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"content": "\u003cp>As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-unified-school-district\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> still has a long-term budget problem despite widespread cuts, it could look to save money by revisiting the way it handles special education — an idea that many families are hesitant to get their hopes up for but desperately want to believe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid dwindling enrollment and state funding, SFUSD is still hemorrhaging cash, spending outside its means this year, and expecting to run another deficit of nearly $60 million next year without restoring \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044768/sf-school-district-unveils-balanced-budget-after-cutting-over-110-million-in-spending\">cut positions and services\u003c/a>. Superintendent Maria Su told reporters last month that one of the drivers of the district’s annual shortfalls is the ballooning cost of special education, particularly for the 12% or so of special education students who require services the district has opted to outsource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD is federally mandated to be responsible for all students’ special education within its geographical region, or SELPA, but the district alone cannot provide all services. It has about 200 students in private school programs that enroll students with individualized learning plans (IEPs) whose needs cannot be met by their public school district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next year, SFUSD estimates that it will pay $42.1 million to these non-public school programs, along with other independent agencies and consultants that provide special education services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su believes that expanding the district’s internal special education services could recoup some of this funding. It could also improve the learning experience for students who require nontraditional services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If SFUSD could find more options for kids like my son, families like [ours] would take it in a heartbeat,” said Havah Kelley, whose child has been in a non-public school program for three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969382\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969382\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1709\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-1920x1282.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Havah Kelley poses for a portrait on Nov. 13, 2022, near McLaren Park in San Francisco.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I want my son to go to a local public school,” she told KQED. “I want to be a part of that community. I want my son to be part of the community. I want him to meet friends who actually live in San Francisco and aren’t spread out, so he can never connect.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelley’s son, who is entering ninth grade in the fall, has had an IEP since he was 3. He attended elementary school in a regular SFUSD classroom, but as he was gearing up for middle school, Kelley noticed him falling behind, despite the extra resources he had already received through the district’s special education department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was just not making progress,” she said. “COVID hit, and that really, really derailed us further. Staffing shortages hit, it was a culmination of many different things happening at once, but by … the beginning of sixth grade, I was very gravely concerned.”[aside postID=news_12044768 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-07-BL_qed.jpg']That summer, Kelley, who is a member of the district’s community advisory commission for special education, said she initiated the long, stressful process of moving her son into a non-public school program (NPS).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She requested a meeting with the special education team who’d worked with her family throughout her son’s education, and said she had to prove that the district couldn’t provide legally mandated resources, she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once SFUSD officials agreed that Kelley’s son needed an NPS placement, the district referred her to one program, where she and her son went through an application process similar to a private school — written questionnaire, interviews and a school tour — before hearing whether he would be offered a spot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents don’t get much choice in which NPS their child attends, which can also stir up frustration and sometimes lead to costly lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Kelley said, SFUSD refers families to one school at a time, and at the end of the application process, the parent can only decide whether to accept or reject the placement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they feel it’s the wrong fit, they start again from square one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very rarely a straight shot,” Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A difficult path back to SFUSD\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California has 265 certified NPS programs. Some, like the one Kelley’s son attends, provide smaller student-to-teacher ratios and more individualized attention than SFUSD’s general education classrooms can offer, but less extensive services than some of its internal special day classes, which Kelley said would be too restrictive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others, such as Edgewood Community School, are geared toward students who need significant mental health support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008414\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008414\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1336\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-1920x1283.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students from the San Francisco Unified School District return to their buses after a field trip in San Francisco on Sept. 13, 2012. \u003ccite>(Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco campus serves high school students who have been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, PTSD and other mental health conditions, according to program director Roberto Orozco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The class schedule that we create for the students is individualized to make sure that they’re able to make up for the lost credit that they may have not accrued throughout their high school careers,” he said, adding that when they come to Edgewood, “a lot of the students have been out of school for anywhere from months to sometimes years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Academic courses, coupled with in-house individual, group and family therapy and case management, are geared toward two tracks — one to graduate from Edgewood, and another to move to a general education classroom in SFUSD.