San Francisco Teachers Take Key Step Toward Strike
SF School Board Could Put School Closures Back on the Table
SF School Board Set to Make Maria Su the Permanent Superintendent for City Schools
As SF Expands Transitional Kindergarten, Some Classes Still Lack Permanent Teachers
As Deficit Looms, SF Public School Teachers Threaten Strike Over ‘Fair Contracts’
Ethnic Studies Debate Follows Students Into San Francisco Classrooms
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-board-of-education\">school board\u003c/a> on Tuesday will get a first look at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066271/sfusd-has-overspent-for-years-major-cuts-could-have-it-on-the-path-to-stability\">district leaders’ plan to slash spending\u003c/a> by more than $100 million for the second year in a row.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed cuts include deeper staffing reductions, changes to middle school schedules and school consolidations as soon as 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Maria Su said earlier this month that the reductions aim to pull the district out of state oversight, but parents and teachers are worried about the impact further classroom reductions could have, especially on already vulnerable students and schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is definitely some misalignment … in the sense that … our recommendations are calling out for sustainability in staffing, for mental health, and we’re cutting significant apportionments of positions,” said Vanessa Marrero, who heads Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, SFUSD cut $114 million in ongoing expenses through hundreds of early retirement buy-outs, a strict staffing model and administrative cuts. This year, it needs to identify another $102 million to cut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The superintendent’s draft plan — which won’t be finalized until the spring — totals about $70 million in savings by 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Under an updated staffing model, only Title I eligible schools will be allocated a social worker. Previously, non-Title I campuses that met specific enrollment criteria were eligible for at least a half-time position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal cuts 45 full-time roles, which could be spread across as many as 90 campuses. The district said it was looking to identify other restricted funding sources to pay for these roles, and to provide flexibility in schools’ discretionary spending to “prioritize investments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other major personnel reductions will come from a change to middle school schedules: campuses will transition from a seven-period block schedule rolled out over the last few years back to six-period school days.[aside postID=news_12066271 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg']In 2018, the district introduced its “\u003ca href=\"https://mgredesign.sfusd.edu/\">Middle Grades Redesign\u003c/a>” initiative, which created longer class periods and aimed to add elective course opportunities for students. Presidio Middle School transitioned to the seven-period schedule in 2022, and allows students to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/school/presidio-middle-school/departments/electives#:~:text=Presidio%2022%2D23%20Electives,%2C%20Dance%2C%20Music%2C%20Computers)\">choose\u003c/a> four quarter-long arts, computer science, language, health or other advanced courses throughout the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the district, returning to a standard six-period day will prioritize core classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new schedule would cut 56 classroom teaching positions, and another eight in health. That course material would be folded into other classes, like physical education or science, according to the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Security aide roles across campuses would also be cut in half, as well as 18 assistant principal jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eliminating transportation for 2,500 non-special education students would save another $5 million. Marrero said the current funding serves students in neighborhoods with historically lower average test scores who attend schools further from their homes. Cutting that service could create an additional barrier for some to go to a school of their choice, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12039959 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Meredith Willa Dodson speaks during a rally to reopen San Francisco Unified Schools at City Hall in San Francisco on March 13, 2021, on the first anniversary of school buildings being closed. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Another $14.6 million could come from central office personnel and service reductions, an area that the teachers’ union has long said keeps funds away from students. The district made significant reductions by restructuring the office last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand that [the district] needs to make cuts, but we don’t yet understand, are these really the best cuts for our students or is there some other way?” said Meredith Dodson, who runs the advocacy group SF Parents. She said families want to know what other cuts were considered and how the ones identified in the fiscal stabilization plan were determined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re just looking for that information from the district to understand that that level of analysis was done [to determine] that these are the solutions that bring the minimal amount of harm to kids. I just don’t see it yet,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beginning in the fall of 2027, the district is also suggesting savings of more than $3 million thanks to a “consolidation of [its] educational program portfolio.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent weeks, SFUSD leadership has begun to discuss reconsidering school closures, after a controversial plan to shutter 11 schools was shelved last fall. Su took over in the wake of the closure crisis, and has prioritized the district’s budget before addressing its footprint, but she said last month that after the fiscal stabilization plan is complete this year, it would be time to take back up the initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064757\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12064757 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teachers, K-5 students, and their families at Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy rally at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2024, to protest against the potential closure of the school. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>SFUSD, like many districts in the state, faces declining enrollment, and campuses across the city have hundreds of empty seats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While shuttering schools alone won’t save the district significant amounts of money, the district has said that having fewer schools could allow for more robust staffing and make room for more specialized programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodson said showing families those potential benefits will be key to garnering community support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a parent to be told that their school is going to be closed, and to be okay with it, I think they would have to believe that there’s better education on the other side of that for their kid,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reductions planned so far are still about $30 million shy of what the district will need to cut to avoid deficit spending. And, SFUSD currently faces an escalating threat of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066097/sfusd-teachers-overwhelmingly-vote-to-authorize-the-first-strike-in-49-years\">teacher strike after months\u003c/a> of halting negotiations over a new two-year contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While SFUSD has said it cannot meet the educators’ demands due to the budget crisis, the union has signaled that members are prepared to strike over wages, staffing demands and more subsidized health care benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-board-of-education\">school board\u003c/a> on Tuesday will get a first look at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066271/sfusd-has-overspent-for-years-major-cuts-could-have-it-on-the-path-to-stability\">district leaders’ plan to slash spending\u003c/a> by more than $100 million for the second year in a row.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed cuts include deeper staffing reductions, changes to middle school schedules and school consolidations as soon as 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Maria Su said earlier this month that the reductions aim to pull the district out of state oversight, but parents and teachers are worried about the impact further classroom reductions could have, especially on already vulnerable students and schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is definitely some misalignment … in the sense that … our recommendations are calling out for sustainability in staffing, for mental health, and we’re cutting significant apportionments of positions,” said Vanessa Marrero, who heads Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, SFUSD cut $114 million in ongoing expenses through hundreds of early retirement buy-outs, a strict staffing model and administrative cuts. This year, it needs to identify another $102 million to cut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The superintendent’s draft plan — which won’t be finalized until the spring — totals about $70 million in savings by 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Under an updated staffing model, only Title I eligible schools will be allocated a social worker. Previously, non-Title I campuses that met specific enrollment criteria were eligible for at least a half-time position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal cuts 45 full-time roles, which could be spread across as many as 90 campuses. The district said it was looking to identify other restricted funding sources to pay for these roles, and to provide flexibility in schools’ discretionary spending to “prioritize investments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other major personnel reductions will come from a change to middle school schedules: campuses will transition from a seven-period block schedule rolled out over the last few years back to six-period school days.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In 2018, the district introduced its “\u003ca href=\"https://mgredesign.sfusd.edu/\">Middle Grades Redesign\u003c/a>” initiative, which created longer class periods and aimed to add elective course opportunities for students. Presidio Middle School transitioned to the seven-period schedule in 2022, and allows students to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/school/presidio-middle-school/departments/electives#:~:text=Presidio%2022%2D23%20Electives,%2C%20Dance%2C%20Music%2C%20Computers)\">choose\u003c/a> four quarter-long arts, computer science, language, health or other advanced courses throughout the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the district, returning to a standard six-period day will prioritize core classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new schedule would cut 56 classroom teaching positions, and another eight in health. That course material would be folded into other classes, like physical education or science, according to the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Security aide roles across campuses would also be cut in half, as well as 18 assistant principal jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eliminating transportation for 2,500 non-special education students would save another $5 million. Marrero said the current funding serves students in neighborhoods with historically lower average test scores who attend schools further from their homes. Cutting that service could create an additional barrier for some to go to a school of their choice, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12039959 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Meredith Willa Dodson speaks during a rally to reopen San Francisco Unified Schools at City Hall in San Francisco on March 13, 2021, on the first anniversary of school buildings being closed. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Another $14.6 million could come from central office personnel and service reductions, an area that the teachers’ union has long said keeps funds away from students. The district made significant reductions by restructuring the office last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand that [the district] needs to make cuts, but we don’t yet understand, are these really the best cuts for our students or is there some other way?” said Meredith Dodson, who runs the advocacy group SF Parents. She said families want to know what other cuts were considered and how the ones identified in the fiscal stabilization plan were determined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re just looking for that information from the district to understand that that level of analysis was done [to determine] that these are the solutions that bring the minimal amount of harm to kids. I just don’t see it yet,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beginning in the fall of 2027, the district is also suggesting savings of more than $3 million thanks to a “consolidation of [its] educational program portfolio.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent weeks, SFUSD leadership has begun to discuss reconsidering school closures, after a controversial plan to shutter 11 schools was shelved last fall. Su took over in the wake of the closure crisis, and has prioritized the district’s budget before addressing its footprint, but she said last month that after the fiscal stabilization plan is complete this year, it would be time to take back up the initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064757\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12064757 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teachers, K-5 students, and their families at Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy rally at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2024, to protest against the potential closure of the school. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>SFUSD, like many districts in the state, faces declining enrollment, and campuses across the city have hundreds of empty seats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While shuttering schools alone won’t save the district significant amounts of money, the district has said that having fewer schools could allow for more robust staffing and make room for more specialized programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodson said showing families those potential benefits will be key to garnering community support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a parent to be told that their school is going to be closed, and to be okay with it, I think they would have to believe that there’s better education on the other side of that for their kid,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reductions planned so far are still about $30 million shy of what the district will need to cut to avoid deficit spending. And, SFUSD currently faces an escalating threat of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066097/sfusd-teachers-overwhelmingly-vote-to-authorize-the-first-strike-in-49-years\">teacher strike after months\u003c/a> of halting negotiations over a new two-year contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While SFUSD has said it cannot meet the educators’ demands due to the budget crisis, the union has signaled that members are prepared to strike over wages, staffing demands and more subsidized health care benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco’s school district plans to make \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044768/sf-school-district-unveils-balanced-budget-after-cutting-over-110-million-in-spending\">more than $100 million in budget cuts\u003c/a> for the second year in a row to stave off a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059537/as-deficit-looms-sf-public-school-teachers-threaten-strike-over-fair-contracts\">massive deficit\u003c/a> and aim to end a yearslong pattern of overspending, district officials said Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move, however, won’t come without pain for families and staff, and it could be threatened by ongoing labor negotiations with district teachers, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066097/sfusd-teachers-overwhelmingly-vote-to-authorize-the-first-strike-in-49-years\">escalated their threat to strike\u003c/a> this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our fiscal stabilization plan is working, and we are moving towards stability for our school district,” Superintendent Maria Su said Friday. “However, we are still struggling in really tough times. We still need to make additional reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These reductions will not be taken lightly,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Unified School District plans to present $102 million in budget cuts this year, as it faces projected funding shortfalls of $51 million for next year, and $32 million and $19 million for the following two years, Su said. Insight into where those cuts will focus could come as soon as Dec. 16, when staff will present an update to their multi-year fiscal stabilization plan to the school board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first year of the plan, which was implemented for the current school year, included $114 million in ongoing expenditure reductions through an employee buyout initiative for hundreds of late-career educators, a strict campus staffing model and layoffs of administrative employees in the central office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053776\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053776\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFirstDay-01_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFirstDay-01_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFirstDay-01_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFirstDay-01_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students at Sanchez Elementary School in San Francisco arrive for their first day of the school year on Aug. 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Su has warned that making more cuts on top of those could be harder, but she said her team heard a resounding message from families at town halls across the district this fall: End the cycle of cutting services year after year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a strong desire for us to be stable,” Su told KQED. “It’s not fair to students, it’s not fair to parents, [and] certainly not fair to our staff, where we cannot even guarantee the basic stability of a job or the basic stability of a student knowing that their teacher is going to be in their school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Making these budget reductions, she said, is necessary to achieve stability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s cuts last year put it in a position to move out of a “negative” budget certification from the state, which indicates that financial advisors don’t believe it will be able to pay its bills over the coming two years. Now, the district expects a “qualified” certification, which indicates that it might be able to meet its financial obligations.