SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — About 6,000 public schoolteachers in San Francisco went on strike Monday, the city’s first such walkout in nearly 50 years.
The strike comes after teachers and the district failed to reach an agreement over higher wages, health benefits, and more resources for students with special needs. The San Francisco Unified School District closed all 120 of its schools and said it would offer independent study to some of its 50,000 students.
“We will continue to stand together until we win the schools our students deserve and the contracts our members deserve,” Cassondra Curiel, president of the United Educators of San Francisco, said at a Monday morning news conference.
Teachers with the union were joining the picket line after last-ditch negotiations over the weekend failed to reach a new contract. Mayor Daniel Lurie and Democratic U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco had urged the two sides to keep talking rather than shut down schools.
Union members planned a Monday afternoon rally at San Francisco City Hall. Negotiations were scheduled to resume around midday. Schools will remain closed Tuesday, the district announced.
“We look forward to receiving the union’s counteroffer,” said San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Maria Su. She told reporters on Monday that the district had put forward a comprehensive package despite entrenched financial difficulties.
“This is a viable offer. It is an offer that we can afford,” Su said. “We will be at the table and we will stay for as long as it takes to get to a full agreement. I do not want a prolonged strike.”
Teachers cite cost of living, staffing shortages
Lily Perales, a history teacher at Mission High School, said many union members can’t afford to live in San Francisco anymore.
“Too many of my colleagues have been pushed out of the city because of the high cost of living, and with our current contract it’s not enough,” she said from a picket line Monday. “We’re willing to be on strike until all of our demands are met.”
Her colleague Aaron Hart, a photography and media arts teacher at Mission High, said schools are understaffed.
“That’s why we’re out here. We just really want stability for our students,” he said.
The union and the district have been negotiating for nearly a year, with teachers demanding fully funded family health care, salary raises and the filling of vacant positions impacting special education and services.
The teachers also want the district to enact policies to support homeless and immigrant students and families.
Competing proposals amid budget crisis
The union is asking for a 9% raise over two years, which would mean an additional $92 million per year for the district. They say that money could come from reserve funds that could be directed back to classrooms and school sites.
SFUSD, which faces a $100 million deficit and is under state oversight because of a long-standing financial crisis, rejected the idea. Officials countered with a 6% wage increase paid over three years. Su said the offer also includes bonuses for all employees if there is a surplus by the 2027-28 school year.
A report by a neutral fact-finding panel released last week recommended a compromise of a 6% increase over two years, largely siding with the district’s arguments that it is financially constrained.
The union said San Francisco teachers receive some of the lowest contributions to their health care costs in the Bay Area, pushing many to leave. Su said the district offered two options: the district paying 75% of family health coverage to the insurance provider Kaiser or offering an annual allowance of $24,000 for teachers to choose their health care plan.
Lurie, who helped broker an agreement that ended a hotel workers union strike after he was elected and before taking office, said that the city agencies were coordinating with the district on how to offer support to children and their families.
“I know everyone participating in these negotiations is committed to schools where students thrive and our educators feel truly supported, and I will continue working to ensure that,” Lurie said in a social media post Sunday.
Child care challenges for families
The strike has left parents scrambling to find programs or care for their children.
Rachel Machta, who has a 4-year-old daughter in transitional kindergarten, said her family has been lucky that an after-school program her child attends is offering a full-day camp this week.
“They have been extremely flexible and wonderful to work with and have offered a donation-based camp this week,” Machta said.
Machta, who, along with her husband, works full-time, said that other mothers in their Mission Terrace neighborhood are offering to hold camps for parents who may have no other place to take their kids.
“Everyone is sharing resources, and our community is coming together to make sure there is coverage,” she said. “I just want to give a huge shout-out to Mission Terrace,” she said.
Teachers in other major California cities were also preparing to strike. San Diego teachers indicated they’re ready to walk off the job next month for the first time in 30 years over a stalemate with the school district about special education staffing and services. And members of United Teachers Los Angeles voted overwhelmingly last month to authorize their leadership to call a strike if negotiations with the LA Unified School District fall apart.
A similar strike-authorization vote by the school system’s other largest union, Local 99 of Service Employees International Union, is scheduled to begin next week.
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Associated Press reporter Christopher Weber contributed from Los Angeles.