[aside postID=news_12044911 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED.jpg']Orozco said that while seven students graduated from Edgewood last month, many are working toward returning to general education classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once progress has been made and maintained, we’re able to start having [students] go to a general education setting, where they’ll be there for about an hour,” he said. “They’ll come back, and then if it all goes well, after a month we increase the time … until finally the student is able to return to the least restrictive setting in their general education high school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year though, no students were able to step down from Edgewood’s program, which isn’t a unique problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When [my son] started, I was hopeful that he would go back to San Francisco for high school,” Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She initially thought he would be out of the district for one to two years while he caught up after distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and got some targeted support. But next year will be her son’s fourth in an NPS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really, really hard,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Outside services pose a major cost\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To get to his school, Kelley’s son travels three hours round-trip each day. She said that in addition to isolating them from other SFUSD families, the commute has affected her son’s attendance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s exhausted having to get up at 5:30 [or] 5:45 in the morning and not getting home until almost 5 o’clock,” she said. That’s without participating in any extracurriculars or hanging around after school with friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Long travel days are also a strain on the district.\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>SFUSD is required to pay for transportation for students at NPS programs, which are spread throughout the state, often hours away from San Francisco. Only two of the state-approved programs are within city limits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Transportation often represents the biggest part of NPS programs’ cost to the district, Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That price tag is getting higher, Su said, as more students require outside services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason why we’re spending so much money on special education is because we’re providing funding to serve our students outside of the district,” she said. “Imagine if we can serve these students inside the district, we can then keep these resources here.”[aside postID=news_12041122 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-98-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg']In addition to transportation, the district pays for private school tuition, case managers who are SFUSD employees and serve as liaisons between the district and NPS schools, and for settlements to families who have sued the district over its inability to provide adequate services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When parents have conflicts with the district over their child’s IEP and the services they’re allotted, lawsuits can arise, Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If a parent is upset about something … sometimes they just go straight for [legal action],” she said. “They’re just done and they don’t want to have these conversations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the parents win a settlement, they can enroll their student in a private or parochial school that the district has to pay for. Currently, there are about 400 special education students in the district’s region in these schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is also in legal heat after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-superintendent-special-education-20253658.php\">special education fiasco\u003c/a> left nearly 200 students without required teachers and services at the start of the school year. The misstep is estimated to cost the district more than $1.18 million to pay for the unmet services, plus legal fees and additional resources to determine the cause of the blunder and make amends with families.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Su turns focus to special education\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Su said now that she’s completed her first school year as the superintendent, working to balance a massive budget deficit and rebuild families’ trust, she’s looking at how special education — and possibly \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010349/sf-school-closures-halted-for-now-but-districts-new-leader-will-be-tested\">school mergers and closures\u003c/a> — factor into the district’s future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I’m going to do next year is review and survey all of our facilities and determine which facilities can be converted to transitional kindergarten classrooms and … which facilities can be used to serve our special education students,” she said. “Then at the end of the day … if we have to close or merge, we will determine that, but at a later time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\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>A review of SFUSD’s special education earlier this year by FCMAT, a financial company tasked with assisting California districts with financial management, recommended that the district assess where it might be able to shift kids whose NPS programs provide similar services into a district or county-operated class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many special education regions cover multiple school districts, SFUSD is the only district in San Francisco’s geographic area. Because of this, it doesn’t look at county-operated special education programs the way others do, according to FCMAT’s analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County classes can be a placement between NPS and SFUSD-operated programs, offering different student-to-teacher ratios and levels of support for students with similar needs currently placed in various NPS programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This lack of differentiation does not occur in most other [special education areas], and it may be causing the SFUSD to miss an opportunity to meet students’ needs in a [district or county] class instead of placing them in a more expensive and restrictive environment like an NPS,” FCMAT Executive Director Mike Fine said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our sense is that SFUSD could bring quite a few students back from an NPS, at a significant savings, but the specifics of this are well beyond our analysis,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oftentimes, as you’re looking at keeping students in [the] least restrictive environment, you can create programs that have different class size ratios, different types of support from specialists, and maybe perhaps serve more students in a district program as opposed to a non-public school,” Carolynne Beno, a FCMAT analyst, told SFUSD’s board of education in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12004914\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12004914\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Parent Havah Kelley speaks during a press conference held by the United Educators of San Francisco outside of the San Francisco Unified School District offices on Sept. 16, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Although some students will continue to need services the district can’t provide, Kelley said the idea of returning to a district school is hopeful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really want for SFUSD to have more options for kids like my son who are just a little more complicated,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that expanded in-district options would help catch some of the kids like hers, who “fall through the cracks” of SFUSD’s offerings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His needs were more expensive than [general education] could provide, but [special day classes] were not appropriate because his needs were not as severe in some cases for [that] model, so it would be too restrictive,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How the district plans to expand its options for special education beyond identifying classrooms isn’t yet clear, but the district said it is “committed to transforming how we support our students, families and staff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The structural and systemic improvements that are already underway are not just necessary — they are long overdue, especially given the threats against the U.S. Department of Education,” district officials said in a statement. “We will continue to push forward with urgency and unwavering dedication.