[aside postID=news_12066097 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20240827_SFUSDProtest_GC-5_qed.jpg']“Today is good news. Achieving qualified certification is a critical step towards exiting state oversight and fully regaining local control,” school board president Phil Kim said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under that certification, the district would still be subject to financial oversight, but Su said it’s a step toward a “positive” certification, which would allow it to operate independent of the state for the \u003ca href=\"https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/sfusd/Board.nsf/files/C7JF2N82A0CD/%24file/21%20-%2009.15%20CDE%20Letter%20re%20San%20Francisco%20COE%20%26%20USD%202021-22%20Budget.pdf\">first time since 2021\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said the district hopes to reach that level as soon as March, but by the end of the academic year at the latest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That plan could be threatened, though, by ongoing labor tensions between SFUSD and United Educators of San Francisco, which represents 6,500 district educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A strike authorization vote held by UESF overwhelmingly passed on Wednesday, the first of two votes needed to authorize a work stoppage, after nine months of unfruitful negotiations over their 2025-2027 contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union can now call for a strike vote at any time, but it will have to complete a two-step mediation process before teachers are legally allowed to walk off the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The parties declared an impasse in October and are now in the second mediated negotiation phase, called “fact-finding.” They’ll present arguments to a panel of state-appointed mediators later this month, and that panel will issue non-binding compromise recommendations. SFUSD will be able to make a final offer to the union before educators can legally go on strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051869\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12051869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While the union is demanding a raise, fully paid health care coverage for dependents and a new special education staffing model, the board said it isn’t in a position to offer the union more money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The board truly wants to honor all of the hard work and meaningful work that our educators are doing to serve our students every single day. We just cannot give them money that we do not have,” school board vice president Jaime Huling said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will and have offered them everything that we can afford,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October, SFUSD offered UESF a 2% raise in exchange for concessions on its other demands, and at the expense of some existing contract provisions, including a sabbatical program for veteran educators and extra preparation periods for advanced placement teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union leaders said the results of this week’s vote — which was passed by 99.3% of members who voted — indicate that they’re willing to strike if their demands aren’t met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If teachers strike, it would be the first in nearly 50 years in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, we hope district management is really looking at where they’re at in negotiations and preparing to bring us things that could be a potential agreement,” said Nathalie Hrizi, one of UESF’s bargaining coordinators. “No one wants to strike, but we are willing to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco’s school district plans to make \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044768/sf-school-district-unveils-balanced-budget-after-cutting-over-110-million-in-spending\">more than $100 million in budget cuts\u003c/a> for the second year in a row to stave off a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059537/as-deficit-looms-sf-public-school-teachers-threaten-strike-over-fair-contracts\">massive deficit\u003c/a> and aim to end a yearslong pattern of overspending, district officials said Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move, however, won’t come without pain for families and staff, and it could be threatened by ongoing labor negotiations with district teachers, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066097/sfusd-teachers-overwhelmingly-vote-to-authorize-the-first-strike-in-49-years\">escalated their threat to strike\u003c/a> this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our fiscal stabilization plan is working, and we are moving towards stability for our school district,” Superintendent Maria Su said Friday. “However, we are still struggling in really tough times. We still need to make additional reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These reductions will not be taken lightly,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Unified School District plans to present $102 million in budget cuts this year, as it faces projected funding shortfalls of $51 million for next year, and $32 million and $19 million for the following two years, Su said. Insight into where those cuts will focus could come as soon as Dec. 16, when staff will present an update to their multi-year fiscal stabilization plan to the school board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first year of the plan, which was implemented for the current school year, included $114 million in ongoing expenditure reductions through an employee buyout initiative for hundreds of late-career educators, a strict campus staffing model and layoffs of administrative employees in the central office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053776\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053776\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFirstDay-01_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFirstDay-01_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFirstDay-01_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFirstDay-01_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students at Sanchez Elementary School in San Francisco arrive for their first day of the school year on Aug. 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Su has warned that making more cuts on top of those could be harder, but she said her team heard a resounding message from families at town halls across the district this fall: End the cycle of cutting services year after year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a strong desire for us to be stable,” Su told KQED. “It’s not fair to students, it’s not fair to parents, [and] certainly not fair to our staff, where we cannot even guarantee the basic stability of a job or the basic stability of a student knowing that their teacher is going to be in their school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Making these budget reductions, she said, is necessary to achieve stability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s cuts last year put it in a position to move out of a “negative” budget certification from the state, which indicates that financial advisors don’t believe it will be able to pay its bills over the coming two years. Now, the district expects a “qualified” certification, which indicates that it might be able to meet its financial obligations.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Today is good news. Achieving qualified certification is a critical step towards exiting state oversight and fully regaining local control,” school board president Phil Kim said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under that certification, the district would still be subject to financial oversight, but Su said it’s a step toward a “positive” certification, which would allow it to operate independent of the state for the \u003ca href=\"https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/sfusd/Board.nsf/files/C7JF2N82A0CD/%24file/21%20-%2009.15%20CDE%20Letter%20re%20San%20Francisco%20COE%20%26%20USD%202021-22%20Budget.pdf\">first time since 2021\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said the district hopes to reach that level as soon as March, but by the end of the academic year at the latest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That plan could be threatened, though, by ongoing labor tensions between SFUSD and United Educators of San Francisco, which represents 6,500 district educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A strike authorization vote held by UESF overwhelmingly passed on Wednesday, the first of two votes needed to authorize a work stoppage, after nine months of unfruitful negotiations over their 2025-2027 contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union can now call for a strike vote at any time, but it will have to complete a two-step mediation process before teachers are legally allowed to walk off the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The parties declared an impasse in October and are now in the second mediated negotiation phase, called “fact-finding.” They’ll present arguments to a panel of state-appointed mediators later this month, and that panel will issue non-binding compromise recommendations. SFUSD will be able to make a final offer to the union before educators can legally go on strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051869\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12051869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While the union is demanding a raise, fully paid health care coverage for dependents and a new special education staffing model, the board said it isn’t in a position to offer the union more money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The board truly wants to honor all of the hard work and meaningful work that our educators are doing to serve our students every single day. We just cannot give them money that we do not have,” school board vice president Jaime Huling said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will and have offered them everything that we can afford,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October, SFUSD offered UESF a 2% raise in exchange for concessions on its other demands, and at the expense of some existing contract provisions, including a sabbatical program for veteran educators and extra preparation periods for advanced placement teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union leaders said the results of this week’s vote — which was passed by 99.3% of members who voted — indicate that they’re willing to strike if their demands aren’t met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If teachers strike, it would be the first in nearly 50 years in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, we hope district management is really looking at where they’re at in negotiations and preparing to bring us things that could be a potential agreement,” said Nathalie Hrizi, one of UESF’s bargaining coordinators. “No one wants to strike, but we are willing to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>After months of unresolved contract negotiations, San Francisco educators overwhelmingly passed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065524/san-francisco-teachers-take-key-step-toward-strike\">strike authorization vote Wednesday\u003c/a>, the first of two needed to approve a work stoppage across the city’s public schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a five-hour vote at Balboa High School on Wednesday, 99.3% of United Educators of San Francisco members who cast their ballots chose to give the union’s bargaining team permission to call a strike vote at any time as they continue to work with the San Francisco Unified School District and third-party mediators to reach a contract deal for this year and next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the union does call and pass a strike vote, the district’s more than 6,000 educators could launch their first teacher strike in nearly 50 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When our members come out for this vote … it gives us direction where we should be headed next. And it should be a very clear sign that our members are on the same page,” UESF President Cassondra Curiel said, ahead of Wednesday’s vote. “As a union, we have to do what our members say, and that’s what’s happening. They’re saying continue to push, and so we have to move forward with this escalation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Educators are currently working under a contract that expired in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UESF has asked for a 9% raise for teachers and 14% raise for non-certificated staff over two years. They also asked for up to 100% health care benefit coverage and a new special education staffing model, among other demands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025666\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12025666 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassondra Curiel, president of United Educators of San Francisco, speaks during a press conference at Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 Community School in San Francisco’s Mission District on Feb. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Our members feel very, very strongly … and are willing to move toward collective action if necessary,” Nathalie Hrizi, who is coordinating UESF’s bargaining, said of Wednesday’s results. “There is willingness to strike over these issues if we have to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union leaders say months of bargaining that began in March have been fruitless: In October, UESF and SFUSD declared an impasse and entered a mediation process after the union rejected a proposal from the district that offered educators a 2% wage hike if they agreed to concede on many of their other demands — including the increased health care benefit contributions and special education staffing model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union leaders said the pay increase would have meant discontinuing other previous contract stipulations, like a sabbatical program for veteran teachers and extra preparation periods for advanced placement teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curiel said that the union moved to end mediation after getting the impression that the district didn’t plan to make any additional offers in the weeks after their mediation session. Now, they’ll move to the final bargaining step before a strike, an independent fact-finding process conducted by a third-party panel. After a hearing later this month, the group will issue non-binding recommendations for a compromise deal.[aside postID=news_12065732 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250723-WEST-CO-CO-ICE-MD-04-KQED.jpg']SFUSD has said it remains committed to reaching an agreement with the union, but is currently under stringent fiscal oversight by the state and in the second year of a two-year budget stabilization plan requiring hundreds of millions in ongoing expense reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the district made major personnel and service reductions to cut $114 million from its budget, and according to early recommendations \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2025/12/sfusd-schools-budget-cuts/\">obtained by \u003cem>Mission Local\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, the district could present plans later this month to cut another $113 million next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spokesperson Laura Dudnick noted that in 2023, SFUSD awarded historic $9,000 raises to all UESF members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, the state of California holds the authority to override any decision by the San Francisco Board of Education if it believes that decision could compromise the district’s financial stability,” Dudnick said in a statement. “We are facing another round of major budget cuts for the 2026-27 school year, and difficult decisions are ahead. Balancing the budget is a core step toward exiting state oversight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tension echoes labor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065732/west-contra-costa-teachers-are-set-to-strike-across-the-bay-area-more-could-follow\">negotiations in districts across the Bay Area\u003c/a>, where educators say their wages have fallen behind the cost of living and school districts have passed rising health care costs along to them, cutting deeper into their earnings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12065383\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12065383\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/240508-Berkeley-High-File-MD-02_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/240508-Berkeley-High-File-MD-02_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/240508-Berkeley-High-File-MD-02_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/240508-Berkeley-High-File-MD-02_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Berkeley High School in Berkeley on May 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065732/west-contra-costa-teachers-are-set-to-strike-across-the-bay-area-more-could-follow\">West Contra Costa County Unified School District’s teachers\u003c/a> launched their first-ever labor strike Thursday, and Berkeley Unified School District’s union declared an impasse in negotiations with their district last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curiel said come January, San Francisco teachers with more than one dependent could have to put $1,550 per pay cycle toward health insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wednesday’s result authorizes the union bargaining team to call for a strike vote at any time, though they can’t legally go on strike until the fact-finding panel issues its report in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the district and union receive the panel’s recommendations, the district will be able to make a final contract offer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, we hope district management is really looking at where they’re at in negotiations and preparing to bring us things that could be a potential agreement,” Hrizi said. “No one wants to strike, but we are willing to [in order] to win the necessary things we’re fighting for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After months of unresolved contract negotiations, San Francisco educators overwhelmingly passed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065524/san-francisco-teachers-take-key-step-toward-strike\">strike authorization vote Wednesday\u003c/a>, the first of two needed to approve a work stoppage across the city’s public schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a five-hour vote at Balboa High School on Wednesday, 99.3% of United Educators of San Francisco members who cast their ballots chose to give the union’s bargaining team permission to call a strike vote at any time as they continue to work with the San Francisco Unified School District and third-party mediators to reach a contract deal for this year and next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the union does call and pass a strike vote, the district’s more than 6,000 educators could launch their first teacher strike in nearly 50 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When our members come out for this vote … it gives us direction where we should be headed next. And it should be a very clear sign that our members are on the same page,” UESF President Cassondra Curiel said, ahead of Wednesday’s vote. “As a union, we have to do what our members say, and that’s what’s happening. They’re saying continue to push, and so we have to move forward with this escalation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Educators are currently working under a contract that expired in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UESF has asked for a 9% raise for teachers and 14% raise for non-certificated staff over two years. They also asked for up to 100% health care benefit coverage and a new special education staffing model, among other demands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025666\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12025666 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassondra Curiel, president of United Educators of San Francisco, speaks during a press conference at Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 Community School in San Francisco’s Mission District on Feb. