The United Educators of San Francisco (UESF) and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) signed a tentative agreement today, the school district announced on Thursday, three weeks prior to the start of the school year on August 20.
The union's executive board voted by a 2 to 1 margin to recommend the agreement for ratification by the union's membership, according to the district. In a news release, it described the agreement this way:
Within the mediated agreement, the school year will be restored to 179.5 school days, up from the 176 school days of the past two years and almost a return to the standard 180 days. If ratified, all employees would take 1.5 furlough days, with a half day taken the last day of school and one day taken in lieu of a third paid professional development day.
UESF and SFUSD have agreed to additional furlough days should neither of the proposed tax initiatives get passed by voters in November.
Dennis Kelly, president of the United Educators of San Francisco told KQED's Ana Tintocalis that the union made a low number of furlough days a high priority in its negotiations in order to protect student learning.
We can open school without this cloud handing over our heads... it means that we’re working two days more days and getting paid those days. In no way can that be seen as a raise, however it is a move in the restoration towards the levels we had prior to 2010... We can open school without this cloud handing over our heads... I think we did a very good job of meeting the state’s fiscal crisis and the underfunding of education.”
Tom Ruiz, senior executive director of labor relations at SFUSD, told Tintocalis:
We are thankful to our labor partners for realizing our core mission to educate all of our students. That is less compromised now that we’ve been able to restore the three instructional days that we’ve lost.”