SFUSD Teachers Strike: Where Can Families Find Child Care and Meals?

For the first time in nearly 50 years, San Francisco teachers began striking this Monday. Now in its second day, the strike has halted work for teachers, counselors, nurses and social workers — and shuttered more than 110 district schools.

After nearly a year of tense contract negotiations between the San Francisco Unified School District and the United Educators of San Francisco union, the two sides reached an impasse in the fall. The union says educators need higher wages that keep up with the rising cost of Bay Area living and fully-funded family health care. The district, however, argues its dire budget crisis makes meeting those demands an impossibility.

The strike comes amid a coordinated campaign across California by teachers unions with similar demands. And it’s not the first time Bay Area teachers have mobilized in recent years: Oakland teachers went on strike in 2023, and almost went to the picket line again in 2025. West Contra Costa County teachers held a four-day strike in December that ended after the district offered them 8% raises and fully-funded health care.

It is the first time since 1979 that San Francisco teachers have walked off the job and to the picket lines. Hundreds of custodial and food service workers, principals and administrators are also joining in a sympathy strike.

And the lack of recent precedent for a strike like this means that parents and caregivers with kids currently in SFUSD won’t have much experience with exactly what to do when their schools are going through labor negotiations.

From free meals to child care support, keep reading to see what union organizers, teachers, school officials and parents say about what families should expect during the strike.

Jump straight to

• What options do San Francisco families have for child care during a strike?
• What about children who rely on free meals at school?

What do we know about school closures during the SFUSD strike?

The strike begins Monday, and the district’s 111 non-charter schools are closed.

UESF announced the decision to strike on Thursday morning in an email to its members, also sending a formal notice to the school district.

“We did not come to this decision lightly,” UESF President Cassondra Curiel said at a press conference Thursday morning. “It is up to the district to come [to the bargaining table] with a serious proposal to solve the stability crisis. If not, it will be up to the thousands of educators of UESF to do what few of us have done before and take the next step onto the picket lines on Monday morning.”

Without the 6,000 teachers, paraeducators, social workers and counselors represented by United Educators of San Francisco — and announcements from the unions that represent the possibility that administrators and other campus workers will refuse to cross picket lines — Superintendent Maria Su said schools will not be able to open.

If schools stayed open, students who attend would have continued to be supervised, but instruction would likely have not continued as usual.

“We know that parents are stressed right now by this decision to possibly strike. And we don’t want to strike,” Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely, a physical education teacher at Roosevelt Middle School and a union member,  said earlier this week. “It’s very intense.”

Also this week, Su guaranteed that the district would meet its requirement of 180 school days, which might mean extending the school year beyond the currently scheduled closing day of June 3.

Are the district and union still negotiating to avoid a strike?

SFUSD and UESF met for a bargaining session Thursday, and the district proposed a new deal. It was rejected by the union, which called it “disappointing.”

They’re set to bargain again on Tuesday morning.

Which San Francisco schools could be most affected by the strike?

While all schools closed Monday, the impacts of the strike could start to vary depending on how long the action lasts.

During the 1979 strike, for example, some schools reopened before others, and also operated differently depending on what staff they had available.

Su has said that whether a campus can open will depend on its available staffing and that a school requires an administrator to open and close the campus, along with custodial services.

Staff would also be needed to supervise students, and food service workers would need to be on hand to provide meals.

SFUSD’s administrators and janitors are both members of different unions. But both have declared sympathy strikes, meaning they will not cross picket lines in solidarity with teachers.

UESF has suggested that families stay in close contact with their school’s educators and create group communication channels through apps like WhatsApp or Signal to discuss their school-specific details.

What options do working families have for child care during this time?

The closure of San Francisco schools because of the strike could put parents in a logistical bind when it comes to their children.

SFUSD’s options

SFUSD’s website says that there is temporary child care for students under the age of 5, and parents should reach out to referral partners to help connect them to options. The contacts are:

• Children’s Council: 415-343-3300 or rr@childrenscouncil.org
• Wu Yee Children’s Services: 1-844-644-4300 or randr@wuyee.org

For other age groups, SFUSD has a list of vetted organizations providing activities and supervision for children. Space is extremely limited, however.