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Our members feel very, very strongly … and are willing to move toward collective action if necessary,” Nathalie Hrizi, who is coordinating UESF’s bargaining, said of Wednesday’s results. “There is willingness to strike over these issues if we have to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union leaders say months of bargaining that began in March have been fruitless: In October, UESF and SFUSD declared an impasse and entered a mediation process after the union rejected a proposal from the district that offered educators a 2% wage hike if they agreed to concede on many of their other demands — including the increased health care benefit contributions and special education staffing model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union leaders said the pay increase would have meant discontinuing other previous contract stipulations, like a sabbatical program for veteran teachers and extra preparation periods for advanced placement teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curiel said that the union moved to end mediation after getting the impression that the district didn’t plan to make any additional offers in the weeks after their mediation session. Now, they’ll move to the final bargaining step before a strike, an independent fact-finding process conducted by a third-party panel. After a hearing later this month, the group will issue non-binding recommendations for a compromise deal.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>SFUSD has said it remains committed to reaching an agreement with the union, but is currently under stringent fiscal oversight by the state and in the second year of a two-year budget stabilization plan requiring hundreds of millions in ongoing expense reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the district made major personnel and service reductions to cut $114 million from its budget, and according to early recommendations \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2025/12/sfusd-schools-budget-cuts/\">obtained by \u003cem>Mission Local\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, the district could present plans later this month to cut another $113 million next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spokesperson Laura Dudnick noted that in 2023, SFUSD awarded historic $9,000 raises to all UESF members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, the state of California holds the authority to override any decision by the San Francisco Board of Education if it believes that decision could compromise the district’s financial stability,” Dudnick said in a statement. “We are facing another round of major budget cuts for the 2026-27 school year, and difficult decisions are ahead. Balancing the budget is a core step toward exiting state oversight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tension echoes labor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065732/west-contra-costa-teachers-are-set-to-strike-across-the-bay-area-more-could-follow\">negotiations in districts across the Bay Area\u003c/a>, where educators say their wages have fallen behind the cost of living and school districts have passed rising health care costs along to them, cutting deeper into their earnings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12065383\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12065383\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/240508-Berkeley-High-File-MD-02_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/240508-Berkeley-High-File-MD-02_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/240508-Berkeley-High-File-MD-02_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/240508-Berkeley-High-File-MD-02_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Berkeley High School in Berkeley on May 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065732/west-contra-costa-teachers-are-set-to-strike-across-the-bay-area-more-could-follow\">West Contra Costa County Unified School District’s teachers\u003c/a> launched their first-ever labor strike Thursday, and Berkeley Unified School District’s union declared an impasse in negotiations with their district last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curiel said come January, San Francisco teachers with more than one dependent could have to put $1,550 per pay cycle toward health insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wednesday’s result authorizes the union bargaining team to call for a strike vote at any time, though they can’t legally go on strike until the fact-finding panel issues its report in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the district and union receive the panel’s recommendations, the district will be able to make a final contract offer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, we hope district management is really looking at where they’re at in negotiations and preparing to bring us things that could be a potential agreement,” Hrizi said. “No one wants to strike, but we are willing to [in order] to win the necessary things we’re fighting for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco’s teachers union plans to take a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059537/as-deficit-looms-sf-public-school-teachers-threaten-strike-over-fair-contracts\">significant step toward a strike\u003c/a> next week, after eight months of bargaining with the San Francisco Unified School District have failed to yield a contract agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>United Educators of San Francisco will hold a strike authorization vote — the first of two the union’s rules require to officially call a work stoppage — on Dec. 3.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union president Cassondra Curiel said that since UESF and SFUSD declared an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059537/as-deficit-looms-sf-public-school-teachers-threaten-strike-over-fair-contracts\">impasse and entered third-party mediation\u003c/a> in October, the district has not made concessions on proposed raises and expanded health care coverage, among other issues, prompting the union to take a step toward striking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We did not get a signal from the district that they were going to change routes at all,” she said. The union and district’s bargaining teams attended a full day of mediation earlier this month, which Curiel said yielded no progress. “That really made it clear to our bargaining team that the district has every intention to maintain a status quo in our contract,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD said in a statement on Wednesday that it was continuing to bargain in good faith “to achieve a fair agreement that avoids disruption to student services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008537\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008537\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teanna Tillery (center), a Para Educator, listens to Cassondra Curiel, President of United Educators of San Francisco, during a press conference outside San Francisco Unified School District offices on Sept. 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>UESF and SFUSD \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12025440/schools-face-cuts-california-teachers-unions-band-together-demands\">began bargaining\u003c/a> over a new two-year contract for educators in March. Their current contract expired in June, but mostly remains in place until a new deal is reached.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October, UESF rejected SFUSD’s contract offer, which would have given educators a 2% raise, saying it would have required more concessions than gains from its members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deal would have undone existing agreements that give high school teachers who take on extra work — as department heads or teachers of Advanced Placement courses that enroll a certain number of students — an additional “prep” period, and cut stipends awarded to schools based on the number of AP exams their students take.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would also have ended a program that allows educators to apply for semester-to-year-long sabbaticals after serving in the district for a minimum number of years and increased class sizes on some campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UESF’s initial proposal for the pay increase in March was 14% for classified employees and 9% for certificated employees over two years. In the months since, there’s been no back-and-forth negotiations bringing that percentage down, Curiel told KQED in October. She said the 2% offer was the first from SFUSD that included a raise.[aside postID=news_12064746 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed.jpg']The wage hike is important, especially for paraeducator positions, which are some of the district’s lowest-paid and hardest-to-staff roles, according to the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the district has indicated that its budget to increase compensation is tight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD is currently in the second of a two-year budgeting process to curb a massive ongoing deficit. Last year, it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044768/sf-school-district-unveils-balanced-budget-after-cutting-over-110-million-in-spending\">slashed $114 million\u003c/a> in annual expenses through hundreds of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">early retirement buyouts\u003c/a>, the implementation of a strict staffing model in schools and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044768/sf-school-district-unveils-balanced-budget-after-cutting-over-110-million-in-spending\">administrative position reductions\u003c/a>. This year, it will need to make another $48 million in cuts, which Superintendent Maria Su has indicated could be even more challenging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October, the district said it was committed to a budget process that benefits students while ensuring long-term financial stability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, the state of California holds the authority to override any decision by the San Francisco Board of Education if it believes that decision could compromise the district’s financial stability,” the district said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October, SFUSD said that “any proposal for raises must be approved by the CDE and must be financially sustainable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The request for a wage hike comes just two years after SFUSD gave \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/about-sfusd/sfusd-news/press-releases/2023-10-20-sfusd-uesf-announce-9000-salary-raise-teachers-2023-24\">historic $9,000 raises\u003c/a> to educators, along with a 5% salary increase the following year. Under that deal, classified educators also received a significant bump to a minimum wage of $30 an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curiel said that higher pay matters to members, but the two primary focuses of negotiations have not been about compensation. UESF is requesting an agreement that the district will cover health care for educators’ dependents and development of a workload model aimed at improving working conditions for special education teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are 36 days away from a massive increase to our health care for the second or third year in a row for our dependents,” Curiel said Tuesday. She said that educators pay about $650 per pay cycle for coverage for one child. In January, coverage for two will be more than $1500, she said.[aside postID=news_12064366 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-04-KQED.jpg']While any health care or workload model deal would likely incur costs, the union’s final two major demands are “low-to-no-cost.” They’re asking to add language to the educators contract that echoes the district’s sanctuary status and commits to using district resources to provide shelter for the most vulnerable students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district already has that language and employs it in school policy, but Curiel said members feel it’s necessary to add it to their contracts because it makes it much more difficult to reverse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We see what happened to our nation during the last election cycle … when folks changed an administration that then changed policy entirely,” Curiel said. “If it’s in our contract, they absolutely cannot do that without the entire union agreeing to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The 6,000 members of UESF hold these values very deeply and want to maintain them. The district insists it doesn’t want to put it in the contract, and we know they can and they absolutely should,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district did not respond to a request for comment regarding the language demands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UESF has requested to be released from mediation. If that request is granted, the district and union would enter a final third-party-led “fact-finding” period to try to reach an agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The strike authorization vote will happen in parallel. If it passes, it gives the union’s bargaining team permission to call a vote to officially authorize a strike in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco’s teachers union plans to take a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059537/as-deficit-looms-sf-public-school-teachers-threaten-strike-over-fair-contracts\">significant step toward a strike\u003c/a> next week, after eight months of bargaining with the San Francisco Unified School District have failed to yield a contract agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>United Educators of San Francisco will hold a strike authorization vote — the first of two the union’s rules require to officially call a work stoppage — on Dec. 3.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union president Cassondra Curiel said that since UESF and SFUSD declared an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059537/as-deficit-looms-sf-public-school-teachers-threaten-strike-over-fair-contracts\">impasse and entered third-party mediation\u003c/a> in October, the district has not made concessions on proposed raises and expanded health care coverage, among other issues, prompting the union to take a step toward striking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We did not get a signal from the district that they were going to change routes at all,” she said. The union and district’s bargaining teams attended a full day of mediation earlier this month, which Curiel said yielded no progress. “That really made it clear to our bargaining team that the district has every intention to maintain a status quo in our contract,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD said in a statement on Wednesday that it was continuing to bargain in good faith “to achieve a fair agreement that avoids disruption to student services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008537\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008537\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240916-UnionSFSchoolClosures-38-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teanna Tillery (center), a Para Educator, listens to Cassondra Curiel, President of United Educators of San Francisco, during a press conference outside San Francisco Unified School District offices on Sept. 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>UESF and SFUSD \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12025440/schools-face-cuts-california-teachers-unions-band-together-demands\">began bargaining\u003c/a> over a new two-year contract for educators in March. Their current contract expired in June, but mostly remains in place until a new deal is reached.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October, UESF rejected SFUSD’s contract offer, which would have given educators a 2% raise, saying it would have required more concessions than gains from its members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deal would have undone existing agreements that give high school teachers who take on extra work — as department heads or teachers of Advanced Placement courses that enroll a certain number of students — an additional “prep” period, and cut stipends awarded to schools based on the number of AP exams their students take.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would also have ended a program that allows educators to apply for semester-to-year-long sabbaticals after serving in the district for a minimum number of years and increased class sizes on some campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UESF’s initial proposal for the pay increase in March was 14% for classified employees and 9% for certificated employees over two years. In the months since, there’s been no back-and-forth negotiations bringing that percentage down, Curiel told KQED in October. She said the 2% offer was the first from SFUSD that included a raise.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The wage hike is important, especially for paraeducator positions, which are some of the district’s lowest-paid and hardest-to-staff roles, according to the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the district has indicated that its budget to increase compensation is tight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD is currently in the second of a two-year budgeting process to curb a massive ongoing deficit. Last year, it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044768/sf-school-district-unveils-balanced-budget-after-cutting-over-110-million-in-spending\">slashed $114 million\u003c/a> in annual expenses through hundreds of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">early retirement buyouts\u003c/a>, the implementation of a strict staffing model in schools and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044768/sf-school-district-unveils-balanced-budget-after-cutting-over-110-million-in-spending\">administrative position reductions\u003c/a>. This year, it will need to make another $48 million in cuts, which Superintendent Maria Su has indicated could be even more challenging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October, the district said it was committed to a budget process that benefits students while ensuring long-term financial stability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, the state of California holds the authority to override any decision by the San Francisco Board of Education if it believes that decision could compromise the district’s financial stability,” the district said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October, SFUSD said that “any proposal for raises must be approved by the CDE and must be financially sustainable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The request for a wage hike comes just two years after SFUSD gave \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/about-sfusd/sfusd-news/press-releases/2023-10-20-sfusd-uesf-announce-9000-salary-raise-teachers-2023-24\">historic $9,000 raises\u003c/a> to educators, along with a 5% salary increase the following year. Under that deal, classified educators also received a significant bump to a minimum wage of $30 an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curiel said that higher pay matters to members, but the two primary focuses of negotiations have not been about compensation. UESF is requesting an agreement that the district will cover health care for educators’ dependents and development of a workload model aimed at improving working conditions for special education teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are 36 days away from a massive increase to our health care for the second or third year in a row for our dependents,” Curiel said Tuesday. She said that educators pay about $650 per pay cycle for coverage for one child. In January, coverage for two will be more than $1500, she said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>While any health care or workload model deal would likely incur costs, the union’s final two major demands are “low-to-no-cost.” They’re asking to add language to the educators contract that echoes the district’s sanctuary status and commits to using district resources to provide shelter for the most vulnerable students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district already has that language and employs it in school policy, but Curiel said members feel it’s necessary to add it to their contracts because it makes it much more difficult to reverse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We see what happened to our nation during the last election cycle … when folks changed an administration that then changed policy entirely,” Curiel said. “If it’s in our contract, they absolutely cannot do that without the entire union agreeing to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The 6,000 members of UESF hold these values very deeply and want to maintain them. The district insists it doesn’t want to put it in the contract, and we know they can and they absolutely should,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district did not respond to a request for comment regarding the language demands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UESF has requested to be released from mediation. If that request is granted, the district and union would enter a final third-party-led “fact-finding” period to try to reach an agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The strike authorization vote will happen in parallel. If it passes, it gives the union’s bargaining team permission to call a vote to officially authorize a strike in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "sf-school-board-could-put-school-closures-back-on-the-table",