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-unified-school-district\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> still has a long-term budget problem despite widespread cuts, it could look to save money by revisiting the way it handles special education — an idea that many families are hesitant to get their hopes up for but desperately want to believe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid dwindling enrollment and state funding, SFUSD is still hemorrhaging cash, spending outside its means this year, and expecting to run another deficit of nearly $60 million next year without restoring \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044768/sf-school-district-unveils-balanced-budget-after-cutting-over-110-million-in-spending\">cut positions and services\u003c/a>. Superintendent Maria Su told reporters last month that one of the drivers of the district’s annual shortfalls is the ballooning cost of special education, particularly for the 12% or so of special education students who require services the district has opted to outsource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD is federally mandated to be responsible for all students’ special education within its geographical region, or SELPA, but the district alone cannot provide all services. It has about 200 students in private school programs that enroll students with individualized learning plans (IEPs) whose needs cannot be met by their public school district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next year, SFUSD estimates that it will pay $42.1 million to these non-public school programs, along with other independent agencies and consultants that provide special education services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su believes that expanding the district’s internal special education services could recoup some of this funding. It could also improve the learning experience for students who require nontraditional services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If SFUSD could find more options for kids like my son, families like [ours] would take it in a heartbeat,” said Havah Kelley, whose child has been in a non-public school program for three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969382\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969382\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1709\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-1920x1282.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Havah Kelley poses for a portrait on Nov. 13, 2022, near McLaren Park in San Francisco.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I want my son to go to a local public school,” she told KQED. “I want to be a part of that community. I want my son to be part of the community. I want him to meet friends who actually live in San Francisco and aren’t spread out, so he can never connect.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelley’s son, who is entering ninth grade in the fall, has had an IEP since he was 3. He attended elementary school in a regular SFUSD classroom, but as he was gearing up for middle school, Kelley noticed him falling behind, despite the extra resources he had already received through the district’s special education department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was just not making progress,” she said. “COVID hit, and that really, really derailed us further. Staffing shortages hit, it was a culmination of many different things happening at once, but by … the beginning of sixth grade, I was very gravely concerned.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That summer, Kelley, who is a member of the district’s community advisory commission for special education, said she initiated the long, stressful process of moving her son into a non-public school program (NPS).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She requested a meeting with the special education team who’d worked with her family throughout her son’s education, and said she had to prove that the district couldn’t provide legally mandated resources, she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once SFUSD officials agreed that Kelley’s son needed an NPS placement, the district referred her to one program, where she and her son went through an application process similar to a private school — written questionnaire, interviews and a school tour — before hearing whether he would be offered a spot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents don’t get much choice in which NPS their child attends, which can also stir up frustration and sometimes lead to costly lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Kelley said, SFUSD refers families to one school at a time, and at the end of the application process, the parent can only decide whether to accept or reject the placement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they feel it’s the wrong fit, they start again from square one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very rarely a straight shot,” Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A difficult path back to SFUSD\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California has 265 certified NPS programs. Some, like the one Kelley’s son attends, provide smaller student-to-teacher ratios and more individualized attention than SFUSD’s general education classrooms can offer, but less extensive services than some of its internal special day classes, which Kelley said would be too restrictive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others, such as Edgewood Community School, are geared toward students who need significant mental health support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008414\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008414\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1336\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-1920x1283.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students from the San Francisco Unified School District return to their buses after a field trip in San Francisco on Sept. 13, 2012. \u003ccite>(Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco campus serves high school students who have been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, PTSD and other mental health conditions, according to program director Roberto Orozco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The class schedule that we create for the students is individualized to make sure that they’re able to make up for the lost credit that they may have not accrued throughout their high school careers,” he said, adding that when they come to Edgewood, “a lot of the students have been out of school for anywhere from months to sometimes years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Academic courses, coupled with in-house individual, group and family therapy and case management, are geared toward two tracks — one to graduate from Edgewood, and another to move to a general education classroom in SFUSD.