The district also has a list of state-funded community organizations providing academic and recreation support off-site. (Meals may also be provided.) Priority access is given to students whose families qualify for free or reduced-price meal benefits, are foster youth or homeless youth, or are English language learners. The document is also available in:

• Spanish
• Arabic
• Chinese
• Samoan
• Tagalog
• Vietnamese

Union options

UESF has invited parents to bring their children and join picket lines, and the union also said it is in contact with community partner organizations that are “assessing their capacity” to expand child care offerings throughout the school day.

After-school programming

Mayor Daniel Lurie said parents should reach out to their after-school care providers directly for information on their options.

A program your child is already part of may be providing extended services. The San Francisco Beacon Initiative works with local nonprofits — including the YMCA of Greater San Francisco and the Boys and Girls Club — to run after-school programs at 27 SFUSD schools, including all of the district’s middle schools and its highest-need elementary schools.

Sally Jenkins-Stevens, the Beacon Initiative’s executive director, said that all these partners are looking into the feasibility of offering all-day care for students, though any services they can provide would likely be for some of the children already enrolled in their after-school programs.

Some other organizations, she said, are simply limited by space. Many use campus facilities, and it’s unclear whether they would be able to access those if schools close.

Programs and organizations offering expanded care during the SFUSD strike include:

• The city’s Recreation & Park after-school programs “have been extended to full-day programs for children who are currently enrolled in their programs.”
• Mariposa Kids told KQED in an email that it is “opening full-day programming to families enrolled in our After-School Program on each strike day” from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. However, they do not “have the capacity to enroll other families on strike days.”
• Real Options for City Kids, which operates at Visitacion Valley elementary and middle schools, as well as El Dorado Elementary School, has also confirmed that it can extend its care. However, that’ll be a fraction of its students — about 40, compared with the 300 they provide after-school programming for, according to Jenkins-Stevens.
• 826 Valencia, a Mission District organization centered around developing children’s writing skills, told KQED they would be “changing our programming so that we can accommodate students we normally see in other settings at our centers from [9 a.m. to 3 p.m.]” They are also “keeping our regular after-school programs for those who are enrolled.”
• STEMful San Francisco is “offering a full-day program from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.” for current members, including “an extended care option until 6:00 p.m.”
• Mission Science Workshop is expanding programming during the strike. The latest workshop details, hours and updates can be found on the Mission Science Workshop Instagram.

Public libraries

Most San Francisco public library branches are open during normal school hours, and a SFPL spokesperson said that their spaces remain a resource for students. Children older than eight can spend time in the city’s public libraries without a parent or guardian.

Museums

Some museums across the city are expanding their hours or providing free admission for students during the strike. (Bear in mind that many Bay Area museums always had free or discounted admission for visitors under 18.)

Be sure to check the scheduling and see if the museum is open that day, before heading out.

• The California Academy of Sciences is offering free admission to students under 17 during the weekday, plus discounts for accompanying guardians.
• According to a social media post, the Asian Art Museum in Civic Center is expanding free admission on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays for guests under 18 and an adult accompanying them. (The museum is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.)
• SFMOMA always has free tickets for kids 18 and under, but for every 6 kids an adult must also be in attendance.
• According to the de Young Museum’s notice, “General admission is always free for students 17 and under. During the SFUSD closures, free admission for an accompanying parent or guardian is also available on-site, [Tuesday through Friday.]”
• Legion of Honor also has free general admission for students 17 or under. “During the SFUSD closures, free admission for an accompanying parent or guardian is also available on-site, [Tuesday to Friday.]”
• YBCA in the Yerba Buena Gardens area has free entry for young people 17 and under. On Wednesday, admission is free for everyone.
• The Exploratorium is offering free weekday student admission and adult discounts, according to a social media post.
• MoAD is free for youth under 12. For students age 12 and over, tickets are $12.
• Tickets are free for children 5 and under at the Walt Disney Family Museum.

What happens to special education services during a strike?

The district has said its non-public school programs, which serve a couple of hundred students with the most significant special education needs, will continue to provide services.

It has not yet put forward any concrete plans for providing services to its roughly 7,000 other special education students.

What about families who rely on free meals at school?

Mayor Lurie said on day one, his office is prepared to stand up meal distribution centers where students can receive a grab-and-go lunch on a first-come, first-served basis. Some sites will also offer breakfast, and can be found on the city’s website. These meals are available to youth under the age of 18, and on a first-come, first-served basis.

