SFUSD Reveals Location of New Mandarin Immersion Campus
San Francisco’s new Mandarin immersion campus has an official — temporary — home.
The highly anticipated K-8 dual language school will be housed on the campus of the Mission Education Center beginning in fall 2027, before moving onto a permanent site.
“This is an exciting moment for San Francisco families who have been asking for a TK-8 Mandarin Immersion school,” Superintendent Maria Su said in a statement.
“We are excited to take this next step toward opening this new school as part of the vision to grow and expand learning opportunities at SFUSD to strengthen our schools.
SFUSD said that beginning in the fall, the new school and MEC, which has traditionally served newly arrived Spanish-speaking immigrant students, will be co-programmed on the campus at 1670 Noe St.
In its first year, the district said it expects to have three kindergarten and one transitional kindergarten classroom dedicated to Mandarin immersion.
They plan to add more grades each year in a phased approach.
The San Francisco Unified School District announced that it would launch the new school in July 2025 after years of requests for more seats in language programs — which have traditionally amassed long waitlists and drawn families to SFUSD.
The initiative also came shortly after a group of city parents proposed plans to open a similar charter school, an effort that could have siphoned funding and students away from the district.
That effort was rejected by the school board, which cited concerns about its educational model and the negative financial impact on SFUSD, in August 2025.
Liana Szeto, who founded the nation’s first Chinese Immersion public school — Alice Fong Yu K-8 — in San Francisco, is leading the new school’s development as a special advisor, but additional details about the program are still sparse.
Since taking the helm of SFUSD two years ago, Su has said she’s focused on expanding language pathways and transitional kindergarten to boost enrollment after years of decline.
“For my family, this represents an amazing opportunity for my kids to connect to their heritage and connect with their Chinese-speaking family,” said parent Abby Chao, who is Chinese American, and hopes to send her three children to SFUSD Mandarin immersion schools.
Earlier this year, she co-founded the group Friends of SF Mandarin School, a parent advocacy group which worked with the district to establish the new school.
“This school will double the number of Mandarin seats that are available at kindergarten” from 66, Chao said.
“For all families, it is another reason to choose SFUSD.”
Last year, SFUSD also added Spanish immersion transitional kindergarten classes at MEC, but the rollout was shaky, as parents said the district failed to staff the classrooms with full-time teachers for months.