Dear SFUSD Champions and Supporters,
It may be summer break, but it’s not quite time to tune out SFUSD. Just when you think all is calm on the home front, surprises emerge — and last week brought one of the most head-scratching moves we’ve seen from the Board of Education all year. |
On Tuesday night, the SFUSD Board of Education came close to not passing the district’s annual budget — one of the most consequential votes it takes all year. In the end it passed, but barely: 4-3.
Two items were on the table: the budget itself and the district’s Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), the state-required document outlining how SFUSD spends its dollars on instruction and services for students. Both are legally required for the district to keep operating. Delaying the LCAP could jeopardize tens of millions in state funding, prevent the budget from being adopted, and return SFUSD to partial state oversight.
The stakes are higher than usual in this moment because we have the first positive budget certification SFUSD has seen in years—in other words, the state is finally going to back off and we’re regaining full local control. Thanks to Dr. Su’s leadership, a better-staffed budget department, and the major structural decisions she’s made in her 18 months at the helm, annual expenditures are down over $100M/year. What previous superintendents couldn’t accomplish in years, she did in almost no time.
During last Tuesday’s meeting, however, several commissioners questioned whether the district’s plans go far enough to align spending with student outcomes. To be fair, those questions resonate — SF Parents has been advocating for a budget aligned to a baseline of excellence and equity since 2021, and there’s still room for improvement, hands down. Those are conversations worth having.
But there’s a right time and a wrong time to have them. Raising these concerns at the eleventh hour — when the district has little room to adjust and the stakes for students are this high — brought real risks with it. Frankly, we’re at a loss for what we saw. Commissioners Huling, Gupta, and Alexander voted the budget down, risking significant school funding and our kids’ futures. While we’ve seen this kind of move before from Alexander, we expected better leadership from Huling and Gupta.
When parents vote for school board commissioners, they vote for budget stabilization, strategic leadership, solid judgment, and doing right by kids, not reckless behavior that could drag us back toward greater state control.
We weren’t the only ones frustrated. Our parent WhatsApp channel blew up, and on Facebook we heard comments like “This type of BS [from the school board] cannot be tolerated, period.”
Our takeaway: the Board should ask hard questions and hold district leadership accountable. But those conversations matter most when they happen early enough to shape decisions — not when there’s no room left to adjust and it’s our kids who bear the risk. Parents expect better from our leaders.
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New Deputy Superintendent Begins
SFUSD’s new Deputy Superintendent of Educational Services, John L. Davis, Jr., officially starts next week. Davis comes from Baltimore City Public Schools, where he helped lead significant academic gains. We’ve already had an initial meeting with him, and we’re optimistic that he’s the leader to bring greater accountability for academic progress at SFUSD. We look forward to continuing our work to ensure strong implementation of SFUSD’s literacy and math programs across every school.
Budget Adopted
With this week’s Board vote, SFUSD has officially adopted its 2026-27 budget and continues its remarkable financial turnaround. After entering state fiscal oversight just two years ago, the district is now operating with a positive fiscal outlook — a critical step toward focusing more attention on improving student outcomes. That doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods, and more big decisions lie ahead, but let’s name progress when we see it.
Enrollment Changes Ahead
The Board also continued discussions about the future of SFUSD’s student assignment system – currently the lottery. District staff outlined a multi-year timeline: Summer/Fall 2026: Review enrollment data, school capacity, and potential assignment models. October 2026: Board expected to choose a general policy direction. April 2027: Final policy adoption. October 2027: New enrollment process launches for families applying for the following school year. August 2028: First students begin school under the new assignment system.
We’ll keep following this closely and keep you updated. As the district works through these decisions, we’ll be pushing to make sure the process is transparent and that your input as parents is part of it every step of the way. |
Screens in Schools
One issue we’re hearing more and more from families is concern about the extent of screens access and use in our schools; from student cell phones to classroom technology, AI tools, and overall screen time during the school day.
At last week’s Board of Education meeting, parents from more than 35 schools urged SFUSD to adopt a stronger approach to student phone use. The bigger conversation about phones, screens, and technology in schools will continue this fall, and we think that conversation needs more family and teacher voices: What are you seeing at your child’s school or in your classroom? What’s working, and what concerns you? We also want to hear about the positive ways technology is supporting learning.
We’re already connecting with the district, teachers, and the Mayor’s Office on the topic, and are looking forward to collaborating across partners on this important issue. As we explore a new advocacy effort around healthy technology use in schools, we’d love your help shaping it. Would you like to join this work with us? Email Geri at geri@sfparents.org to learn more.
A Win for Student Athletes
After months of parents and student athletes pushing on the district, SFUSD is launching new high school JV soccer opportunities in 2026-27, creating new opportunities for student athletes to participate in school sports. We saw families identify a need, organize, build relationships with school leaders and district staff, speak at Board meetings, and stay engaged until change happened.
This example is a great reminder that when families work collaboratively with schools and district leadership, change is possible.
Wishing you all a great holiday weekend ahead.
In partnership, The SF Parents Team |
Don’t forget to check out the Our 415 Program, led by the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families (DCYF). Our415 is your source for everything San Francisco has for young people and families. It’s your one-stop-shop for programs and resources from the City and County of San Francisco and its nonprofit partners. For more information, visit the Our 415 website at www.our415.org. |
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