Historic teacher strike shuts down San Francisco schools
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Hundreds of educators crowded Civic Center plaza on Monday. Photo: Nadia Lopez/Axios
Hundreds of educators, students and parents rallied outside City Hall Monday as San Francisco public school teachers went on strike, closing schools amid ongoing contract talks with the district.
The big picture: The strike, called by United Educators of San Francisco after months of stalled negotiations over raises and health care benefits, shut down schools citywide this week, affecting roughly 50,000 students.
- Schools will remain closed Tuesday while union leaders and the San Francisco Unified School District work to hash out a deal.
The historic strike — the city's first since 1979 — comes as San Francisco educators say soaring living costs, rising health care expenses and persistent staffing shortages have pushed an already strained education system to a breaking point.
- Educators are asking for higher wages that reflect the city's cost of living, staffing commitments, fully funded family health care and other protections they say are needed to stabilize schools, support students and retain teachers.
- Talks have stalled as the union has spent nearly a year bargaining over a two-year contract while working under a deal that expired last summer.
What they're saying: "This isn't just about respect — this is about being able to live in this community, this is about being able to have health care in this community," Jeffery Freitas, a math teacher and president of the California Federation of Teachers, said at the rally on Monday.
Between the lines: Vanessa Marrero, president of Parents for Public Schools, the city's largest parent advocacy organization, told Axios the strike is a fight not just for teachers but for students' long-term stability.
- She said many teachers are also parents struggling to afford health care while raising families in the city, and she worries the district could lose educators to neighboring counties that offer better pay and benefits.
- "It's important that our educators are able to work and live and be healthy in San Francisco, or else we're going to continue to see an exodus, which we don't want," she said.
Superintendent Maria Su met with educators over the weekend, but talks yielded little progress beyond an agreement to strengthen the district's sanctuary school policy.
- The district has maintained its stance that a structural deficit, declining enrollment and budget constraints limit how much they can budge on, though Su has said they're prepared to negotiate "for as long as it takes" to reach an agreement.
What's next: Schools will remain closed until a deal is reached, though it's unclear when that could occur.
- The last time teachers hit the picket lines nearly 50 years ago, classes did not resume for more than six weeks.
- Families in need of childcare, food assistance and other types of support can find resources here.