the support they deserve and need," she said.

If the strike happens, schools could close, leaving families in limbo.

Rasheq Zarif has three kids in SFUSD.

"There are a lot of families out there that don't have that same level of support. Both with respect to childcare, and also when it comes to food services," Zarif said.

ABC7 Eyewitness News contributed to this report.

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