"title": "SF School Board Could Put School Closures Back on the Table",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>’s school board could set a timeline on a plan to close schools, a year after a botched push to shutter up to 11 campuses left staff and district families reeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a meeting earlier this week, members discussed a new resolution that would require Superintendent Maria Su to put forward proposals to reorganize schools and implement a new geography-based school assignment system, as soon as August 2026, and by the next fall’s enrollment fair at the latest. If passed, these changes would go into effect ahead of the 2027-2028 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While still in early stages, the conversation foreshadows an uphill battle to get either the school reorganization or the assignment system to the finish line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Su was appointed superintendent by then-Mayor London Breed last October, she shelved a plan \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010008/sf-schools-crisis-is-spiraling-with-top-official-to-resign-heres-all-thats-happened\">to close up to three schools and merge up to 16\u003c/a>, which had been plagued with delays, data issues and equity and transparency concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She turned to addressing SFUSD’s massive budget crisis, and is now in the second of a two-year plan to eliminate a structural deficit by slashing more than $150 million in district spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “Strong Schools Resolution,” introduced Tuesday, appears to outline her next directives from the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010831\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12010831 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Then-Mayor London Breed and Superintendent Maria Su speak with students at Yick Wo Alternative Elementary School in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It details the district’s continuing enrollment decline and unequal demand for classroom seats across San Francisco neighborhoods and programs. While some schools, especially those with language immersion tracks, have long waitlists, others are half-empty and stand to lose more students in the coming years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Expanding some schools and consolidating others will ultimately allow all of our schools to be stronger by reinvesting in teachers, programs, and facilities and making the best use of our real estate portfolio, so that we can continue to improve academics while maintaining our financial stability long term to better serve students,” the draft resolution reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It echoes the district’s reasoning for pursuing closures last year, which failed to garner community support and ultimately led to Superintendent Matt Wayne’s resignation under fire.[aside postID=news_12064366 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-04-KQED.jpg']Families, the teachers’ union and some board members accused the district of not communicating effectively why closures were necessary, using the budget crisis as an excuse despite determining that the closures themselves wouldn’t yield significant savings. SFUSD was also criticized for not engaging schools in the process, a lack of transparency in determining which should shutter and trying to push the plan through on a tight timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The timing also put board members up for reelection in a tough position: discussing the potential closure of voters’ schools weeks before election day. Tuesday’s resolution would set up a similar timeline, putting a vote on any closure plan Su brings forward next fall, around November’s general election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overhauling the district’s enrollment strategy is likely to be more popular, since there’s broad alignment that the current system is dysfunctional, stressful and bad for stabilizing enrollment. But there doesn’t appear to be consensus that a zone-based system approved in 2020 is the right solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That December, SFUSD passed legislation that would transition from a school assignment lottery, which allows families to request any campus across the city, to a system that assigns students to one of a few schools closest to their homes. It was meant to go into effect for students entering elementary schools in the fall of 2023, but has been put off for years due to the pandemic, possible school closures and the ongoing budget crisis — and because the district has found it nearly impossible to implement equitably.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931650\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1620px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11931650\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF.jpg\" alt=\"A white woman with a grey suit over a blue sweater speaks into a microphone at an event\" width=\"1620\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF.jpg 1620w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1620px) 100vw, 1620px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Then-San Francisco Unified School District board candidate, Alida Fisher, speaks at an election night event at El Rio in San Francisco on Nov. 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Board member Alida Fisher said Tuesday that the plan was opposed by community advisory committees, which warned at the time that the assignments would disadvantage children in the Southeast part of the city, where schools faced years of underinvestment, ailing facilities and less robust staffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district also ran into issues creating maps that ensured access to language immersion and special education programs, and balancing three key factors laid out in the legislation — predictability, proximity and diversity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member Matt Alexander said he wanted to see more concrete steps from the superintendent, like asking the board to pick two of those three factors to prioritize. He questioned why the resolution was necessary and why the superintendent didn’t just bring forward a proposal for a vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The late-night discussion yielded little concrete progress toward either goal and more questions than answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fisher posed chief among them: “What is going to be different this time?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Considering school closures and implementing a new school assignment system appear to be Superintendent Maria Su’s next directives from the San Francisco School Board.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>’s school board could set a timeline on a plan to close schools, a year after a botched push to shutter up to 11 campuses left staff and district families reeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a meeting earlier this week, members discussed a new resolution that would require Superintendent Maria Su to put forward proposals to reorganize schools and implement a new geography-based school assignment system, as soon as August 2026, and by the next fall’s enrollment fair at the latest. If passed, these changes would go into effect ahead of the 2027-2028 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While still in early stages, the conversation foreshadows an uphill battle to get either the school reorganization or the assignment system to the finish line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Su was appointed superintendent by then-Mayor London Breed last October, she shelved a plan \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010008/sf-schools-crisis-is-spiraling-with-top-official-to-resign-heres-all-thats-happened\">to close up to three schools and merge up to 16\u003c/a>, which had been plagued with delays, data issues and equity and transparency concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She turned to addressing SFUSD’s massive budget crisis, and is now in the second of a two-year plan to eliminate a structural deficit by slashing more than $150 million in district spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “Strong Schools Resolution,” introduced Tuesday, appears to outline her next directives from the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010831\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12010831 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Then-Mayor London Breed and Superintendent Maria Su speak with students at Yick Wo Alternative Elementary School in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It details the district’s continuing enrollment decline and unequal demand for classroom seats across San Francisco neighborhoods and programs. While some schools, especially those with language immersion tracks, have long waitlists, others are half-empty and stand to lose more students in the coming years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Expanding some schools and consolidating others will ultimately allow all of our schools to be stronger by reinvesting in teachers, programs, and facilities and making the best use of our real estate portfolio, so that we can continue to improve academics while maintaining our financial stability long term to better serve students,” the draft resolution reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It echoes the district’s reasoning for pursuing closures last year, which failed to garner community support and ultimately led to Superintendent Matt Wayne’s resignation under fire.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Families, the teachers’ union and some board members accused the district of not communicating effectively why closures were necessary, using the budget crisis as an excuse despite determining that the closures themselves wouldn’t yield significant savings. SFUSD was also criticized for not engaging schools in the process, a lack of transparency in determining which should shutter and trying to push the plan through on a tight timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The timing also put board members up for reelection in a tough position: discussing the potential closure of voters’ schools weeks before election day. Tuesday’s resolution would set up a similar timeline, putting a vote on any closure plan Su brings forward next fall, around November’s general election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overhauling the district’s enrollment strategy is likely to be more popular, since there’s broad alignment that the current system is dysfunctional, stressful and bad for stabilizing enrollment. But there doesn’t appear to be consensus that a zone-based system approved in 2020 is the right solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That December, SFUSD passed legislation that would transition from a school assignment lottery, which allows families to request any campus across the city, to a system that assigns students to one of a few schools closest to their homes. It was meant to go into effect for students entering elementary schools in the fall of 2023, but has been put off for years due to the pandemic, possible school closures and the ongoing budget crisis — and because the district has found it nearly impossible to implement equitably.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931650\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1620px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11931650\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF.jpg\" alt=\"A white woman with a grey suit over a blue sweater speaks into a microphone at an event\" width=\"1620\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF.jpg 1620w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1620px) 100vw, 1620px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Then-San Francisco Unified School District board candidate, Alida Fisher, speaks at an election night event at El Rio in San Francisco on Nov. 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Board member Alida Fisher said Tuesday that the plan was opposed by community advisory committees, which warned at the time that the assignments would disadvantage children in the Southeast part of the city, where schools faced years of underinvestment, ailing facilities and less robust staffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district also ran into issues creating maps that ensured access to language immersion and special education programs, and balancing three key factors laid out in the legislation — predictability, proximity and diversity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member Matt Alexander said he wanted to see more concrete steps from the superintendent, like asking the board to pick two of those three factors to prioritize. He questioned why the resolution was necessary and why the superintendent didn’t just bring forward a proposal for a vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The late-night discussion yielded little concrete progress toward either goal and more questions than answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fisher posed chief among them: “What is going to be different this time?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "sf-school-board-set-to-make-maria-su-the-permanent-superintendent-for-city-schools",
"title": "SF School Board Set to Make Maria Su the Permanent Superintendent for City Schools",
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"headTitle": "SF School Board Set to Make Maria Su the Permanent Superintendent for City Schools | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010687/sfs-new-school-superintendent-is-on-the-job-little-about-it-is-business-as-usual\">San Francisco’s interim superintendent of schools,\u003c/a> Maria Su, is set to become a permanent district employee on Tuesday, more than a year after she took the reins amid a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010008/sf-schools-crisis-is-spiraling-with-top-official-to-resign-heres-all-thats-happened\">leadership and budgetary crisis\u003c/a> last fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su will be selected as the permanent Superintendent of San Francisco Unified School District, and have her contract term extended through the 2027-2028 academic year, under the agreement expected to be passed by school board members on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said her hope is to build on the trust she’s earned with families during her tenure, while continuing to stabilize the district financially — a goal that means more budget cuts, and potentially school closures, in the coming years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m excited that the board and I are going to continue to commit to ensure that we stay focused on stability, stay focused on our students [and] stay focused on the basics of what SFUSD and school districts should be all about,” she said. “We actually did some really, really hard things last year … where we took very bold steps to reduce our budget by $114 million to help stabilize us. We now need another year of cuts so that we can finally get full control of our budget, so that we can stand on our own two feet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su was tapped last October \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010687/sfs-new-school-superintendent-is-on-the-job-little-about-it-is-business-as-usual\">to head S\u003c/a>\u003cu>FUSD\u003c/u> after the exit of embattled Superintendent Matt Wayne during a botched rollout of a plan to close and merge schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046361\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046361\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then-Mayor London Breed released her from her position as head of the city’s Department of Children, Youth and Their Families and loaned her to the school district under a temporary agreement that maintained her status as a city employee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she stepped into the role, Su shelved the school closure plan and turned to the district’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044768/sf-school-district-unveils-balanced-budget-after-cutting-over-110-million-in-spending\">massive budget deficit\u003c/a>. The district was able to make $114 million in cuts without laying off teachers, instead relying on hundreds of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">early retirement buy-outs\u003c/a>, a strict staffing model and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036914/more-sfusd-layoffs-to-target-central-office-bringing-budget-gap-closer-to-zero\">administrative cuts\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meredith Dodson, who runs the nonprofit parent organization San Francisco Parent Coalition, said it feels like the district has moved away from chaos under Su’s leadership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not out of the woods yet with the budget and it sounds like the district is starting to talk about potential closures again, but regardless, what this new superintendent has been able to do over the last 12 months … she did start to make some significant decisions that put the district back on track and we’ve started to see some progress and some stabilization,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School Board President Phil Kim said the district’s work over the last year has ensured greater fiscal and operational health for SFUSD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The board looks forward to working with Superintendent Su to continue on these efforts to bring greater stability and continuity to SFUSD,” he said.[aside postID=news_12059537 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20240827_SFUSDProtest_GC-5_qed.jpg']This year, the district will need to identify another roughly $48 million in ongoing expenses to cut from its annual budget, which Su said will be harder with all of last year’s cuts already in place. The district is currently holding a series of town hall meetings at schools to decide where best to direct the funding cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board has also warned that the district needs to resume its conversation around school closures — a proposal bound to be widely unpopular regardless of the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At an Oct. 28 meeting, board members said they would likely direct Su to present plans that address the enrollment decline and budget constraints that sparked talk of school closures in 2024. That plan proposed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12008405/these-san-francisco-schools-could-close-list-isnt-final\">closing 11 schools\u003c/a>, merging many of them with other campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Conditions have not changed: Declining enrollment, increased costs, empty seats in our school buildings, these are things that we continue to struggle with that we absolutely need to address in order to ensure long-term sustainability,” he told KQED. “We believe that that work is critical.