According to SFUSD’s website, “To pick up meals, youth or a parent or caregiver will need to provide the child’s name, grade, and school.”

The centers will be in partnership with the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families; the San Francisco Public Library; the Recreation and Parks Department; and other community-based organizations. Families will receive information about the locations, hours and meal availability at sites directly, Lurie said.

For children who participate in after-school programs, San Francisco’s Department of Children, Youth and Their Families provides daily snacks and suppers, and it has already asked its partner organizations if they can serve as meal distribution sites in the event of a strike, according to Jenkins-Stevens.

KQED has a thorough guide on how to find and use a food pantry near you in the Bay Area, including San Francisco resources like:

• The California Association of Food Banks’ online tool, which lists all the major food banks in the state
• The state’s 211 hotline
• The SF-Marin Food Bank, which distributes food to participating pantry organizations, has a tool to locate food resources near you
• CityTeam San Francisco’s searchable database of places to find food and other types of support
• St. Anthony’s Foundation at 121 Golden Gate Ave.
• Glide Memorial Church at 330 Ellis St.
• Mission Food Hub at 701 Alabama St., which provides groceries on Fridays to registered residents living in zip code 94110
• Bread for Edat 1020 Kearny Street for children who attend Chinatown elementary schools
• YMCA Food Assistance Program

San Francisco County also provides some food assistance, including:

• Free food locations offering both groceries and meals
• Options for having meals delivered to your home
• Locations where you can find a community meal

How did we get to a San Francisco teachers’ strike?

UESF and SFUSD have been negotiating a new two-year contract for union members since last March. Currently, educators are working under their 2023–2025 deal, which expired in June.

In October, the parties declared an impasse — meaning they couldn’t come to an agreement independently — and entered the current mediation process.

The union has said its core demands are:

• Fully funded health care for families
• A 9% to 14% wage increase
• A proposal that the district add its sanctuary district policy language, which says it is committed to protecting immigrant students, to educators’ contracts
• A written commitment from the district to continue its current emergency shelter housing program for families

Union negotiators say many of their proposals over the last 10 months have been rejected, including those regarding the sanctuary policy language and the emergency shelter housing program.

On Thursday, the district proposed a new offer:

• Like their October deal, it maintains a 2% raise over three years
• It proposes two health care options: one that would cover 75% of premiums, and another offering a $24,000 annual benefit allowance for health care costs. Neither matches the district’s claims earlier this week that it planned to fully cover healthcare costs through a “creative solution.”
• It also proposes the creation of a pilot program that would test transitioning special education staff from a caseload to a workload model.

The union said the district’s raise proposal came with major concessions, including the end of a sabbatical program for longstanding members — and additional preparation periods for others who teach Advanced Placement classes — that they don’t want to give up. The union has indicated it will not accept a deal that doesn’t fully fund family health care.

“As someone who’s born and raised here, I think the city is just an incredible place to raise a family, to have kids,” Hutchinson-Szekely said. “I want our teachers to be able to stay in the city.”

“We love our jobs. We love our kids,” she said. “We also just want to stay in San Francisco.”

What was in that fact-finding report ahead of the teachers’ strike announcement?

The union’s announcement to strike followed what’s called a “fact-finding report.”

This report is the final step in the mediation process between a school district and union, and is written by a three-person committee: one representative each from the district and the union, joined by a neutral mediator.

The committee held a hearing process, which included gathering information and evidence — like financial data, wage and benefits comparisons and other reports based on their proposals — from both parties. This information was then reflected in the report, which also included non-binding recommendations for a settlement.

