Statement re: School Board 2022 Recall
San Francisco to Vote on the Recall of Board of Education Commissioners Collins, Lopez, and Moliga in February 2022
It’s official – San Francisco voters will go to the polls on February 15, 2022 to vote in the recall election of Board of Education Commissioners Alison Collins, Gabriela Lopez and Faauuga Moliga.
As a parent organization representing a diverse array of SFUSD families and beyond, from every walk of life throughout San Francisco, we are here to help San Francisco voters understand the importance of the Board of Education (BOE) and learn about the actions these Commissioners have taken to both help and harm SFUSD. Our organization will be producing a report on the performance of the Commissioners, by November 30, in time to inform voters prior to the February recall election.
Though our organization generally does not support recall elections and we were uninvolved with this one, it is now an election that voters cannot ignore. Additionally, this particular recall election represents egregious behavior and a true dereliction of duty and harm to our students and public schools. We will be releasing more information, including a formal report (and specific recommendations through our 501c4 website and social media, which we will be unveiling soon). As an organization advocating for a thriving, equitable school system we feel the urgency to act now; that this cannot wait until a future election. Our formal report will include information on the performance of these Commissioners to provide an informed and holistic overview for voters.
This election is one moved by families whose children’s education was put in jeopardy by failed BOE leadership. Our organization considers serving as a BOE Commissioner to be a privilege and sacred duty to serve our city’s public school children and families as this body wields enormous power over the lives of roughly 50,000 SFUSD students. These individuals govern our district, have fiduciary responsibility over nearly $1 billion in annual spending, and ultimately the success or failure of SFUSD is in their hands. The leadership of BOE’s Commissioners is critical to the functioning and quality of our public schools.
We are at a critical juncture for the future of SFUSD, and the district, its students, and its families have suffered greatly under the current BOE’s governance:
- Fiscal Mismanagement Leading us to Crisis. SFUSD is facing a catastrophic budget crisis of upwards of $114 million which has recently triggered state-level intervention.
- Poor Learning Outcomes. SFUSD is in the bottom 7% for reading levels in the state and is struggling to manage the enormous detrimental academic and social impact of having kept its students in prolonged distance learning, long past its peers around the country and world.
In a city as resource rich as San Francisco, our kids should be receiving the best public school education in the country, but due to various kinds of mismanagement and failure to prioritize our children, our kids are suffering, their learning has been adversely impacted, and the future looks grim. SFUSD needs to do much better — and that starts with the Board of Education Commissioners.
If you are an SFUSD parent and interested in joining our organization, please join here.
*SF Parent Coalition was not involved in organizing the SF BOE recall election. To learn more about how this recall was organized, visit this website.