SF School Board Is Headed for a Shakeup. Its Newcomers Will Inherit a Crisis

San Francisco voters have spoken, and they are ready for a shakeup on the school board. At a particularly tumultuous time for the city’s schools, the seven-person board appears likely to have four fresh faces come January.

As the San Francisco Unified School District reels from a botched school closure plan, the resignations of both the former board president and district superintendent, and an ongoing budget crisis, newcomers holding the majority of Board of Education seats could bring around big changes.

Most notable will be how the board chooses to handle school closures and mergers, which SFUSD’s leadership said were necessary to balance resources, but the outgoing board didn’t seem to have an appetite for after a poorly executed roll-out. The plan is now on ice.

However, three of the four leading candidates as of the latest update from city elections officials, released Thursday afternoon, have indicated that closures need to be on the table as SFUSD prepares to announce massive budget cuts in December.

Jaime Huling, who is almost guaranteed to win one of four available seats after taking a strong lead in first-choice votes, hasn’t shared her stance on future school closures, though she has been a vocal opponent of former Superintendent Matt Wayne’s proposal and the board’s handling of it.

In a post on social media platform X after polls closed Tuesday, she said, “I will always fight to protect our immigrant communities, trans kids, freedom of speech, and funding for education. We will not fail our kids.”

But two other front-runners who campaigned alongside Huling — John Jersin and Parag Gupta — have indicated support for consolidating schools. The three coalesced with a broad range of support, including moderate political action committee GrowSF and the union representing SFUSD educators. Their messaging has been clear: “a fresh start for the SF School Board.”

Gupta, who sits in second place, told the San Francisco Chronicle’s editorial board that he supports closing schools. He has a daughter attending the Chinese Immersion School at De Avila Elementary, one of the schools that would have taken in Chinese biliteracy students under Wayne’s plan.

Jersin, sitting in fourth, has also said closures are likely necessary, and campaigned on bringing financial management and business experience to the school board as the district could approach a more than $400 million budget by 2027 without cost-saving measures.

He has two kids in SFUSD schools and sits on the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee, which keeps an eye on how the district uses funding allocated through tax-funded bonds.

Supryia Ray, who sits in third and is in position to join the board along with Huling, Gupta and Jersin, has stood out from the other likely newcomers as a rare voice questioning the board’s pause of school closures — despite denouncing Wayne’s handling of them.

When asked to weigh in on future consolidation plans, she posted on X that “kicking the can down the road risks the quality of our kids’ education.”

“I’m committed to a long-term solution to ensure full staffing and support families impacted by any future closures,” Ray said.

Of note, current board president Matt Alexander is trailing in fifth place, leaving him one spot out of a seat in his hunt for a second term. After taking the helm following former board president Lainie Motamedi’s resignation in August, he was the leading force opposing Wayne’s school closure plan — and picked up appreciation and credit from a number of San Francisco leaders, including Mayor London Breed.

If he’s ousted, SFUSD leadership will be virtually unrecognizable from this fall, when the district’s crisis came to a head.

Wayne resigned last month, more or less at the direction of the school board. Current commissioners Jenny Lam, Mark Sanchez and Kevine Boggess — the only board member to oppose Wayne’s resignation and the appointment of the new superintendent — all chose not to run for reelection.

The district’s new superintendent, Maria Su, was just appointed about a month ago. Commissioner Phil Kim, who replaced Motamedi, has been on the board for less than three months, albeit busy ones.

Both Su and Kim are new to SFUSD. Kim joined in January after working with Bay Area charter schools for over a decade, and Su has led San Francisco’s Department of Children, Youth and Their Families for almost 20 years.

While voters appeared to reject the status quo of district leadership, they appear to have overwhelmingly approved a nearly $800 million school bond to improve infrastructure.

There were concerns throughout the fall about whether the bond measure, Measure A, would pass given the seeming lack of fiscal responsibility at SFUSD. Still, voters showed strong support, with more than 73% voting in favor of it so far.

It will pay for infrastructure improvements like upgrading earthquake safety, old plumbing, electrical and ventilation systems and classroom internet. Student nutrition services, which have been undergoing a transformation from prepackaged to meals cooked on-site, are also slated to receive bond funding.

San Francisco still has more than 100,000 ballots to count, and expects to update results for the school board races and Measure A, among other races, on Friday afternoon.