Labor dispute:

Parents for Public Schools, The San Francisco Education Fund and Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, would like to update the community on what our organizations have been doing with regard to the labor negotiations of SEIU 790, UESF and the SFUSD.

Our organizations wish to provide information to the public and our constituents to help avert a strike. Currently there is a lack of complete financial information that would allow the community to assess the positions of either party in this dispute. Our organizations feel that financial transparency is a goal that serves the greater good of the district and we support efforts to bring that complete information to the public.

We are all waiting on the results of the fact finding mission and the analysis of the situation from Ed Harrington, San Francisco City Controller. Until complete financial information is available, it is impossible for the community to make an assessment of any party in this matter.

We agree with the many people we've talked with in the community that a strike will be detrimental to all involved, but especially to the academic and safety needs of the children of the San Francisco Unified School District.

We hope all involved will come to a reasonable agreement and so that we can continue our focus to provide quality education for the public school children of San Francisco.

N’Tanya Lee, Coleman Advocates

Lorraine Woodruff-Long, Parents for Public Schools 

Hugh Vasquez, San Francisco Education Fund 

Parents for Public Schools has posed the following questions to SFUSD, SEIU 790 and UESF. We will post responses when they become available. Additional questions parents have please send to: ppsboard@ppssf.org . We will compile and work to seek answers for our community:

• Before any increase in labor costs are considered, what is the financial situation for 05-06 and 06-07?

• Before any increase in labor costs are considered, what are the district’s options are for addressing any financial gaps?

• What is the district’s current offer to the union; the union’s demands and the bottom line budget gap between the two?

• Are there other significant reasons for the district's financial crisis other than Proposition 98 takeaways and decline in enrollment?

• What are the union’s proposals for reallocating district funds to cover the cost of union demands?