3/10/26 Board of Education Meeting Summary
Despite the tension of the strike a few weeks ago, tonight’s meeting was relatively straightforward and business-like, with the labor agreements and Interim Budget reports all passing unanimously
Despite this, it is clear that unless more funding is unlocked from the state, or some other big changes are enacted, the district will be in a precarious budget position for the 2028-2029 school year.
Approval of Tentative Agreement (TA) between SFUSD and UESF
(Required AB1200 report on TA here)
In the discussion, we learned the following about the agreement terms:
- If the parcel tax to fund teacher dependent healthcare is not passed by voters, the contract goes back to bargaining
- Dependent healthcare costs are projected to be $27M in the first year, second year $42.3M, including migration estimates and 10% cost increase estimate
- If healthcare costs increase (e.g. 10% a year, which has been typical the last 3 years, 6-7% in prior years), SFUSD is on the hook for all increases – per the note just above, a 10% increase is budgeted, but something beyond that would not be.
This item was approved unanimously by the board.
Tentative Agreement (TA) between SFUSD and Common Crafts and IBEW Local 6 (Required AB1200 report on TA here)
There was minimal specific discussion about the specifics of this labor agreement, though during the discussion Commissioner Gupta urged the District to come together with all its labor partners to work with Sacramento to unlock more funding for all staff “rather than make a Sophie’s Choice in the future.”
This item was approved unanimously by the board.
SFUSD 2nd Interim Budget Report
(Report link, Presentation link)
Deputy Superintendent Chris Mount-Benites walked the board through major updates since December’s 1st Interim Projection. Much of this is captured on Slide 7 of the Presentation, here are some highlights with additional detail:
Reduction in Revenues:
- Incorporated changes from the Governor’s Proposed Budget
○ 26-27 COLA Change: 3.02% to 2.41%
○ 26-27 Revenue Impact: $3,748,154 decrease
- Accounted for decline in enrollment and attendance (District Average Daily Attendance dropping by -186)
Increase in Expenditures:
- Incorporated Tentative Agreement costs (UESF, Common Crafts, Local 6)
- Budgeted assumption for open units
Reduction in Expenditures:
- Captured savings from positions that have remained vacant
- Moved eligible expenses to restricted funding for 26-27 and 27-28 (though, as Commissioner Gupta pointed out, this is largely just moving the deficit around)
- Accounted for Central Office reductions that are underway, including contracts
Looking at the budget Slide 12 (Restricted Budget) and Slide 14 (Unrestricted)
- No reserve in 2 years (Restricted)
- $125M deficit projected 2028-2029 (Restricted)
- $14M Unrestricted reserves projected 2028-2029, so net deficit would be ~$110M in 2028-2029
The Fiscal Stabilization Plan is still being updated
- The FSB is still required for Qualified qualification (district moving to Qualified from Negative)
- It now reflects Central Office reductions and moving money to Restricted
- Future Projections will reflect moving SPED contractors to employees which should save $6M a year, and additional reductions of additional Central Office costs by $8M a year
- Those changes alone still not have enough to cover the Restricted deficit projections
Moving forward, the next steps (per Slide 24):
- SFUSD will present a revised Fiscal Stabilization Plan at FY 2026-27 Budget Adoption in June to reflect new third year.
- SFUSD will complete a 3rd Interim Financial Report in May that will provide another update on budget and spending estimates for 2025-26.
- Revenue and expenditure impacts from the recent strike will be included at 3rd Interim – it will be interesting to see if Dr. Su can work with the state to minimize fines / other state penalties from the days of school lost during the strike.
This item was approved unanimously by the board.