For months, negotiations yielded little movement from either side. UESF had proposed 9% raises for classroom teachers and 14% raises for paraeducators; fully funded health care for educators’ families; changes to the district’s special education staffing model; and a few no-cost proposals related to immigration and housing protections for families.
The San Francisco Unified School District has maintained that those demands aren’t feasible given its budget crisis — with a $100 million deficit projected for next year. Until this past weekend, the district had only offered a 2% raise for each of the next three years, with concessions from educators, including giving up a sabbatical program and additional preparation periods for those who teach Advanced Placement courses.
But as the strike loomed over the weekend, the school district accepted some of the union’s no-cost proposals, and on day one of the work stoppage, it offered its most significant raise for some staff: a 10% raise over two years for paraeducators and school security guards, and an additional hour of work per day for paraeducators.
“It was significantly higher than the district said was possible,” Alias said.
According to San Francisco State University labor historian John Logan, that movement — and the thousands of people who turned out to picket lines and a rally outside City Hall — sends a message: So far, the city has teachers’ backs, and they have the leverage.
“That was really unusually large, and the atmosphere was sort of unusually steadfast and resolved and determined,” Logan said. “For the time being, [educators] have very significant support in the community and amongst parents. So I think the pressure [is] on the school district to come up with an offer — not just an improved offer — but an offer that is acceptable to the teachers union.”
Aztec dancers perform during a rally of teachers, faculty, and supporters on the second day of an SFUSD teachers’ strike at Dolores Park in San Francisco on Feb. 10, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
Alias said the union’s bargaining team has been invigorated by the community support, and while the district’s proposal on some wage hikes was a win, it will take more for the union to accept a deal.
To end the strike, he said, “We need higher wages. We need fully funded family health care. And we need the district to take the stability crisis in our special education staffing seriously.”
Alias said the union wouldn’t decide whether to accept the proposed raise for classified staff until it sees the district’s wage proposals for other educators, as well as those addressing special education workloads and health benefits.
“It’s really difficult to see how this will be settled unless the school district comes up with a significantly better offer,” said Logan, the SFSU labor historian. “Something that teachers think, ‘Yes, this isn’t everything we want, but this is enough, and we’ve achieved enough of our goals and … we have sufficiently achieved our aims at this point.”
“I do think that will happen, but absent that, I don’t think there’s any settlement in the near future,” Logan said.