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said there are some schools in the district that have less than 50% of seats filled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is closing one small high school, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/school/academy-san-francisco-mcateer/announcements/2025-10-01-important-update-academy-2026-27\">The Academy\u003c/a>, this spring, and moving its dual enrollment program with City College to Wallenberg High School, but Su has said the decision wasn’t indicative of a wider school closure conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thus far, she’s strayed away from the topic, instead floating a repurposing of existing school sites as dedicated early learning centers, expanded special education services or specialized schools, like a forthcoming K-8 Mandarin immersion program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That process, though, could mean current school operations would have to change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to make sure that we look at all of our schools and ensure that we have a balanced school portfolio that meets those needs,” she told KQED. “And yes, we might have schools that we will have to close and that will be part of the reorganization.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the board and some parents seem pleased with Su’s first year, others have expressed concerns with the district’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12061790/as-sf-expands-transitional-kindergarten-some-classes-still-lack-permanent-teachers\">expansion of transitional kindergarten\u003c/a> and certain \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046580/sf-school-district-wont-cancel-ethnic-studies-but-pauses-its-homegrown-curriculum\">ethnic studies\u003c/a> course materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008939\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008939\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Signs cover the fence in front of Spring Valley Science Elementary School in San Francisco during a press conference on Oct. 10, 2024, to push for city intervention in SFUSD’s school closure plans. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And the city’s teachers union said it believes someone with more of a background in education should be at the helm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maria Su is not an educator,” United Educators of San Francisco President Cassondra Curiel said. “We feel that it is irresponsible of the board to continue to a contract for this for multiple years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do think it’s critical that the highest decision-maker in our district has a perspective of how schools run,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Su said she brings other experience, including 20 years running a city department, and is hiring a deputy superintendent of educational services to oversee instruction and student services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I bring lots of other things and a lot of other skills to the table,” she said. “And I look forward to bringing that here within SFUSD, and I look forward to continue to work with our educators and our administrators.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board members will vote on the new contract during Tuesday night’s school board meeting. If passed, it will maintain her salary of $385,000 for the first year and add a potential 2% raise in her second year, based on a performance evaluation. Kim said the change in status from a city to district employee won’t impact the cost of her employment to the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/wcruz\">\u003cem>Billy Cruz\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Su took the reins of San Francisco schools last year during tumult over school closures, and has faced pushback from unions over her lack of classroom experience. ",
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"title": "SF School Board Set to Make Maria Su the Permanent Superintendent for City Schools | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010687/sfs-new-school-superintendent-is-on-the-job-little-about-it-is-business-as-usual\">San Francisco’s interim superintendent of schools,\u003c/a> Maria Su, is set to become a permanent district employee on Tuesday, more than a year after she took the reins amid a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010008/sf-schools-crisis-is-spiraling-with-top-official-to-resign-heres-all-thats-happened\">leadership and budgetary crisis\u003c/a> last fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su will be selected as the permanent Superintendent of San Francisco Unified School District, and have her contract term extended through the 2027-2028 academic year, under the agreement expected to be passed by school board members on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said her hope is to build on the trust she’s earned with families during her tenure, while continuing to stabilize the district financially — a goal that means more budget cuts, and potentially school closures, in the coming years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m excited that the board and I are going to continue to commit to ensure that we stay focused on stability, stay focused on our students [and] stay focused on the basics of what SFUSD and school districts should be all about,” she said. “We actually did some really, really hard things last year … where we took very bold steps to reduce our budget by $114 million to help stabilize us. We now need another year of cuts so that we can finally get full control of our budget, so that we can stand on our own two feet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su was tapped last October \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010687/sfs-new-school-superintendent-is-on-the-job-little-about-it-is-business-as-usual\">to head S\u003c/a>\u003cu>FUSD\u003c/u> after the exit of embattled Superintendent Matt Wayne during a botched rollout of a plan to close and merge schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046361\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046361\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then-Mayor London Breed released her from her position as head of the city’s Department of Children, Youth and Their Families and loaned her to the school district under a temporary agreement that maintained her status as a city employee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she stepped into the role, Su shelved the school closure plan and turned to the district’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044768/sf-school-district-unveils-balanced-budget-after-cutting-over-110-million-in-spending\">massive budget deficit\u003c/a>. The district was able to make $114 million in cuts without laying off teachers, instead relying on hundreds of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">early retirement buy-outs\u003c/a>, a strict staffing model and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036914/more-sfusd-layoffs-to-target-central-office-bringing-budget-gap-closer-to-zero\">administrative cuts\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meredith Dodson, who runs the nonprofit parent organization San Francisco Parent Coalition, said it feels like the district has moved away from chaos under Su’s leadership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not out of the woods yet with the budget and it sounds like the district is starting to talk about potential closures again, but regardless, what this new superintendent has been able to do over the last 12 months … she did start to make some significant decisions that put the district back on track and we’ve started to see some progress and some stabilization,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School Board President Phil Kim said the district’s work over the last year has ensured greater fiscal and operational health for SFUSD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The board looks forward to working with Superintendent Su to continue on these efforts to bring greater stability and continuity to SFUSD,” he said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>This year, the district will need to identify another roughly $48 million in ongoing expenses to cut from its annual budget, which Su said will be harder with all of last year’s cuts already in place. The district is currently holding a series of town hall meetings at schools to decide where best to direct the funding cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board has also warned that the district needs to resume its conversation around school closures — a proposal bound to be widely unpopular regardless of the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At an Oct. 28 meeting, board members said they would likely direct Su to present plans that address the enrollment decline and budget constraints that sparked talk of school closures in 2024. That plan proposed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12008405/these-san-francisco-schools-could-close-list-isnt-final\">closing 11 schools\u003c/a>, merging many of them with other campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Conditions have not changed: Declining enrollment, increased costs, empty seats in our school buildings, these are things that we continue to struggle with that we absolutely need to address in order to ensure long-term sustainability,” he told KQED. “We believe that that work is critical.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said there are some schools in the district that have less than 50% of seats filled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is closing one small high school, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/school/academy-san-francisco-mcateer/announcements/2025-10-01-important-update-academy-2026-27\">The Academy\u003c/a>, this spring, and moving its dual enrollment program with City College to Wallenberg High School, but Su has said the decision wasn’t indicative of a wider school closure conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thus far, she’s strayed away from the topic, instead floating a repurposing of existing school sites as dedicated early learning centers, expanded special education services or specialized schools, like a forthcoming K-8 Mandarin immersion program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That process, though, could mean current school operations would have to change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to make sure that we look at all of our schools and ensure that we have a balanced school portfolio that meets those needs,” she told KQED. “And yes, we might have schools that we will have to close and that will be part of the reorganization.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the board and some parents seem pleased with Su’s first year, others have expressed concerns with the district’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12061790/as-sf-expands-transitional-kindergarten-some-classes-still-lack-permanent-teachers\">expansion of transitional kindergarten\u003c/a> and certain \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046580/sf-school-district-wont-cancel-ethnic-studies-but-pauses-its-homegrown-curriculum\">ethnic studies\u003c/a> course materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008939\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008939\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Signs cover the fence in front of Spring Valley Science Elementary School in San Francisco during a press conference on Oct. 10, 2024, to push for city intervention in SFUSD’s school closure plans. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And the city’s teachers union said it believes someone with more of a background in education should be at the helm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maria Su is not an educator,” United Educators of San Francisco President Cassondra Curiel said. “We feel that it is irresponsible of the board to continue to a contract for this for multiple years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do think it’s critical that the highest decision-maker in our district has a perspective of how schools run,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Su said she brings other experience, including 20 years running a city department, and is hiring a deputy superintendent of educational services to oversee instruction and student services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I bring lots of other things and a lot of other skills to the table,” she said. “And I look forward to bringing that here within SFUSD, and I look forward to continue to work with our educators and our administrators.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board members will vote on the new contract during Tuesday night’s school board meeting. If passed, it will maintain her salary of $385,000 for the first year and add a potential 2% raise in her second year, based on a performance evaluation. Kim said the change in status from a city to district employee won’t impact the cost of her employment to the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/wcruz\">\u003cem>Billy Cruz\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>On the calendar in Room 202 at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053574/sf-school-serving-spanish-speaking-immigrants-is-severely-understaffed-parents-say\">Mission Education Center\u003c/a>, there’s a sad face scribbled across Oct. 31.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the 4-year-olds in the Upper Noe school’s transitional kindergarten classroom, Halloween won’t just be a flurry of costumes and candy. It’ll also be their last day with Ms. Katrina, who’s been a familiar face amid a rotation of substitute teachers since August, when the school year began without a permanent teacher in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maya Karwande’s daughter told her over the weekend that she’ll miss Ms. Katrina, who works out of the San Francisco Unified School District’s central office as an instructional coach supporting classroom teachers but has been stationed at MEC for about two months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Karwande said the coaches have provided much-needed stability for the young students, parents were initially assured they would remain until their children’s classroom had a permanent teacher. But last week, the district told parents it “isn’t optimistic” it’ll be able to fill the role at all, according to Karwande. The instructional coaches’ last day is Friday, Karwande said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are facing a situation where the kids have a new substitute teacher … every month for the rest of the year. Or even a series of substitutes that are less than 30 days at a time,” she said via email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a parent, I’m so stressed out,” she told KQED last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053561\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12053561 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mission Education Center, a bilingual elementary school in the San Francisco Unified School District, in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood, on Aug. 25, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>SFUSD \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12052609/as-transitional-kindergarten-opens-to-all-4-year-olds-sf-parents-compete-for-seats\">expanded its transitional kindergarten program\u003c/a> this fall, adding more than a dozen new classrooms as part of California public schools’ gradual rollout of the early education grade level akin to preschool. Any child in the state who turns 4 by Sept. 1 is guaranteed a seat in a TK classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031802/san-francisco-public-schools-see-surge-applications-thanks-transitional-kindergarten-demand\">touted a boost in enrollment\u003c/a> thanks to growing TK interest, and it announced plans to open even more classrooms in the coming years to meet demand. But parents in at least five classrooms at four of the city’s early learning centers and elementary schools told KQED that their students still don’t have permanent teachers — and don’t seem likely to get one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I had known in advance that my daughter’s classroom was not going to have a permanent lead teacher, or that they’re in limbo about a permanent teacher, I may have made other arrangements,” said Susan Zhang, whose daughter attends Frank McCoppin Elementary School in the Richmond District. She said her class has cycled through about 10 teachers since August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is really not what we were expecting, and it’s not what our children need or deserve,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We have asked repeatedly, who’s accountable?’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Substitute teachers with certain emergency permits can work in TK classrooms without meeting the same early education credential and experience requirements as permanent teachers — which are more extensive than those for other elementary school grades — but they can only teach the same group of students for 30 calendar days in an academic year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/leaflets/30-Day-Substitute-Teaching-Permit-(CL-505p)#:~:text=The%20Emergency%2030%2DDay%20Substitute,How%20to%20Apply\">according to California’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zhang’s daughter’s classroom has had a long-term substitute since the beginning of October, but he is also leaving at the end of the month. While a new 30-day sub is interested in taking over the class in November, according to Zhang, parents haven’t gotten any confirmation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the very least, we were just hoping for some communication and transparency from the district … and they just have not been giving us that,” Zhang said. “It’s been very frustrating for families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11863671\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11863671 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/GettyImages-1213355350-scaled-e1761869574699.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial view of the schoolyard at Frank McCoppin Elementary School on March 18, 2020, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Yaely Knebel, another TK parent at McCoppin, has been trying to gather information from district staff since the first week of school about when their children might get a permanent teacher, and why they started the year without one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s been repeatedly bounced back and forth between administrators and school staff on a lengthy email chain, viewed by KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District officials and McCoppin’s principal have sent some intermittent updates, but Knebel said parents have mostly been left to piece together what’s happening in their children’s classroom on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Knebel, McCoppin’s original TK teacher resigned the position over the summer, leaving the school scrambling weeks before the first day. Parents were told that the principal interviewed and selected a replacement teacher, who was going to transfer to McCoppin from a different SFUSD school, but a “paperwork problem” held things up.