6K San Francisco Teachers Strike Over Wages, Staffing

About 6,000 public schoolteachers in San Francisco went on strike Monday, the city's first such walkout in nearly 50 years. Teachers and the school district had failed to reach an agreement over higher wages, health benefits, and more resources for students with special needs in last-ditch negotiations over the weekend. 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, the AP reports. "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 news conference.

Bargaining was scheduled to resume later in the day. The union and the district have been negotiating for nearly a year, with teachers seeking 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. The union is asking for a 9% raise over two years, which would mean an additional $92 million per year for the district, saying that money could come from reserve funds that could be directed back to classrooms and school sites. The district, 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. On Friday, Superintendent Maria Su said the proposal 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 argument 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 insurance provider Kaiser or offering an annual allowance of $24,000 for teachers to choose their health care plan.