Philadelphia teachers have voted to authorize a strike. Here’s what to know

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The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers voted Tuesday night to authorize a strike if the union and district fail to reach an agreement by August, when the current contract expires.

Arthur G. Steinberg, president of American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement that the school district needs to pick up the pace at the negotiation table.

“While the PFT Collective Bargaining Team has made progress toward an agreement that demonstrably improves members’ working conditions,” Steinberg said, “the District has been slower to meet us halfway on key demands by our members.”

Will Philly teachers strike?

The strike authorization doesn’t mean a strike is imminent or definitely going to happen. Negotiations are set to resume next week, and the two parties have until Aug. 31 — one week after Philly students return to school for the fall — to come to an agreement.

Still, it’s a significant show of political force from the union. The vote, 94% to 6%, was the first of its kind in more than two decades. The last time the union authorized a strike was in 2001, and its last actual strike was in 2000.

In an emailed statement, Christina Clark, the district’s communications officer, said “we are optimistic that we will reach an agreement on a successor collective bargaining agreement.”

From 2001 to 2018, when the district was operating under state control via the School Reform Commission, teachers were barred from striking entirely and went a stretch of five years without a contract or any pay increases.

The union emphasizes that salary growth for Philadelphia teachers has lagged behind their counterparts in suburban districts such as Lower Merion and Cheltenham, even as the city’s educators juggle more work in the shorter-staffed district and are required to hold more academic credentials. That, they argue, only incentivizes teachers to take their talents elsewhere.

“Amid a district-wide staffing shortage that left teachers, counselors, classroom assistants, and so many other education professionals juggling duties beyond their own job descriptions, the District must make changes that both slow attrition of burned-out employees and attracts teachers and specialists to Philadelphia public schools,” Steinberg said.

What’s on the table as PFT negotiates?

Contract negotiations between the district and 14,000-member union began several months ago.

Union officials did not comment on the current state of negotiations, but initial asks in March included 12 weeks of paid parental leave (members currently get none), a significant reduction in class sizes, new caseload limits for counselors and nurses, and an end to the “3-5-7-9” policy where teachers face escalating penalization for taking each of their allotted 10 sick days per year (including a warning memo after the fifth day and a recommended suspension on the ninth).

Art and music instruction for all grades, a library in every school, faster termination pay for those who leave the district or retire, more preparatory time for teachers and an expansion of the paraprofessional pathway program were also among the union’s demands.

Philly school district money problems

The strike authorization comes during a tense time for Philadelphia’s schools.

Ten percent of the district’s budget comes from federal dollars, and the Trump administration has threatened various cuts to those funding streams. The district is also facing a fiscal shortfall of more than $300 million for 2026. Superintendent Tony Watlington and other officials decided to extract 40% of the district’s rainy day fund to cover the difference and stave off budget and programming cuts for one more year, but the deficit is set to keep ballooning in size.

The district in March blamed inflation, employee salaries and benefits, and charter school payments for the growing expenses. The union has stood staunchly in opposition to charter expansion, with President Steinberg harshly criticizing the Board of Education for approving a new charter school in recent weeks.

Philadelphia’s recently passed city budget, while it includes some new investment in the city’s schools, fell short of what some advocates were hoping for in light of the district’s fiscal crisis. It includes a framework for a boost in teacher salaries beginning in 2030, funded by a 0.5% shift in the district’s share of the city’s property tax revenue — an extra $12 million per year in total. Critics and education advocates pressed the City Council for a larger and quicker funding increase, but did not succeed in their advocacy.