April 14 Bargaining Update
Our bargaining team met with the District on April 14 for our third bargaining session! Below is a summary of our session and PDFs of all six proposals. You can also download our report out slide deck and view our bargaining update video on Instagram and youtube.
SFUSD’s representatives did not offer any proposals of their own, nor did they offer any additional response on the 20 proposals that seek to stabilize our schools, improve educator pay, fully staff schools, and address dignified learning and working conditions.
Our five proposals focused and services for our students, paraeducator and T10 workdays; demanding an end to unsupported advisories and combination classes; clarification of classifications for Head counselors, Deans, and School Counselors; And a solution for the unmanageable caseloads and class sizes that are driving people from our district.
- Respect Paraeducators: 35 (or 40) hr work week & Planning Time
- Aligns paraeducator workday with Certificated workday.
- Provides planning time for classroom paraeducators.
- Offers T10 Security Aids the ability to work 8 hour days (including breaks).
- Counselor Workload
- Ensures there is at least 1 head counselor, 1 dean, and 1 school counselor at each secondary site (including K-8)
- Clarifies the roles of head counselor vs dean
- Provides extra counselors, beyond proposed caseloads, for schools with high focal populations (i.e. newcomer students, foster youth, etc)
- Class Sizes & Caseload Limits
- Strengthens contract language from class size goals to class size limits.
- Reduces case load numbers for most service providers, including counselors reducing their caseload to 1:200
- Provides compensation of $1,000 per student, per semester for unit members if class sizes or caseloads go over the limits (up to two students over)
- Fully Staffing School – Equitable Staffing Model
- Creates an equitable school staffing model that ensures:
- 1 full time social worker at all schools
- .5 or full time nurse at all elementary schools
- 1 full time nurse at all secondary schools
- 2 centrally funded positions for student & family services
- funding allocations for schools with high focal student populations
- a report for the Union every January around their plan to meet this staffing model
- Creates an equitable school staffing model that ensures:
- Honoring Student Time
- Ensures that the number of students with IEPs in a co-taught class shall not exceed 50%, with the goal being 33%
- Limits grades 4/5 combo classes size to 28 students
- Eliminates combo classes in grades K-3
- States that advisory cannot require teacher prep and is not considered additional class
In our last negotiations session 3 weeks ago, UESF passed our highest priorities: a workload model, fully paid health benefits for those with dependents, and a raise for all educators. District management was unable to respond despite having three work weeks between sessions. This was an insult to the time and effort of our bargaining team as well as the families and students we serve. We are living through instability caused by decades of mismanagement.
Key Dates:
April 21-25: 83 city-wide info pickets
April 28: Next bargaining session
Picket RSVP: https://bit.ly/aprilpicketrsvpFrom April 21-25, at 83 sites across the district, join fellow educators for informational pickets to make our voices heard and connect with our students and families! The pickets are our chance to make sure they understand our commitment to winning our priorities and demanding stability for our schools! Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much. RSVP for the pickets here.
After each bargaining session, you can expect a video update and slide deck to be shared, including links to all the proposals passed and the next steps. Your UBCs and work sites are more organized than ever, so check in with your site leaders for updates. Additionally, stay informed by following the UESF social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and by checking back here for regular updates.
March 24 Bargaining Update
Our 125 member team met with the District on March 24 for our second bargaining session! Below is a summary of our session and PDFs of all six proposals. You can also download our report out slide deck and view our bargaining update video on Instagram.
During our session, we passed 6 proposals to the district, including our highest priorities: improved educator pay, employer funded healthcare for members and dependants, and a SPED workload model. In addition to these economic proposals we also presented proposals on San Francisco sanctuary city status, protections from artificial intelligence and standardized hours for paraeducators. The district rejected our proposals for shelter and housing for our students and families and almost entirely threw out our request for protections against privatization.
March 24 UESF Proposal PDFs
1. Employer-Funded Health Benefits
- Provides all members with dependents with fully paid coverage on Kaiser health plan
- Ensures any member who elects a non-Kaiser plan will only contribute the difference between the Kaiser plan and their choice (for both themselves and dependents)
- Increase classified pay by 14% over 2 years,
- 7% year 1 and 7% year 2
- Increases floating holidays from 6 to 10
- Increases pay differential for bilingual classified staff and for some SpEd paras
- Adds a Career Increment C & clarifies 3 years at each increment
- Increase certificated pay by 9% over 2 years
- 4.5% year 1 and 4.5% year 2
- Add an additional schedule for BA +75
- Transforms how we measure the appropriate amount of work for many service providers (note: SLPs already have a workload model in place)
- Shifts from caseload model to workload model
- It creates a points system that takes into account SAI minutes, initials/triennials, ERMHS, Behavior Intervention Plans, Intensive Individual Services, and case management
- Caseload limits will be based on the amount of work required not just the number of students
- In practice, this will lower caseloads for educators with particularly time-intensive students and increase the likelihood that they can actually provide services adequately
4. Standardized Work Hours for Paraeducators
- Establishes FTE status for paraeducators
- Ensures paraeducators qualify for stipends, benefits, and other contractual provisions tied to FTE status
5. Sanctuary Schools, Sanctuary Employer
- Requires adherence by District to Sanctuary City policies and mandates the availabilitiy of training on said policies for all unit members
- Requires the District to maintain an emergency management website with info on ICE activity
- Provides protections, legal support, and release days for unit members dealing with immigration and/or work authorization issues
6. Protections from Effects of AI
- Ensures the district will not replace UESF members or our work with AI
- Ensures there is oversight, warning, training for unit members, and analysis of any AI systems that are put into place
- Prevents from the district using AI to monitor, evaluate, or collect data on the bargaining unit member.
