Why Some UESF Teachers Are Voting No On The Proposed Contract

Why Some UESF Teachers Are Voting No On The Proposed Contract

Why we’re voting no on the Tentative Agreement

Friday when the strike was called off, our staff met together to make sense of it all together. We’ve seen all the available information and we’ve decided to vote no on the Tentative Agreement (TA). Here’s our reasons why. We hope to find others who feel the same.

Health care. We’re glad dependent health care is addressed for our families. Please realize that because the proposal settles for QTEA funding to be used to pay for it, we have only until 2028 when that fund expires. Despite the contractual promise that it will continue, you can bet your life we’ll be asked to turn all our energy toward passing another parcel tax under threat of losing what we fought for.
Certificated raises. The TA doesn’t even reach the level of the fact finding report, which advocated for 6%. Despite our union‘s claims on their website, the TA does NOT give certificated 5% raises. In fact, it is a 4% raise over two years, lower than inflation. The additional 1% is not a raise. It is pay for the additional work days the TA agrees to.
Classified raises. We had the district at 10% during bargaining and backed down. The majority are still not guaranteed a full time schedule (only T-10s).
Nurses, counselors and social workers were abandoned at the bargaining table. On 2/10 the entire proposal on staffing levels was abandoned and our union leadership was silent on the fact that they gave up the fight on this completely.
Special Education. Despite adding two pages of new language to the contract, the only substance here is a prep period. The caseload model continues and the new TA puts the responsibility on individual members to complain to their administrators and put help in the hands of a district-approved committee.
Sanctuary schools and housing for families. We are happy these made it into the TA. But let’s be clear, they are completely cost-neutral for SFUSD and allow them to look good politically while risking absolutely nothing. We will keep ICE out of our schools by organizing at the school sites, not waving a piece of paper in front of their faces.
The agreement is NOT a win. For a link to a more detailed breakdown (based on the information that has been released so far) check out this table.

We Won?

Our union leadership does not get to decide if this is a win. That is for us, the majority, to decide, through discussion and debate of the full Tentative Agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding (which we still don’t have access to).

When the TA was reached we could have stayed on our picket lines and had full access to the document as soon as it was completed, instead of having to get it in bits and pieces from various sources. The membership should be the voice that decides if the strike is over.

Instead, our union leadership agreed to an immediate “transition day” and took the picket lines down via text message. They did not even encourage us to go into work and talk to each other. This denied members an organized chance to discuss the TA before our leadership drove around the city trumpeting “Victory!” from a megaphone. We were called out to picket when they wanted us and told to go celebrate and vote yes when they decided it was over.

Ask us what we think, don’t just tell us where to be.

During the strike, Bargaining Team members were not expected to make contact with their sites to have discussion and debate. In fact, bargaining team members were restricted from sharing information with us. We were expected to leave it all in their hands as they became increasingly isolated from members, exhausted and sleep deprived.

On the strike captain calls, it was crystal clear the union leadership and strike coordinating team had zero interest in anything but daily attendance numbers. We were given rah-rah, press release, sound bite “bargaining updates.” We were not given time for discussion and the chat was disabled. When people raised their hands, we were told to text our reps offline and get some rest.

The Bargaining Team and leadership needed to know what we were willing to fight for and how we were feeling about our picket lines, etc. Strike is a time for maximum contact and discussion between union leadership, the bargaining team and the full membership. That didn’t happen. We abandoned the fight too soon and our weak TA reflects that.

Our UESF website says, “Keep an eye out for the next steps in the ratification process.” The fact that no ratification process was provided before or during the strike only confirms our suspicions that the leadership believes they are the power in the union, not us, the membership.

Most people will probably vote yes, won over by vague details and Instagram posts declaring victory before we are even allowed to look at the agreement. Read the agreement, consider the sacrifice you made and what you would have been willing to do, if only anyone had asked you.

Join us in voting NO on this agreement that leaves SFUSD structures fundamentally unchanged and hangs a section of our membership out to dry.

An injury to one is an injury to all.

AJ Johnstone (teacher, Independence High School)

Marisa Varalli (teacher, Independence High School)

Joseph Machado (teacher, Independence High School)

Andrea Haun (nurse, multiple sites)

Ivan Iannoli (teacher, Independence High School)

Ashley Hildred (RSP, Independence High School)

Scott Sweeney (CHOW, Independence High School)

Dre Collaco (Wellness Coordinator, Independence High School)

Teresa Anderson (school social worker, Independence High School)



Why these San Francisco educators are voting 'no' on the tentative agreement

Published February 19, 2026 at 9:14 AM PST

After a historic four-day strike, the San Francisco teachers union has been celebratingreaching a deal with the school district, but not everyone in the union is joining those celebrations.

The tentative agreement includes a 5% raise over two years for teachers and an 8.5% raise for classified staff, plus family health benefits: 100% coverage by 2027.

District and union leadership have said it’s a win.

“I don't think it's their job to decide if it's a win,” said AJ Johnstone, a teacher at Independence High School in the Inner Sunset.

KALW spoke with Johnstone and three of her colleagues on Feb. 18. They say the deal leaves social workers, counsellors, and nurses unprotected.

“It felt like we're abandoning a few people,” said teacher Joseph Machado.

Originally, the union asked for what it called “fully staffed schools.” That meant, among other things, requiring one full-time social worker at all schools and one full-time nurse at all secondary schools. A neutral fact-finding report, which came out in January, said this demand would cost $82 million. It does not appear in the tentative agreement.

Machado says these roles are particularly important at Independence, an alternative school where students receive more individualized support and can design flexible schedules.

“We get an influx of students who have very high mental health needs,” Machado said. “We have three social workers, a wellness center with a nurse and a chow” — a C.H.O.W. is a community health outreach worker — “and students really utilize those resources.”

Independence staff are also concerned about how their family healthcare benefits will be funded — the district is relying on a parcel tax that expires in 2028.

“I think it’s an extremely shortsighted and limited way to continue funding public schools,” Johnstone said.

She’s worried about what these concessions might mean.

“Ultimately I think we've made it easier for them to continue to chisel away at the number of unionized workers that are in the schools,” she said.

This group and their colleagues at Independence — nine people total — have signed a statement explaining why they plan to vote "no" on the tentative agreement.

And they’re urging UESF members to join them.

“Join us in voting NO on this agreement that leaves SFUSD structures fundamentally unchanged and hangs a section of our membership out to dry. An injury to one is an injury to all,” the statement reads.

“We are starting to send it out to people we know at other sites,” Johnstone said. “ I know the people on the bargaining team went through hell that week, but they did it for 6,000 people, not just for themselves. So it should be up to us.”

The agreement won’t be finalized until the union membership, school board, and California Department of Education sign off on it.