No one mentioned the real reason SFUSD doesn’t pay its teachers more. District spending on pensions and other retirement costs has grown at nearly five times the rate of school revenues, squeezing out funds needed for teachers’ salaries.
Since 2006, the district’s total revenue has risen 123%, from $537 million to $1.2 billion. But pension spending has surged 538%, from $31 million to $198 million, and spending on retiree health benefits has jumped 450%, from $8 million to $44 million. Together, those two line items consume nearly $250 million a year, money that flows not to working teachers but to retired employees.
The United Educators of San Francisco demands raises of 9% over the next two years. The district says it can afford 2% annually. Both are telling partial truths. The district could afford to pay current teachers far more if it weren’t hemorrhaging money to service retirement obligations it never should have incurred at this scale.