Sabbatical Leave Program

New 10/16/24: The Calendar of Important Dates for the upcoming 2025-26 Sabbatical has been updated. Applications will be open from November 20, 2024 until December 20, 2024 (5:00 PM PST).  

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Check back here for the number of Sabbatical Slots for the 2025-26 school year!

• Certificated employees (UESF): ___ sabbatical slots
• Administrative employees (UASF): ___ sabbatical slots

Please only submit an application if all four of the following are true:

• You have seven (7) consecutive years of active service as a certificated employee or administrator.
• Have not had a break in service in the last seven (7) years
• Have not taken a leave of absence that constitutes more than 25% of your scheduled work calendar in the last seven (7) years
• Do not have unsatisfactory marks from your current evaluation

Submission of an application does not guarantee a sabbatical award. Please check back here on or after November 20, 2024 for a link to the online application.

About SFUSD's sabbatical program

The purpose of the Sabbatical Leave is to enhance your skill as a professional and to provide teachers and administrators an opportunity for self-directed professional growth. A teacher or administrator may apply for a Sabbatical and, if approved, may take a semester or full school year off to participate in Travel, Study, a Special Project or Retraining while receiving compensation from the district.

What are the different sabbatical types?

Employees are provided the opportunity to choose between the below sabbatical types:

• Travel: An employee can use their sabbatical leave period for travel. There are no location requirements, only that an employee is required to travel a reasonable distance for 75% of each semester; the exact number of travel days can vary based on the instructional calendar. Typically, there are less travel days in the fall semester than there are in the spring semester. Travel days include work days, weekends and holidays.
• Study: An employee is given the opportunity to take additional college or university courses while on sabbatical leave. Employees must attend an accredited college or university (no online/correspondence courses are allowed) and must obtain 18 semester units of credit for the year (9 units for employees on a semester sabbatical).
• Special Project: This sabbatical type can be taken to develop a special project that is comparable to taking 18 semester units at an accredited college or university. Special Projects must have their basis in education/school-based work and must be approved and signed-off by your site administrator or supervisor.
• Retraining: The purpose of this sabbatical type is to provide an employee with the opportunity to complete a credentialing or degree program. Given these programs require more time than is allotted under the sabbatical program, it is anticipated that employees will have already completed a substantial portion of course work to obtain the degree or credential.

Who is eligible to take a sabbatical?

Employees must meet all of the following criteria to be eligible to take a Sabbatical:

• Must be permanent (tenured),
• Must have worked as a Certificated employee or Administrator employee governed under the UESF or UASF bargaining unit,
• Must have worked in the Certificated or Administrator position for a minimum of 7 consecutive years in a full-time (1 FTE) role with no breaks in service. For the purposes of eligibility, an employee must have worked 75% of the school year for it count toward the 7 consecutive years requirement.
  Note: Paid approved leaves (maternity/parental, medical and extended sick leaves for example) will not constitute a break in service.
• Must not have any Unsatisfactory Summary Evaluations in personnel file