9/30/25 BOE Meeting Summary
- SFUSD is still “off track” (and in some cases “significantly off track”) in all three of its student outcomes goal areas of literacy, math, and college and career readiness
- SFUSD is preparing to take its budget on a road show, with a community engagement timeline and rough plan revealed for this fall. They are preparing to make another round of significant cuts to our district budget this year (somewhere in the $60M-100M range)
Student Outcomes (Goals 1, 2 & 3)
This was the primary item of interest for SF Parents and many parents in our community because of the close tie to our SF Kids Can’t Wait campaign. It was surprising to hear the district run through their presentation on Goals 1-3 so quickly, glossing over some of the results. Commissioner Fisher pointed out that looking at all 3 goals at once doesn’t allow for a deeper dive.
Also missing in the presentation was any connection to the budget realities that SFUSD will face with more cuts coming. In the board discussion, they made it clear that they wanted to hear more about the budget implications as well. District staff shared that there is a Stanford study underway to assess the ROI of the Instructional Coaches, which will be used to inform the ongoing budget decisions around investments in improving student outcomes across SFUSD.
Commissioner Gupta asked if there was any way we would reach our goals, and District staff pointed out that given trajectories, we will not. They also noted though, that “we haven’t seen implementation (of new curriculum) to this level of fidelity” in quite some time, and Superintendent Dr. Su added that SFUSD will make gains and we will get there, even if it takes longer than stated goals. The district also identified levers SFUSD can use to make a difference, such as Staff Retention, Implementation of Curriculum, and Sense of Belonging. To which Commissioner Alexander made the point, “if retention is so important, shouldn’t we have HR here?”
Superintendent Dr. Su made it clear that she expects to offer a greater integration between budget and student outcomes goals in future meetings.
Goal 1 (3rd grade literacy): The percentage of ALL third grade students reading at grade level as measured by SBAC ELA will increase from 52% proficiency (10/2022) to 70% by October 2027.
The 3rd grade literacy proficiency decline of 1.4% (down to 47%) was characterized as a small decline, and SFUSD staff didn’t take a moment to publicly recognize that we are not yet making progress towards our goals and desired increases. Staff also noted:
- We did not expect to see gains at scale in year 1 (last year) of the new literacy curriculum which is consistent with other implementations of new curriculum (like NYC which saw a Year 1 dip). We need time for teachers to become comfortable with the new curriculum: as teachers get used to new components, it’s not unexpected to see a dip in small group instruction, which should rebound this year.
- To ensure successful curriculum adoption, SFUSD will be holding twice a month professional development for instructional coaches, and monthly meetings for admins
- They are implementing better tracking of new curriculum adoption
Goal 2 (8th grade math): The percentage of ALL eighth grade students performing math at grade level as measured by SBAC math will increase from 42% proficiency (10/2022) to 65% proficiency by October 2027.
- There was a minor gain of 1%
- According to district staff, schools that used the new curriculum (pilots) showed larger gains
- As this is the first year of the new curriculum, the district has scheduled 4x PD days to support math teacher adoption of new curriculum
Goal 3: The percentage of all high school 12th graders who are “college/career ready (CCR)” as defined by the California Department of Education will increase from 57.5% (6/2020) to 70% by June 2027
SFUSD did not share a progress monitoring update for Goal 3; instead, it provided an update for Goal 3’s associated Interim Goals
- 3.1 EWI (Early Warning Indicator) exit rate improved from 19% to 24%
- 3.2 New focus on math support for incoming students
- 3.3 This is changing to the following: the percentage of Grades 9 and 10 students meeting grade level proficiency on Star Math will increase from XX% in September 2025 to XX% by May 2026
Fiscal & Operational Health
The budget timeline presentation found here was presented. It primarily addressed the timeline for and the beginning of community engagement, but did not get into any specifics about the numbers or what is likely to be cut. Our understanding is that SFUSD will have another $60-100M to cut from its budget this year, depending on where they land with contract negotiations with staff and how they will offset any pay increases this year.
The discussion was relatively brief as it started after 10:30pm, but President Phil Kim made the important point that principal/staff input should be brought into the budget engagement process early and have more impact on this budget cycle. We’d like to see that parents are brought in earlier this time around, too.