We have three big dates coming up so be sure to mark your calendars!
🎨 April 12: Art Build w/ artist David Solnit @ Vis Valley MS Art Build RSVP
🗣️ April 14: Next bargaining session
📢 April 21-25: City-wide week of school site pickets
The most important dates of them all are April 21-25 our city wide week of pickets happening! A huge turnout to our site pickets is going to be key to winning big for our students, educators and schools.
After each bargaining session, you can expect a video update and slide deck to be shared, including links to all the proposals passed and the next steps. Your UBCs and work sites are more organized than ever, so check in with your site leaders for updates. Additionally, stay informed by following the UESF social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and by checking back here for regular updates.
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March 10 Bargaining Update
Our big bargaining team has grown and we are 125 members strong from 80 different schools and worksites! During our session on March 10, we passed nine UESF proposals across the table. As this was our first meeting, we introduced a lot of proposals so that we could get as much done as soon and as smoothly as possible.
We have created many ways to keep members informed after each bargaining session! Below is a summary of our first session and PDFs of all nine proposals. You can also download our report out slide deck and view our bargaining update video on Instagram.
March 10 UESF Proposal PDFs
1. Paraeducator Pension and Retirement
- Creates a research committee to analyze potential pension/retirement plans for classified staff
2. EED/Part-Time School Age Teachers: PD Days and Break Pay
- Provides parity for part-time school age teachers with their full-time counterparts in terms of benefits, PD days, and paid time off
3. Impacts of Financial Instability
- Requires District to complete a community impact report before layoffs
- Requires District to refrain from layoffs when vacancies exist
- Establishes rules to deal with educator assignment and reassignment in the case of school closures/mergers.
4. Shelter and Housing for Students and Families
- Formalizes and expands the Stay Over Program (started at BVHM) to provide emergency housing and support SFUSD families with access to critical services
- Note: this is what’s called a “Common good proposal” — something we choose to bargain for the good of our students, families, educators, and school communities.
5. Safety: Intervention Tracking System
- Proposes a uniform incident report system implemented District-wide to track interventions and supports
- Said system provides all unit members access to pertinent information such as BIPs, safety plans, and past referrals.
- Formalizes the right of educators to remove themselves from the school environment following an attack, assault, or injury.
- Allows UESF members’ children to receive priority school assignment at member’s work site.
- Guarantees approval of all inter-district transfer applications for members’ children
7. Protections from Privatization/Contracting Out
- Introduces guardrails and restrictions to the District contracting out positions that could be filled by unit members
- Requires that contractors are used only in emergencies and are held to the same duties as unit members.
- Ensures all unit member positions are publicly posted to allow for hiring to occur before contracting out
8. Teacher Librarian Working Conditions
- Protects transition time, adequate break time, and max of 6 classes/day
- Formalizes a process for reassignment with more protections for teacher librarians to reduce random reassignments
- Proposes minimum standards for facilities, including an acceptable temperature range of 65 – 75 F.
- Requires District to provide schools with tools to monitor air quality, temperature, mold, etc.
- Requires age-appropriate facilities for TK / pre-K spaces.
Everything that was presented at our first bargaining session is either low cost or no cost. While these proposals won’t fix decades of fiscal mismanagement, these nine proposals could go a long way toward stabilizing schools for staff, students, communities, and admistration. We have developed over 20 proposals we will pass in the coming weeks that all seek to improve working and learning conditions as we fight for stable and fully staffed schools. After each session we will share out links to the pdfs to each proposal.
As members who engage with San Francisco’s students daily, we know what’s needed to rebuild our schools after decades of divestment. We understand that the educators on the ground are often the only stabilizing force in a district in disarray. It’s challenging to do our jobs with the specter of closing schools and layoffs hanging over our heads! Our students, their families, and our staff deserve stable and well-staffed environments in which to learn and teach.
Our next bargaining session is set for March 24. Be sure to wear your union shirt to school that day to show your support for the bargaining team! After each bargaining session, you can expect a video update and slide deck to be shared, including links to all the proposals passed and the next steps. Your UBCs and work sites are more organized than ever, so check in with your site leaders for updates. Additionally, stay informed by following the UESF social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and by checking back here for regular updates.
