SPS, SEA face Tuesday deadline as strike looms

Name: Union: SPS walked away from bargaining table
Uploaded: 2026-08-31T11:00:35-07:00
Duration: 2 min 58 s
Description: Time is ticking down for Seattle Public Schools and its teachers union to come to an agreement ahead of the first day of school, scheduled for Wednesday. If they don't—A strike. FOX 13 Seattle's Taylor Winkel has the latest.

Union: SPS walked away from bargaining table

Time is ticking down for Seattle Public Schools and its teachers union to come to an agreement ahead of the first day of school, scheduled for Wednesday. If they don't—A strike. FOX 13 Seattle's Taylor Winkel has the latest.

SEATTLE - Seattle Public Schools and the union representing its teachers and support staff face a Tuesday deadline at 11:59 p.m. to negotiate a contract agreement. If no deal is reached, educators plan to launch a strike Wednesday morning, the scheduled first day of school.

More than 90% of the union's membership voted to authorize the walkout, which would involve approximately 6,000 teachers, instructional assistants, office professionals, and other school personnel.

Union Demands and Negotiation Breakdown

What they're saying:

The situation escalated over the weekend, with the union accusing district leadership of walking away from the bargaining table and stating that no future negotiation sessions were scheduled.

To highlight its dissatisfaction, the union posted a red-penned, "corrected" version of the district's bargaining agreement on Instagram, marking it with a 50% grade.

"Nobody here wants to go on strike; we want to be in the classroom with our students on Wednesday," said Joe Lambright, a social studies teacher at West Seattle High School. "We're not prepared to support them in the way that they need."

The union's contract demands focus on several key areas, including:

Increased classroom resources
Lower staff-to-student ratios
Enhanced support systems for special education programs
Pay raises of up to 12% for lower-paid staff members

District Cites Deficit and Proposes Terms

The other side:

Seattle Public Schools administration pointed to a multi-million dollar budget deficit, emphasizing the need to responsibly allocate limited public funding.

Superintendent Ben Shuldiner addressed the situation in a newsletter distributed to families, noting that the district will begin speaking publicly about negotiations to address updates shared by the union.

Shuldiner stressed that the active contract remains in effect and called a potential strike "entirely a choice for the union."

He added that the district is willing to offer retroactive pay once an agreement is finalized, provided schools remain open.

Addressing special education concerns, Shuldiner said negotiations stalled after the union failed to present specific counter-proposals to a district plan aimed at moving special education services toward neighborhood schools.

What's next:

A potential work stoppage leaves families—particularly those with young children who depend on school for daily childcare—waiting to see if contingency plans will be necessary.

To provide regular updates on the status of labor talks, the school district plans to hold daily, in-person press conferences starting Monday at 3 p.m.

The Source: Information for this story came from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle's Taylor Winkel, who followed up on previous reporting by FOX 13 and received statements from Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Education Association regarding updates on the negotiation process.