Sabbatical Leave Program Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

Check back here for the total number of sabbaticals!

The district will award a total of ___ sabbaticals in the 2025-26 school year.  Below are the number awarded to each bargaining unit:

• UESF: __ sabbatical awards
• UASF: __ sabbatical awards

In accordance with UESF contract Section 10.2.11.1.1: “Sabbatical leaves must be preceded by at least seven consecutive years of teaching service, all of which shall have been full-time service as tenured, probationary or long-term substitute status in the San Francisco Unified School District.  For contractual employees initially hired by the District on or after July 1, 1998, “full time service (1.00 FTE)”  is defined as tenure track service.  Qualifying service shall be construed as being in paid District status for seventy-five (75%) of the teaching days in each school year.  Failure to be in paid District status for seventy-five (75%) of the teaching days in any given year due to being on an unpaid leave shall not constitute an interruption in the seven (7) consecutive year period."

Seniority is counted from the last sabbatical leave taken, not from your original seniority date, in order to allow as many eligible staff to take sabbatical leaves.

Staff with an Unsatisfactory Performance Reviews are ineligible to take sabbatical leave. Paid or unpaid bargaining unit member status is not a factor in award determination.

In order to be eligible for a sabbatical leave, a teacher’s summary evaluation for the year in which the sabbatical is requested may not be “unsatisfactory” (refer to Teacher Contract: Article 10.2.11.2.1).  If you have any doubts as to whether the type of evaluation you may receive will interfere with your eligibility for a sabbatical, you should talk to your supervisor before purchasing your bond. 

Every year, the total number of sabbatical applications exceeds the number of available sabbatical awards.  Employees with the highest seniority in their bargaining unit are offered a sabbatical and the remaining employees are placed on a waiting list.  If an awardee declines their sabbatical, the sabbatical slot is reopened and whoever is next on the waiting list will be offered the sabbatical award.  Employees on the wait will be notified of their award between March 3, 2025 until March 14, 2025. 

Most auto, life and home insurance companies are able to issue a sabbatical leave bond.  San Francisco Unified School District does not endorse any particular bond company.

No. If you are not able to secure a bond by the deadline, the next person on the waiting list will be offered an opportunity for a sabbatical leave.  Given different bonding companies have different requirements (home ownership, credit rating, etc.), it is very important to begin the process of applying for a bond as soon as possible once you have been notified that you are being awarded a sabbatical.

If sabbatical requirements are not met (including bond submission), your sabbatical will be rescinded.

Once your sabbatical leave has been approved by the Board:

• You may request to change the purpose of your sabbatical.
• You may not request to change the period (semesters) once your sabbatical has been sent to the Board for approval.
• You may request to rescind your sabbatical for illness, injury or other good cause:
  • If your request is approved by the Board after your classroom position has been filled by a temporary teacher, you may apply for another position, and if selected, you may work at another site for the duration of the original sabbatical period.  After this period is complete, you may return to your original site.
  • If your request is approved by the Board prior to your classroom position being filled by a temporary teacher, you may remain at your original site.

Your original application must list the total number of semesters (maximum-two) that you want to be on sabbatical leave.  If you are approved to take a one semester sabbatical leave and after Board approval decide that you want to take another semester sabbatical, you will need to apply for another sabbatical leave.  Your seniority for the new sabbatical leave will be calculated from the end of the one semester sabbatical you received.  You cannot “add” a semester to your original sabbatical leave once it has been approved.

The only requirement is that all semester units be taken at an accredited College/University within the sabbatical period.

See the above Q & A

Online/Hybrid classes are not eligible to be counted toward your sabbatical.  All classes taken must be in-person.

As part of your approved study sabbatical, the units may count towards completion of your study sabbatical requirement.  However, if you elect to have these units count towards completion of your study sabbatical requirement, you are not eligible for any stipend.  You have to select one or the other.

No.  Per contract section 10.2.11.1.2 “Not less than seven (7) semester units shall be completed during each semester while on such leave, and no more than two (2) semester units of summer school credit shall be counted.”  Summer school semester units may only be taken prior to the beginning of a fall sabbatical – and as per the above, with a maximum of two summer school semester units.

A retraining sabbatical requires that you fully complete a degree credential or certificate.  A full year study sabbatical requires the completion of 18 units of study at an accredited College/University.

A sabbatical awardee must travel for 75% of  their service days (days scheduled to work). For example, the total service days for a TK-12 teacher is 184 for school year 2024-25 (86 days for Fall Semester; 98 days for Spring Semester).  Multiply 184 by 75% is equal to138 days. This teacher would need to travel a total of 138 calendar days if they were going on a full year sabbatical.  If the teacher took a spring semester sabbatical, they would need to travel 73.5 calendar days (75% of 98). Travel days include work days, weekends and holidays.

