The Facts

The SF Teachers Union (UESF) looks like it will strike, possibly as soon as February 6th. It would be the first teachers strike in San Francisco since 1979.

Officials from the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) say union leaders walked out of a fact-finding session on January 23 without making a counteroffer to the district’s latest proposal. The offers included fully funding dependent healthcare benefits (at no cost to educators), 6% pay raise over three years, and protections for special education staffing.

UESF is asserting that SFUSD has hundreds of millions of dollars available for raises and benefits, which SFUSD disputes. This assertion is partially true: SFUSD does have about $100 million in reserves, but state oversight rules prevent the district from using one-time reserves to fund ongoing expenses like salaries and benefits. UESF has so far rejected any offers of one-time bonuses or other non-recurring payments that would not create ongoing deficit spending. The current budget deficit has been drawing down those reserves, and the district projects they will be fully depleted by 2027-28 if a balanced budget is not achieved.

The fact-finding session is a formal step in the bargaining process, where the district and the union appoint a representative and a neutral third party is appointed by the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to help resolve outstanding issues. After the session, the fact-finder issues non-binding recommendations to both sides.

Full details of the fact-finding meeting, including an evaluation of the district's financial position, should be available by Wednesday, February 4th.

The Context

The strike threat is part of a broader statewide posture: California teachers unions are increasingly preparing to strike, amid coordinated efforts by the California Teachers Association. At least 32 districts across the state are facing potential strikes, all at roughly the same time.

But SFUSD is under unusually tight fiscal constraints due to a structural deficit that prior administrations have struggled to address. The California Department of Education can override district financial decisions that threaten stability, and state law empowers the county superintendent to reject budgets that don’t provide “adequate assurance” the district can meet its obligations.

SFUSD has made great strides in the past year to close its structural deficit, including cutting non-classroom spending, and shrinking staff primarily in administrative roles, rather than teachers. This work led to the California Department of Education (DOE) to lift the state-imposed teacher hiring freeze, SFUSD avoiding teacher layoffs, and the state agreeing that SFUSD's budget was back on track.

The GrowSF Take

While we agree trachers need to be paid more, UESF is demanding a contract that SFUSD cannot legally agree to under state oversight. This is political brinksmanship and we think UESF is not negotiating in good faith. Rather than engage in fact-based bargaining, UESF is engaged in magical thinking that will put kids out of school, risk the district’s financial stability, and not achieve the union's stated goals.

This strike is still avoidable, though. UESF needs to come back to the table with a fiscally responsible counterproposal that the school district can accept without the risk of a state takeover. If they don't, then public school kids will be thrown back into pandemic-style learning loss.

UPDATE: Our sources in the union tell us that they plan to accept the existing offer of a 6% pay raise plus dependent health benefits after they strike for a few days. Given this likely outcome, we wish the union would put the kids first and save them from learning loss. Our kids deserve better than this.