[aside postID=news_12061802 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-05-1-KQED.jpg']In early September, the district told families that it instructed McCoppin’s principal to recruit a new candidate instead, since the teacher he selected couldn’t be released from their current school without a replacement being hired there, per the district and teachers union’s collective bargaining agreement. But parents say their principal told them there were no eligible TK teachers in the district’s hiring pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district said via email that it is actively recruiting teachers for a small number of remaining TK vacancies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have asked them repeatedly: Who’s accountable and what the plan is and how the pool will get bigger, and we just keep being redirected to, ‘The principal will recruit, the principal will recruit,’” Knebel told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very flippant and has gotten to a place of being super dismissed and frustrated with what’s happening,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September, McCoppin parents requested a meeting with district and school site staff, and the district’s executive director of schools supporting McCoppin said she, and potentially a human resources representative, would meet with them. But a date was never set, and once October’s long-term sub was in place, Knebel and Zhang said they were told that meeting was no longer necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We replied, ‘Actually, absolutely we would still like the meeting, that does not negate the need,’” Knebel said. “And then no response. It’s been completely pulled off the table now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout October, Knebel has sent district and school staff multiple emails seeking a meeting and more answers, but she has gotten little information and no offer to talk face-to-face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to send angry emails. I have a full-time job. This is exhausting,” Knebel said. “The goal is really to have a safe, happy learning environment for my kid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A district-wide problem\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Junipero Serra Elementary and Junipero Serra Annex in Bernal Heights both have TK classes in similar situations, according to parents. Two classes at MEC don’t have permanent teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents at MEC, which has also been operating without a principal since the start of the year, met with SFUSD human resources staff for the first time last week. According to Karwande, the district declined earlier meeting requests because they didn’t have any updates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents wrote a letter to the district \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053574/sf-school-serving-spanish-speaking-immigrants-is-severely-understaffed-parents-say\">during the first week of school\u003c/a>, calling the conditions in their students’ classrooms “unsafe and unacceptable.” They said there was just one paraeducator bouncing between the school’s three TK classrooms, which required at least four based on student staffing ratios, and the interim principal had to step in to teach one class, while a parent said they led circle time in another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By the end of week one, SFUSD said that it had offered a candidate the principal job and was “fully committed to providing the very best care and quality education to each of the 76 students enrolled at MEC.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karwande said most of the paraeducator vacancies have been filled, and the district sent Ms. Katrina and other instructional coaches to support the classrooms, but a permanent principal still hasn’t started. Now, it’s unlikely the remaining two TK vacancies will be filled, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What has been the most disappointing is feeling like the district is not meeting us where we’re at in the urgency of this situation,” Karwande told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District spokesperson Laura Dudnick said in a statement that the “positions have been challenging to fill due to statewide shortages of credentialed TK teachers.”[aside postID=news_12059537 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20240827_SFUSDProtest_GC-5_qed.jpg']“In the meantime, we are ensuring that all classrooms have consistent coverage by qualified substitutes or long-term staff, with instructional coaches … provided to maintain continuity of instruction for students,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Specific early education qualifications that took effect this fall might be making it more difficult to permanently staff TK classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to a multi-subject teaching credential, teachers have to meet a new early \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/2016/code-edc/title-2/division-4/part-27/chapter-1/article-1/section-48000\">education instruction requirement\u003c/a> this fall, either by completing 24 units of early childhood education or child development courses, obtaining a Child Development Teacher Permit or having an equivalent amount of work determined by their school district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Legislature introduced the requirement about 10 years ago, but enforcement has been pushed back multiple times, according to Hanna Melnick, director of early learning policy at the Learning Policy Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said a survey of TK teachers conducted by the Learning Policy Institute last year found that more than 50% of respondents had the necessary course units or experience equivalent to meet the new requirement, while about a third reported having a Child Development Teacher Permit. It’s unclear how many met multiple requirements, though, or what the total portion of the workforce with the appropriate qualifications was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In SFUSD, the requirement’s effective date aligned with the exodus of hundreds of educators through early retirement buy-outs as part of the district’s stabilization plan to close a major budget deficit last year, while also adding 16 new TK classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12031806\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12031806 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/TKSF.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/TKSF.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/TKSF-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/TKSF-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/TKSF-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/TKSF-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/TKSF-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Four-year-old students head back to their transitional kindergarten class at Tule Elk Park Early Educational School in San Francisco on Jan. 8, 2001. Tule Elk Park is not undergoing the same staffing issues. \u003ccite>(Ana Tintocalis/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, Melnick said, “it has been known to districts for quite a while that that would eventually be the requirement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s highly concerning to have any kind of instability, let alone someone who doesn’t know child development, in a [TK] classroom,” she continued. “Thirty-day subs are problematic for any grade level, but especially for 4-year-olds and especially for kids who are new to a school setting. That’s a really unfortunate way to start the school year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents are worried that as the district plans to continue increasing TK capacity, including at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/school/mission-bay-school#:~:text=SFUSD%20will%20open%20Mission%20Bay,the%20city's%20fastest%20growing%20areas.\">new Mission Bay Elementary Schoo\u003c/a>l set to open next fall, more students could be left behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knebel and Zhang told KQED their kids have had little continuity of instruction. They said one of the substitutes in their children’s classroom put on movies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Junipero Serra, parents said some of the substitutes have not known how to properly discipline such young students or understand their developmental needs. And at MEC, which is a Spanish immersion campus, many of the instructors haven’t been Spanish-speaking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They can’t even get enough eligible teachers for the current class count,” Knebel said. “So they’re publicly stating ‘We’re going to have a spot for every eligible 4-year-old,’ but what does that spot mean? [If] it’s just like show up and watch TV with a sub, that’s not really a spot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On the calendar in Room 202 at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053574/sf-school-serving-spanish-speaking-immigrants-is-severely-understaffed-parents-say\">Mission Education Center\u003c/a>, there’s a sad face scribbled across Oct. 31.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the 4-year-olds in the Upper Noe school’s transitional kindergarten classroom, Halloween won’t just be a flurry of costumes and candy. It’ll also be their last day with Ms. Katrina, who’s been a familiar face amid a rotation of substitute teachers since August, when the school year began without a permanent teacher in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maya Karwande’s daughter told her over the weekend that she’ll miss Ms. Katrina, who works out of the San Francisco Unified School District’s central office as an instructional coach supporting classroom teachers but has been stationed at MEC for about two months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Karwande said the coaches have provided much-needed stability for the young students, parents were initially assured they would remain until their children’s classroom had a permanent teacher. But last week, the district told parents it “isn’t optimistic” it’ll be able to fill the role at all, according to Karwande. The instructional coaches’ last day is Friday, Karwande said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are facing a situation where the kids have a new substitute teacher … every month for the rest of the year. Or even a series of substitutes that are less than 30 days at a time,” she said via email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a parent, I’m so stressed out,” she told KQED last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053561\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12053561 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mission Education Center, a bilingual elementary school in the San Francisco Unified School District, in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood, on Aug. 25, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>SFUSD \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12052609/as-transitional-kindergarten-opens-to-all-4-year-olds-sf-parents-compete-for-seats\">expanded its transitional kindergarten program\u003c/a> this fall, adding more than a dozen new classrooms as part of California public schools’ gradual rollout of the early education grade level akin to preschool. Any child in the state who turns 4 by Sept. 1 is guaranteed a seat in a TK classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031802/san-francisco-public-schools-see-surge-applications-thanks-transitional-kindergarten-demand\">touted a boost in enrollment\u003c/a> thanks to growing TK interest, and it announced plans to open even more classrooms in the coming years to meet demand. But parents in at least five classrooms at four of the city’s early learning centers and elementary schools told KQED that their students still don’t have permanent teachers — and don’t seem likely to get one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I had known in advance that my daughter’s classroom was not going to have a permanent lead teacher, or that they’re in limbo about a permanent teacher, I may have made other arrangements,” said Susan Zhang, whose daughter attends Frank McCoppin Elementary School in the Richmond District. She said her class has cycled through about 10 teachers since August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is really not what we were expecting, and it’s not what our children need or deserve,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We have asked repeatedly, who’s accountable?’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Substitute teachers with certain emergency permits can work in TK classrooms without meeting the same early education credential and experience requirements as permanent teachers — which are more extensive than those for other elementary school grades — but they can only teach the same group of students for 30 calendar days in an academic year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/leaflets/30-Day-Substitute-Teaching-Permit-(CL-505p)#:~:text=The%20Emergency%2030%2DDay%20Substitute,How%20to%20Apply\">according to California’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zhang’s daughter’s classroom has had a long-term substitute since the beginning of October, but he is also leaving at the end of the month. While a new 30-day sub is interested in taking over the class in November, according to Zhang, parents haven’t gotten any confirmation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the very least, we were just hoping for some communication and transparency from the district … and they just have not been giving us that,” Zhang said. “It’s been very frustrating for families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11863671\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11863671 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/GettyImages-1213355350-scaled-e1761869574699.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial view of the schoolyard at Frank McCoppin Elementary School on March 18, 2020, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Yaely Knebel, another TK parent at McCoppin, has been trying to gather information from district staff since the first week of school about when their children might get a permanent teacher, and why they started the year without one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s been repeatedly bounced back and forth between administrators and school staff on a lengthy email chain, viewed by KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District officials and McCoppin’s principal have sent some intermittent updates, but Knebel said parents have mostly been left to piece together what’s happening in their children’s classroom on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Knebel, McCoppin’s original TK teacher resigned the position over the summer, leaving the school scrambling weeks before the first day. Parents were told that the principal interviewed and selected a replacement teacher, who was going to transfer to McCoppin from a different SFUSD school, but a “paperwork problem” held things up.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In early September, the district told families that it instructed McCoppin’s principal to recruit a new candidate instead, since the teacher he selected couldn’t be released from their current school without a replacement being hired there, per the district and teachers union’s collective bargaining agreement. But parents say their principal told them there were no eligible TK teachers in the district’s hiring pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district said via email that it is actively recruiting teachers for a small number of remaining TK vacancies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have asked them repeatedly: Who’s accountable and what the plan is and how the pool will get bigger, and we just keep being redirected to, ‘The principal will recruit, the principal will recruit,’” Knebel told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very flippant and has gotten to a place of being super dismissed and frustrated with what’s happening,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September, McCoppin parents requested a meeting with district and school site staff, and the district’s executive director of schools supporting McCoppin said she, and potentially a human resources representative, would meet with them. But a date was never set, and once October’s long-term sub was in place, Knebel and Zhang said they were told that meeting was no longer necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We replied, ‘Actually, absolutely we would still like the meeting, that does not negate the need,’” Knebel said. “And then no response. It’s been completely pulled off the table now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout October, Knebel has sent district and school staff multiple emails seeking a meeting and more answers, but she has gotten little information and no offer to talk face-to-face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to send angry emails. I have a full-time job. This is exhausting,” Knebel said. “The goal is really to have a safe, happy learning environment for my kid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A district-wide problem\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Junipero Serra Elementary and Junipero Serra Annex in Bernal Heights both have TK classes in similar situations, according to parents. Two classes at MEC don’t have permanent teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents at MEC, which has also been operating without a principal since the start of the year, met with SFUSD human resources staff for the first time last week. According to Karwande, the district declined earlier meeting requests because they didn’t have any updates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents wrote a letter to the district \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053574/sf-school-serving-spanish-speaking-immigrants-is-severely-understaffed-parents-say\">during the first week of school\u003c/a>, calling the conditions in their students’ classrooms “unsafe and unacceptable.” They said there was just one paraeducator bouncing between the school’s three TK classrooms, which required at least four based on student staffing ratios, and the interim principal had to step in to teach one class, while a parent said they led circle time in another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By the end of week one, SFUSD said that it had offered a candidate the principal job and was “fully committed to providing the very best care and quality education to each of the 76 students enrolled at MEC.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karwande said most of the paraeducator vacancies have been filled, and the district sent Ms. Katrina and other instructional coaches to support the classrooms, but a permanent principal still hasn’t started. Now, it’s unlikely the remaining two TK vacancies will be filled, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What has been the most disappointing is feeling like the district is not meeting us where we’re at in the urgency of this situation,” Karwande told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District spokesperson Laura Dudnick said in a statement that the “positions have been challenging to fill due to statewide shortages of credentialed TK teachers.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“In the meantime, we are ensuring that all classrooms have consistent coverage by qualified substitutes or long-term staff, with instructional coaches … provided to maintain continuity of instruction for students,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Specific early education qualifications that took effect this fall might be making it more difficult to permanently staff TK classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to a multi-subject teaching credential, teachers have to meet a new early \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/2016/code-edc/title-2/division-4/part-27/chapter-1/article-1/section-48000\">education instruction requirement\u003c/a> this fall, either by completing 24 units of early childhood education or child development courses, obtaining a Child Development Teacher Permit or having an equivalent amount of work determined by their school district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Legislature introduced the requirement about 10 years ago, but enforcement has been pushed back multiple times, according to Hanna Melnick, director of early learning policy at the Learning Policy Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said a survey of TK teachers conducted by the Learning Policy Institute last year found that more than 50% of respondents had the necessary course units or experience equivalent to meet the new requirement, while about a third reported having a Child Development Teacher Permit. It’s unclear how many met multiple requirements, though, or what the total portion of the workforce with the appropriate qualifications was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In SFUSD, the requirement’s effective date aligned with the exodus of hundreds of educators through early retirement buy-outs as part of the district’s stabilization plan to close a major budget deficit last year, while also adding 16 new TK classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12031806\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12031806 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/TKSF.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/TKSF.