Here’s what Wednesday’s fact-finding panel for SFUSD and UESF said in its report about each of the union’s core demands:

1. Wages: The report says that the district’s financial situation is “precarious,” and that the union’s request for a 9% raise over two years isn’t feasible. But it also said that the district’s proposal of 2% per year for three years doesn’t keep pace with the state’s cost-of-living adjustment. The report ultimately recommended a 3% raise for each of the next two years.
2. Health care: Again citing the district’s finances, the panel said that fully funding healthcare on a permanent basis is unfeasible — but that it can afford to for the next three years at least. The panel recommended using parcel tax funding to fully cover healthcare for families on Kaiser Permanente plans for three years, and urged the district to look for another source to possibly extend that longer.
3. Sanctuary policy language and emergency shelter program: The panel said both of these are not mandatory bargaining subjects, and shouldn’t be included in the agreement. The report concluded that including the sanctuary language opens the district up to “significant liability” and “imposes onerous responsibilities on the District as a landlord, job trainer, and legal advocate.”
4. Special education: The union has asked the district to shift special education work models from being based on a certain number of students, or a case load, to a more manageable workload. The panel said that while that proposal would be cost-prohibitive, the district should pursue a pilot program that includes a few elementary schools, as well as a middle and high school, “to develop an approach to address the demands and constraints special education teachers face.”

Has this kind of strike ever happened before?

The last time San Francisco teachers walked out almost half a century ago, the strike lasted more than six weeks, beginning in September 1979 and delaying the start of the school year.

Elementary school campuses reopened two weeks into the strike, and middle and high school campuses slowly resumed operations the following week.

While some teachers crossed the picket line to return to their classrooms, and the district brought in substitutes to supervise students, instruction was still majorly interrupted throughout.

The strike came after Proposition 13 capped California property taxes, which made up the majority of public school funding. As a result of the funding loss and declining enrollment, SFUSD had laid off more than 1,000 teachers.

John Logan, a labor and employment studies professor at San Francisco State University, said it’s unlikely a strike this year would last that long — but it’s possible it could extend a week or two, which would be majorly disruptive.

In 1979, then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein was integral to negotiating the end of the strike. Logan said city officials would likely also feel the heat to get involved this time around. “Your local elected politicians are going to feel huge pressure first to try and avoid a strike, and then if a strike were to happen, to make sure that it’s over as quickly as possible,” he said.

Mayor Lurie this week has urged the district and union to continue bargaining and said he is in communication with both parties.

The 1979 strike finally ended with a deal for a 15.5% wage hike and a promise to rehire 700 teachers — close to the 15.7% raise and promise to rehire all teachers that the union initially proposed.

Logan said if a strike comes to pass in 2026, he similarly expects to see “the school district moving closer to the position that the union is asking for.”

“If a strike were to happen, within days, politicians would be saying, ‘This has to end,’ and school district officials would be under enormous pressure to bargain a settlement with the union,” Logan said.

If parents support the strike, how can they show it?

UESF’s Hutchinson-Szekely said that parents have “so much influence,” especially when emailing or calling school board members and district leadership.

Parents can also attend school board meetings on Tuesday nights and speak during public comments.

Another way to show support for the strike, Hutchinson-Szekely said, is by leaving positive comments online or by sending an encouraging message to a union member, she said.

If there is a strike, UESF says all members of the public  — including parents — are welcome to show up in person and contribute in various ways. For example, UESF is seeking volunteers to “adopt a picket” at a school they’re connected to, and perform tasks such as coordinating food and drink deliveries for picketers, collecting donations and providing child care support.

Hutchinson-Szekely also encouraged families to talk to students about “what it means to be in solidarity with the staff.” She said this may involve instigating conversations about how schools operate, and talking with children about how “chronic underfunding and understaffing are more disruptive in the long term.”

“We’re just hoping that kind of discussion can happen within families, and emphasizing that the inconvenience is temporary,” she said. “But the impact of under-resourced schools lasts for years.”

What does ‘crossing a picket line’ actually mean?

Families sending students to school during a strike

The CTA says that as a parent or guardian, “you’ll have to decide if you want your child in this environment” of a school that’s in the middle of a strike.

“A strike is most powerful when students do not attend school, because this puts financial pressure on the district to negotiate with educators or lose more money from the state,” the statewide union’s guidance for families reads.

Volunteers teaching in schools during a strike in the absence of teachers

The National Parent-Teacher Association guidance to local branches also states that “PTA should not man the classrooms” unless “possibly for a day in the absence of advance notice of a strike.”

“Not only is manning of classrooms inconsistent with PTA efforts to obtain a qualified teacher in every classroom, but personal liability may be incurred,” the notice reads. “If the school administration intends to keep the schools open during a teacher walkout, it should develop a corps of volunteers outside the PTA structure.”

KQED’s Carly Severn and Sarah Hotchkiss contributed to this report.