A calendar day (Monday through Sunday); travel is not confined to days would have normally been expected to work.

An exact travel mileage requirement is not stated, rather the travel destination, in conjunction with the travel objectives, as presented and approved for your travel sabbatical must be met.  You will be informed if your proposed travel objectives are acceptable prior to your sabbatical leave approval.  If you need to change your travel plans from your approved travel sabbatical leave, you must request Human Resources approval.

There is no specific distance requirement, however any distance that can be reasonably considered a commute will not count.

Yes, you can elect one sabbatical type for fall and one for spring.

A travel and a study sabbatical may NOT be combined in a single semester.

The project supervisor must be a site Administrator or a professor from an accredited College or University.

Once your project has been approved by your project supervisor, delivered and approved by Human Resources dept., you will be notified and offered the opportunity to pick it up.  Due to the physical size of many projects, we may not be able to return by mail.

The general answer is no.  For specifics, please refer to Board Policy 4540, entitled Publication of Materials, listed below:

Governing Board Policy 4540

1. Patentable or copyrightable materials developed by staff members in the course of carrying out their professional responsibilities on District time shall be the property of the District.
2. Such materials developed partially on District time and partially on the employee’s personal time shall be the property of the District and the employee pursuant to a written contractual agreement between the employee and the District.
3. Such materials created by an employee during personal time when not fulfilling contractual duties to the District are the property of the employee.

Anyone who can demonstrate that he/she meets the conditions of Art.10.2.11.2.5 of the UESF contract: “A teacher may apply for a “split” sabbatical where the teacher can demonstrate, with a course catalogue or other documentation that an education program is only offered at times when a full year sabbatical would not allow the teacher to fulfill the requirements of the program.  A split sabbatical is defined as the teacher taking one semester of the sabbatical in one school year and the second semester of the sabbatical in a subsequent year within and overall span of three (3) school years.”

For “2020 - 2021,” “within the overall span of three years” would mean that the first semester of the split sabbatical must begin in the “2020 – 2021” school year and the second semester must be completed by 06/30/2023:

*07/01/2020 – 06/30/2021; *07/01/2021 – 06/30/2022; *07/01/2022 – 06/30/2023

No, see above.  Split sabbaticals may only be taken to meet educational needs.

No. Employees taking Sabbatical leave are required to return their district provided laptops to the Department of Technology prior to their leave.

If you are on a full-year Sabbatical you will not get sick leave credit.  If you are on a split Sabbatical, for one semester only, you will be credited with five (5) days of sick leave during the semester you work.

All your benefits remain the same as long as you are on an approved sabbatical leave.

All your authorized TSAs and voluntary deductions will continue up to the maximum of your salary.  However, please remember that while you are on sabbatical leave, your annual gross salary will be reduced to 60%.  This may result in a substantially reduced paycheck if you do not adjust your voluntary deductions.  Please consider this in deciding whether or not to continue your TSAs or other voluntary deductions at their present level during your sabbatical leave.

You will earn 60% service credit for CalSTRS and can buy back the other 40% by initiating the buyback process with CalSTRS directly. The District does not make employer contributions during this process but will complete the buyback form that CalSTRS will give you to validate your leave period and type

Employees will have access to District email when on leave and are encouraged to check regularly for District updates.

Site based teachers have assignment return-rights to their exact assignment; centrally deployed staff (like nurses, counselors) and supervisors/program administrators do not have assignment rights, but rights to a job.

No.  If you become an employee of another California school district while on sabbatical leave from San Francisco Unified School District, you will have violated the sabbatical agreement and will be liable for all sabbatical payments received from the District and additional discipline up to and including separation from service at SFUSD.

No.

No.  You may not take an unpaid personal leave of absence until after you have completed the required service period (twice the sabbatical leave period) upon your return from sabbatical leave.

Personal leaves are not allowed, however medical necessity leaves, with appropriate medical documentation, may be approved; sick leave and maternity leave are two examples of medical necessity type leaves that may be taken after return from sabbatical during the required service time.  Please note: while you may receive 60% while on sabbatical, for the purposes of FMLA and CFRA, this does not count as time worked.  It is likely that you will not be eligible for FMLA/CFRA until you have returned to work for at least 1 year -and- have worked 1,250 hours within that year to qualify for FMLA/CFRA protection

You are allowed to teach summer school when you are on sabbatical, both at the beginning of your sabbatical and during the summer after your sabbatical ends.

The temporary teacher who will replace you while you are on sabbatical leave will be selected by your site administrator.  You are free to present your recommendations to your site administrator.