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/TKSF-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/TKSF-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/TKSF-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/TKSF-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/TKSF-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Four-year-old students head back to their transitional kindergarten class at Tule Elk Park Early Educational School in San Francisco on Jan. 8, 2001. Tule Elk Park is not undergoing the same staffing issues. \u003ccite>(Ana Tintocalis/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, Melnick said, “it has been known to districts for quite a while that that would eventually be the requirement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s highly concerning to have any kind of instability, let alone someone who doesn’t know child development, in a [TK] classroom,” she continued. “Thirty-day subs are problematic for any grade level, but especially for 4-year-olds and especially for kids who are new to a school setting. That’s a really unfortunate way to start the school year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents are worried that as the district plans to continue increasing TK capacity, including at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/school/mission-bay-school#:~:text=SFUSD%20will%20open%20Mission%20Bay,the%20city's%20fastest%20growing%20areas.\">new Mission Bay Elementary Schoo\u003c/a>l set to open next fall, more students could be left behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knebel and Zhang told KQED their kids have had little continuity of instruction. They said one of the substitutes in their children’s classroom put on movies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Junipero Serra, parents said some of the substitutes have not known how to properly discipline such young students or understand their developmental needs. And at MEC, which is a Spanish immersion campus, many of the instructors haven’t been Spanish-speaking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They can’t even get enough eligible teachers for the current class count,” Knebel said. “So they’re publicly stating ‘We’re going to have a spot for every eligible 4-year-old,’ but what does that spot mean? [If] it’s just like show up and watch TV with a sub, that’s not really a spot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-teachers\">San Francisco teachers\u003c/a> and the public school district are at an impasse after 8 months of contract negotiations have garnered very little movement toward an agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The parties on Thursday jointly requested that the California Public Employment Relations Board officially declare a deadlock and appoint a mediator to intervene in their bargaining process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move is an escalation toward a strike from United Educators of San Francisco, and comes after the union flatly rejected the San Francisco Unified School District’s contract proposal that would have given educators a 2% raise on Monday. The union said the deal would have required more cuts and concessions than benefits for its members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s when we started really being concerned about the state of negotiations,” said Nathalie Hrizi, who is coordinating UESF’s bargaining. “We really felt we were so far apart in terms of our highest priorities that we had to declare an impasse, and the district declared jointly with us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12025440/schools-face-cuts-california-teachers-unions-band-together-demands\">Contract negotiations\u003c/a> have been ongoing since March, and UESF’s existing contract expired June 30. It remains in place for the most part as the parties work to finalize a new contract for the next two years, according to Hrizi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12022799\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12022799\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250115_TrumpProtestPresser_GC-15.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250115_TrumpProtestPresser_GC-15.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250115_TrumpProtestPresser_GC-15-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250115_TrumpProtestPresser_GC-15-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250115_TrumpProtestPresser_GC-15-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250115_TrumpProtestPresser_GC-15-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250115_TrumpProtestPresser_GC-15-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nathalie Hrizi, vice president of substitutes for United Educators of SF and public teacher, poses for a photo outside of City Hall in San Francisco on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Throughout negotiations, the biggest sticking points for the union have been: an agreement that the district will cover healthcare for educators’ dependents; development of a workload model aimed at improving working conditions for special education teachers; pay increases for certificated and classified positions; and a few “low-to-no-cost” demands, including reaffirming the district’s sanctuary status and committing to use district resources to provide shelter for the most vulnerable students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UESF’s initial proposal for the pay increase in March was 14% for classified employees and 9% for certificated employees over two years. UESF president Cassondra Curiel said that in the months since, there’s been no back-and-forth negotiations bringing that percentage down. The district had not proposed any raise until the 2% offer, she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have at each turn either delayed, rejected or dismissed our conversations at the bargaining table in such a way that it has made it impossible for the two of us parties to have a constructive conversation about the realities of the finances and the realities of the needs of our members,” Curiel said.[aside postID=news_12051862 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed.jpg']Hrizi said the union was “ready and willing” to move on a number of its demands, but that the district’s proposal would have required them to drop many of their demands to gain the small raise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD proposed the salary hike in exchange for undoing existing agreements that give high school teachers who take on extra work — as department heads or teachers of Advanced Placement courses that enroll a certain number of students — an additional “prep” period. Stipends that are awarded to schools based on the number of AP exams their students take would also be cut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, the deal would have ended a program that allows educators to apply for semester-to-year-long sabbaticals after serving in the district for a minimum number of years and increased class sizes on some campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we saw was a 2% raise created by cuts and a denial of some of the things that are most important to our students,” Hrizi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/about-sfusd/sfusd-news/press-releases/2023-10-20-sfusd-uesf-announce-9000-salary-raise-teachers-2023-24\">granted teachers a historic $9,000 raise\u003c/a> in 2023, and an additional 5% salary increase the following year. The same deal gave classified educators a significant bump, to a minimum wage of $30 an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hrizi said those raises have been integral to hiring and retaining teachers, and “at the time, the district had the financial wherewithal to fund that package.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that times are different now — SFUSD is in the midst of a multi-year budget crisis, and received a negative budget certification in spring of 2024 for the first time in recent memory. It \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044768/sf-school-district-unveils-balanced-budget-after-cutting-over-110-million-in-spending\">made $113 million\u003c/a> in cuts last year, including 100 layoffs of central office staffers and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">early retirement buyouts\u003c/a> of about 350 other employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district implemented a stricter staffing model this year that leaves many schools’ former supplemental positions, like educators on special assignment or class-size-reducing teachers, vacant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in the 2026-2027 year, SFUSD said it will have to make further budget reductions. It remains under a negative budget status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025666\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12025666\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassondra Curiel, president of United Educators of San Francisco, speaks during a press conference at Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 Community School in San Francisco’s Mission District on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“SFUSD is committed to a budget process that prioritizes decisions benefiting students while ensuring long-term financial stability,” district spokesperson Laura Dudnick said in a statement. “The [California Department of Education] continues to closely monitor our finances, and we must address deficit spending to meet our obligations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any raises the district does give teachers, she said, would need CDE approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not coming back saying we need to do what you did two years ago,” Hrizi told KQED. “We’re saying, given the current context, here are things that we think would make a big difference in the lives of educators and students and that are pretty doable and we’re happy to negotiate about them.[aside postID=news_12052399 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-12-BL_qed-1.jpg']“And we have not had a partner in those negotiations,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next Tuesday, the union is prepared to rally outside the district’s school board meeting, where it will deliver a petition signed by more than 75% of UESF’s 6,000 members declaring that they are willing to strike if necessary to “win a fair contract.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Declaring an impasse is a step in that direction, but the district and union will go through a mediation and, if necessary, another third-party-led “fact-finding” period to try to reach an agreement first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they are unable to find common ground at the end of that process, the district will have a chance to provide a “best and final” offer, and the union will legally be able to initiate a strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want an agreement,” Curiel said. “UESF members do not want to strike. It’s not the goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I do know is that over 4,000 of my members are willing to strike if the district makes us. And that is the motivation for getting the agreement,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s when we started really being concerned about the state of negotiations,” said Nathalie Hrizi, who is coordinating UESF’s bargaining. “We really felt we were so far apart in terms of our highest priorities that we had to declare an impasse, and the district declared jointly with us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12025440/schools-face-cuts-california-teachers-unions-band-together-demands\">Contract negotiations\u003c/a> have been ongoing since March, and UESF’s existing contract expired June 30. It remains in place for the most part as the parties work to finalize a new contract for the next two years, according to Hrizi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12022799\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12022799\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250115_TrumpProtestPresser_GC-15.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250115_TrumpProtestPresser_GC-15.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250115_TrumpProtestPresser_GC-15-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250115_TrumpProtestPresser_GC-15-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250115_TrumpProtestPresser_GC-15-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250115_TrumpProtestPresser_GC-15-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250115_TrumpProtestPresser_GC-15-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nathalie Hrizi, vice president of substitutes for United Educators of SF and public teacher, poses for a photo outside of City Hall in San Francisco on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Throughout negotiations, the biggest sticking points for the union have been: an agreement that the district will cover healthcare for educators’ dependents; development of a workload model aimed at improving working conditions for special education teachers; pay increases for certificated and classified positions; and a few “low-to-no-cost” demands, including reaffirming the district’s sanctuary status and committing to use district resources to provide shelter for the most vulnerable students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UESF’s initial proposal for the pay increase in March was 14% for classified employees and 9% for certificated employees over two years. UESF president Cassondra Curiel said that in the months since, there’s been no back-and-forth negotiations bringing that percentage down. The district had not proposed any raise until the 2% offer, she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have at each turn either delayed, rejected or dismissed our conversations at the bargaining table in such a way that it has made it impossible for the two of us parties to have a constructive conversation about the realities of the finances and the realities of the needs of our members,” Curiel said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Hrizi said the union was “ready and willing” to move on a number of its demands, but that the district’s proposal would have required them to drop many of their demands to gain the small raise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD proposed the salary hike in exchange for undoing existing agreements that give high school teachers who take on extra work — as department heads or teachers of Advanced Placement courses that enroll a certain number of students — an additional “prep” period. Stipends that are awarded to schools based on the number of AP exams their students take would also be cut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, the deal would have ended a program that allows educators to apply for semester-to-year-long sabbaticals after serving in the district for a minimum number of years and increased class sizes on some campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we saw was a 2% raise created by cuts and a denial of some of the things that are most important to our students,” Hrizi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/about-sfusd/sfusd-news/press-releases/2023-10-20-sfusd-uesf-announce-9000-salary-raise-teachers-2023-24\">granted teachers a historic $9,000 raise\u003c/a> in 2023, and an additional 5% salary increase the following year. The same deal gave classified educators a significant bump, to a minimum wage of $30 an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hrizi said those raises have been integral to hiring and retaining teachers, and “at the time, the district had the financial wherewithal to fund that package.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that times are different now — SFUSD is in the midst of a multi-year budget crisis, and received a negative budget certification in spring of 2024 for the first time in recent memory. It \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044768/sf-school-district-unveils-balanced-budget-after-cutting-over-110-million-in-spending\">made $113 million\u003c/a> in cuts last year, including 100 layoffs of central office staffers and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">early retirement buyouts\u003c/a> of about 350 other employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district implemented a stricter staffing model this year that leaves many schools’ former supplemental positions, like educators on special assignment or class-size-reducing teachers, vacant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in the 2026-2027 year, SFUSD said it will have to make further budget reductions. It remains under a negative budget status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025666\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12025666\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassondra Curiel, president of United Educators of San Francisco, speaks during a press conference at Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 Community School in San Francisco’s Mission District on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“SFUSD is committed to a budget process that prioritizes decisions benefiting students while ensuring long-term financial stability,” district spokesperson Laura Dudnick said in a statement. “The [California Department of Education] continues to closely monitor our finances, and we must address deficit spending to meet our obligations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any raises the district does give teachers, she said, would need CDE approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not coming back saying we need to do what you did two years ago,” Hrizi told KQED. “We’re saying, given the current context, here are things that we think would make a big difference in the lives of educators and students and that are pretty doable and we’re happy to negotiate about them.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“And we have not had a partner in those negotiations,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next Tuesday, the union is prepared to rally outside the district’s school board meeting, where it will deliver a petition signed by more than 75% of UESF’s 6,000 members declaring that they are willing to strike if necessary to “win a fair contract.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Declaring an impasse is a step in that direction, but the district and union will go through a mediation and, if necessary, another third-party-led “fact-finding” period to try to reach an agreement first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they are unable to find common ground at the end of that process, the district will have a chance to provide a “best and final” offer, and the union will legally be able to initiate a strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want an agreement,” Curiel said. “UESF members do not want to strike. It’s not the goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I do know is that over 4,000 of my members are willing to strike if the district makes us. And that is the motivation for getting the agreement,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Samantha Aguirre’s ninth graders shuffled into \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11830384/how-the-longest-student-strike-in-u-s-history-created-ethnic-studies\">ethnic studies\u003c/a> on the first day of school this fall, many had no idea of the drama and strife surrounding the course all summer — still looming in the background of Aguirre’s and many teachers’ minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She delivered her opening spiel, refined over a decade teaching the class in the San Francisco Unified School District, introducing herself to new students, establishing a welcoming environment and posing one of the year’s guiding questions: “What are race and ethnicities and how have they changed over time?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Discussing that question has always been where Aguirre starts, she said. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046122/sfusd-was-a-pioneer-in-ethnic-studies-now-the-program-could-be-put-on-pause\">Despite months of parent pushback\u003c/a> against ethnic studies, prompting a late-summer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046580/sf-school-district-wont-cancel-ethnic-studies-but-pauses-its-homegrown-curriculum\">curriculum change\u003c/a> and new oversight regulations, she hasn’t had to alter much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since school let out in the spring, SFUSD’s ethnic studies course has come under major scrutiny after a cohort of parents, backed by local political groups and a national education organization, raised alarms that the curriculum in their children’s classrooms comes from a biased, “activist-driven” perspective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Petitions cropped up to pause the class, parents created a \u003ca href=\"https://www.opt-out-toolkit-sfusd-ethnic-studies.com/\">toolkit to opt kids out\u003c/a> and media scrutiny intensified. In July, the district announced it would replace its pioneering homegrown curriculum with a third-party textbook for this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052662\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12052662 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students at Sanchez Elementary School in San Francisco arrive for their first day of the school year on Aug. 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite the online chatter, fewer than 50 ninth graders chose not to take ethnic studies this fall, and the classrooms the other 3,800 freshmen entered looked much the same as in previous years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When teachers began flipping through the new course materials in early August, Aguirre said she and other veterans reached an almost ironic understanding: “This textbook that’s been quote-unquote ‘vetted and approved’ is not radically different from what most of us have been teaching already,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first unit of the new textbook, \u003ca href=\"https://gibbssmitheducation.com/diversity-studies/voices\">\u003cem>Voices: An Ethnic Studies Survey\u003c/em>\u003c/a> by Gibbs Smith Education, focuses on race and ethnicity, sharing many of the themes that SFUSD’s opening “Self and Stories” unit covered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[\u003cem>Voices\u003c/em>] talks a little bit about colonialism and constructs and eugenics and hierarchy and race. It defines what race is and how that varies from ethnicity, “ Aguirre said. “It talks a little bit about scientific racism and pseudoscientists of the past. These are all things that were in the SFUSD curriculum.”[aside postID=news_12046580 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg']SFUSD first piloted ethnic studies as an elective at some high schools in 2010, and expanded to all campuses in 2015. San Francisco’s Board of Education voted to make a yearlong ethnic studies course a graduation requirement beginning with students who entered ninth grade last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since its inception, the course has been lauded as one of the district’s great successes. When announcing a new \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11891396/new-california-law-will-require-ethnic-studies-class-for-high-schoolers\">state-wide ethnic studies requirement\u003c/a> in 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom pointed to San Francisco’s class, citing \u003ca href=\"https://ed.stanford.edu/news/ninth-grade-ethnic-studies-helped-students-years-stanford-researchers-find\">Stanford University research\u003c/a> that showed it bolstered students’ attendance and graduation rates. Researchers from UC Irvine found that taking ethnic studies in ninth grade boosted the GPAs of SFUSD students throughout high school, especially among Black and Latino students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But since the district’s course became a graduation requirement in 2024, it has faced intense criticism. Parents Defending Education, a national education group, published multiple reports last year accusing the class of bias and posted course documents it obtained through public records requests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>News articles cited one in-class activity \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/30/sfusd-new-ethnic-studies-mandate/\">asking students to role-play as Israeli soldiers\u003c/a> putting Palestinians into refugee camps, and a slide deck comparing civil rights and other \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-ethic-studies-school-20353723.php\">social movements to the Red Guards\u003c/a>, an often-violent youth movement supporting Mao Zedong during China’s cultural revolution in the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Multiple ethnic studies teachers previously told KQED they had never seen those materials, much less used them in their classrooms. But the documents sparked a movement to pause the course, led by parents and aided by moderate political action groups like \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfblueprint.org/blog/ethnic-studies-is-yet-another-disastrous-misstep-for-our-public-school-district\">Blueprint for a Better San Francisco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052663\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12052663 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Superintendent Maria Su speaks to students at Sanchez Elementary School on the first day of classes for the new school year in San Francisco on Aug. 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They say ethnic studies should focus less on oppression, resistance and activism, and more on the histories of different ethnic groups. The new curriculum, however, changes little, according to Nikhil Laud, who heads the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Things are taught in a bit of a different sequence than we’re used to teaching, but we’re not planets apart or continents apart, it’s like the next town over,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The course’s two guiding questions — “How have race and ethnicity shaped or been shaped by history, policy and beliefs?” and “How, if at all, are race and ethnicity significant today?” — remain the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That makes sense, he said, since SFUSD’s curriculum is one of the longest-standing in the state and served as a model for the state implementing a graduation requirement.[aside postID=news_11830384 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/1495678.750x-672x372.png']“Our course actually influenced a lot of the values and principles of the state model curriculum,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sarita Lavin, another ethnic studies educator, said she feels the \u003cem>Voice\u003c/em>s book has gaps, lacking sections on the LGBTQ+ movement, disability rights and women’s history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has no mention of trans people or queer people or their struggles, which is pretty appalling considering the student populations we serve and the fact that we are in San Francisco, which has been a historic hub for queer resistance and rights,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest change teachers face, though, is not the new curriculum itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of us are kind of afraid of a witch hunt,” Aguirre said. “It’s very disheartening that … [teachers] feel like they have to look over their shoulder. To question ‘Is this going to be objectionable? Am I going to get doxxed online?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She worries ethnic studies classes will be under a microscope this year, especially after the district implemented a new regulation last month governing when supplemental materials that aren’t from the approved curriculum can be used.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In August, Superintendent Maria Su announced that any outside documents teachers use in any class must go through the district’s review process. That protocol said teachers can use their judgment to decide when something is appropriate. If they are unsure, they must get approval from the superintendent or another designated top official.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aguirre said when she and teachers asked for more concrete details about the vetting and complaint process, they were told little.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district referred KQED to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/departments/curriculum-instruction/administrative-regulation-616111-supplemental-instructional-materials\">page on its website\u003c/a> that said if a teacher requests a consult, the superintendent’s designee will assess the new material’s “educational value, relevance, appropriateness, and alignment with District criteria.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD also said parents can request feedback forms from school principals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she was told to continue sharing curriculum with her department head and campus administrators — which teachers already do — but it did little to ease the anxiety of new and non-tenured teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lavin said she fears that using unapproved supplements could lead to discipline or removal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we’re seeing realistically is that people who are not educational professionals are having a voice over the people who are educational professionals,” Lavin said. “People who are not education professionals are determining what is allowed for your students to learn in a classroom space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a very dangerous precedent to set.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Samantha Aguirre’s ninth graders shuffled into \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11830384/how-the-longest-student-strike-in-u-s-history-created-ethnic-studies\">ethnic studies\u003c/a> on the first day of school this fall, many had no idea of the drama and strife surrounding the course all summer — still looming in the background of Aguirre’s and many teachers’ minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She delivered her opening spiel, refined over a decade teaching the class in the San Francisco Unified School District, introducing herself to new students, establishing a welcoming environment and posing one of the year’s guiding questions: “What are race and ethnicities and how have they changed over time?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Discussing that question has always been where Aguirre starts, she said. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046122/sfusd-was-a-pioneer-in-ethnic-studies-now-the-program-could-be-put-on-pause\">Despite months of parent pushback\u003c/a> against ethnic studies, prompting a late-summer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046580/sf-school-district-wont-cancel-ethnic-studies-but-pauses-its-homegrown-curriculum\">curriculum change\u003c/a> and new oversight regulations, she hasn’t had to alter much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since school let out in the spring, SFUSD’s ethnic studies course has come under major scrutiny after a cohort of parents, backed by local political groups and a national education organization, raised alarms that the curriculum in their children’s classrooms comes from a biased, “activist-driven” perspective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Petitions cropped up to pause the class, parents created a \u003ca href=\"https://www.opt-out-toolkit-sfusd-ethnic-studies.com/\">toolkit to opt kids out\u003c/a> and media scrutiny intensified. In July, the district announced it would replace its pioneering homegrown curriculum with a third-party textbook for this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052662\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12052662 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students at Sanchez Elementary School in San Francisco arrive for their first day of the school year on Aug. 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite the online chatter, fewer than 50 ninth graders chose not to take ethnic studies this fall, and the classrooms the other 3,800 freshmen entered looked much the same as in previous years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When teachers began flipping through the new course materials in early August, Aguirre said she and other veterans reached an almost ironic understanding: “This textbook that’s been quote-unquote ‘vetted and approved’ is not radically different from what most of us have been teaching already,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first unit of the new textbook, \u003ca href=\"https://gibbssmitheducation.com/diversity-studies/voices\">\u003cem>Voices: An Ethnic Studies Survey\u003c/em>\u003c/a> by Gibbs Smith Education, focuses on race and ethnicity, sharing many of the themes that SFUSD’s opening “Self and Stories” unit covered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[\u003cem>Voices\u003c/em>] talks a little bit about colonialism and constructs and eugenics and hierarchy and race. It defines what race is and how that varies from ethnicity, “ Aguirre said. “It talks a little bit about scientific racism and pseudoscientists of the past. These are all things that were in the SFUSD curriculum.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>SFUSD first piloted ethnic studies as an elective at some high schools in 2010, and expanded to all campuses in 2015. San Francisco’s Board of Education voted to make a yearlong ethnic studies course a graduation requirement beginning with students who entered ninth grade last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since its inception, the course has been lauded as one of the district’s great successes. When announcing a new \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11891396/new-california-law-will-require-ethnic-studies-class-for-high-schoolers\">state-wide ethnic studies requirement\u003c/a> in 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom pointed to San Francisco’s class, citing \u003ca href=\"https://ed.stanford.edu/news/ninth-grade-ethnic-studies-helped-students-years-stanford-researchers-find\">Stanford University research\u003c/a> that showed it bolstered students’ attendance and graduation rates. Researchers from UC Irvine found that taking ethnic studies in ninth grade boosted the GPAs of SFUSD students throughout high school, especially among Black and Latino students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But since the district’s course became a graduation requirement in 2024, it has faced intense criticism. Parents Defending Education, a national education group, published multiple reports last year accusing the class of bias and posted course documents it obtained through public records requests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>News articles cited one in-class activity \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/30/sfusd-new-ethnic-studies-mandate/\">asking students to role-play as Israeli soldiers\u003c/a> putting Palestinians into refugee camps, and a slide deck comparing civil rights and other \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-ethic-studies-school-20353723.php\">social movements to the Red Guards\u003c/a>, an often-violent youth movement supporting Mao Zedong during China’s cultural revolution in the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Multiple ethnic studies teachers previously told KQED they had never seen those materials, much less used them in their classrooms. But the documents sparked a movement to pause the course, led by parents and aided by moderate political action groups like \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfblueprint.org/blog/ethnic-studies-is-yet-another-disastrous-misstep-for-our-public-school-district\">Blueprint for a Better San Francisco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052663\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12052663 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Superintendent Maria Su speaks to students at Sanchez Elementary School on the first day of classes for the new school year in San Francisco on Aug. 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They say ethnic studies should focus less on oppression, resistance and activism, and more on the histories of different ethnic groups. The new curriculum, however, changes little, according to Nikhil Laud, who heads the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Things are taught in a bit of a different sequence than we’re used to teaching, but we’re not planets apart or continents apart, it’s like the next town over,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The course’s two guiding questions — “How have race and ethnicity shaped or been shaped by history, policy and beliefs?” and “How, if at all, are race and ethnicity significant today?” — remain the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That makes sense, he said, since SFUSD’s curriculum is one of the longest-standing in the state and served as a model for the state implementing a graduation requirement.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Our course actually influenced a lot of the values and principles of the state model curriculum,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sarita Lavin, another ethnic studies educator, said she feels the \u003cem>Voice\u003c/em>s book has gaps, lacking sections on the LGBTQ+ movement, disability rights and women’s history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has no mention of trans people or queer people or their struggles, which is pretty appalling considering the student populations we serve and the fact that we are in San Francisco, which has been a historic hub for queer resistance and rights,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest change teachers face, though, is not the new curriculum itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of us are kind of afraid of a witch hunt,” Aguirre said. “It’s very disheartening that … [teachers] feel like they have to look over their shoulder. To question ‘Is this going to be objectionable? Am I going to get doxxed online?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She worries ethnic studies classes will be under a microscope this year, especially after the district implemented a new regulation last month governing when supplemental materials that aren’t from the approved curriculum can be used.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In August, Superintendent Maria Su announced that any outside documents teachers use in any class must go through the district’s review process. That protocol said teachers can use their judgment to decide when something is appropriate. If they are unsure, they must get approval from the superintendent or another designated top official.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aguirre said when she and teachers asked for more concrete details about the vetting and complaint process, they were told little.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district referred KQED to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/departments/curriculum-instruction/administrative-regulation-616111-supplemental-instructional-materials\">page on its website\u003c/a> that said if a teacher requests a consult, the superintendent’s designee will assess the new material’s “educational value, relevance, appropriateness, and alignment with District criteria.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD also said parents can request feedback forms from school principals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she was told to continue sharing curriculum with her department head and campus administrators — which teachers already do — but it did little to ease the anxiety of new and non-tenured teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lavin said she fears that using unapproved supplements could lead to discipline or removal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we’re seeing realistically is that people who are not educational professionals are having a voice over the people who are educational professionals,” Lavin said. “People who are not education professionals are determining what is allowed for your students to learn in a classroom space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a very dangerous precedent to set.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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},
"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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},
"perspectives": {
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"order": 14
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"order": 5
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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