SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco Unified School District has come to an agreement with the United Educators of San Francisco (UESF) about a prospective 2 percent salary raise for teachers and paraprofessional educators.
According to the UESF newsletter, the 2 percent salary boost will follow a 5 percent raise that was awarded to teachers on July 1, 2016. The two pay raises will constitute a 7 percent wage increase in total for the 2016-2017 school year.
The change in salary will assist educators struggling to keep up with San Francisco’s rising cost of living. The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) pays its teachers less than other California public school districts.
Heather Knight and Joaquin Palomino of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that an average SFUSD teacher would have to spend 64 percent of his or her salary on rent to be able to afford a one-bedroom apartment at the city’s median monthly rate of $3,500. Knight and Palomino state that this proportion is higher than that of any other California school district with a comparably large population.
The 5 percent salary raise that was awarded to SFUSD teachers on July 1, constituted the final phase of a 3-year 12 percent wage increase that was introduced in 2014.
UESF concluded last week’s newsletter entry with a statement about the importance of “[working] together to increase salaries for teachers and paraprofessionals.”