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Orozco said that while seven students graduated from Edgewood last month, many are working toward returning to general education classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once progress has been made and maintained, we’re able to start having [students] go to a general education setting, where they’ll be there for about an hour,” he said. “They’ll come back, and then if it all goes well, after a month we increase the time … until finally the student is able to return to the least restrictive setting in their general education high school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year though, no students were able to step down from Edgewood’s program, which isn’t a unique problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When [my son] started, I was hopeful that he would go back to San Francisco for high school,” Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She initially thought he would be out of the district for one to two years while he caught up after distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and got some targeted support. But next year will be her son’s fourth in an NPS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really, really hard,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Outside services pose a major cost\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To get to his school, Kelley’s son travels three hours round-trip each day. She said that in addition to isolating them from other SFUSD families, the commute has affected her son’s attendance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s exhausted having to get up at 5:30 [or] 5:45 in the morning and not getting home until almost 5 o’clock,” she said. That’s without participating in any extracurriculars or hanging around after school with friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Long travel days are also a strain on the district.\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>SFUSD is required to pay for transportation for students at NPS programs, which are spread throughout the state, often hours away from San Francisco. Only two of the state-approved programs are within city limits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Transportation often represents the biggest part of NPS programs’ cost to the district, Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That price tag is getting higher, Su said, as more students require outside services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason why we’re spending so much money on special education is because we’re providing funding to serve our students outside of the district,” she said. “Imagine if we can serve these students inside the district, we can then keep these resources here.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In addition to transportation, the district pays for private school tuition, case managers who are SFUSD employees and serve as liaisons between the district and NPS schools, and for settlements to families who have sued the district over its inability to provide adequate services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When parents have conflicts with the district over their child’s IEP and the services they’re allotted, lawsuits can arise, Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If a parent is upset about something … sometimes they just go straight for [legal action],” she said. “They’re just done and they don’t want to have these conversations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the parents win a settlement, they can enroll their student in a private or parochial school that the district has to pay for. Currently, there are about 400 special education students in the district’s region in these schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is also in legal heat after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-superintendent-special-education-20253658.php\">special education fiasco\u003c/a> left nearly 200 students without required teachers and services at the start of the school year. The misstep is estimated to cost the district more than $1.18 million to pay for the unmet services, plus legal fees and additional resources to determine the cause of the blunder and make amends with families.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Su turns focus to special education\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Su said now that she’s completed her first school year as the superintendent, working to balance a massive budget deficit and rebuild families’ trust, she’s looking at how special education — and possibly \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010349/sf-school-closures-halted-for-now-but-districts-new-leader-will-be-tested\">school mergers and closures\u003c/a> — factor into the district’s future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I’m going to do next year is review and survey all of our facilities and determine which facilities can be converted to transitional kindergarten classrooms and … which facilities can be used to serve our special education students,” she said. “Then at the end of the day … if we have to close or merge, we will determine that, but at a later time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\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>A review of SFUSD’s special education earlier this year by FCMAT, a financial company tasked with assisting California districts with financial management, recommended that the district assess where it might be able to shift kids whose NPS programs provide similar services into a district or county-operated class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many special education regions cover multiple school districts, SFUSD is the only district in San Francisco’s geographic area. Because of this, it doesn’t look at county-operated special education programs the way others do, according to FCMAT’s analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County classes can be a placement between NPS and SFUSD-operated programs, offering different student-to-teacher ratios and levels of support for students with similar needs currently placed in various NPS programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This lack of differentiation does not occur in most other [special education areas], and it may be causing the SFUSD to miss an opportunity to meet students’ needs in a [district or county] class instead of placing them in a more expensive and restrictive environment like an NPS,” FCMAT Executive Director Mike Fine said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our sense is that SFUSD could bring quite a few students back from an NPS, at a significant savings, but the specifics of this are well beyond our analysis,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oftentimes, as you’re looking at keeping students in [the] least restrictive environment, you can create programs that have different class size ratios, different types of support from specialists, and maybe perhaps serve more students in a district program as opposed to a non-public school,” Carolynne Beno, a FCMAT analyst, told SFUSD’s board of education in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12004914\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12004914\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Parent Havah Kelley speaks during a press conference held by the United Educators of San Francisco outside of the San Francisco Unified School District offices on Sept. 16, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Although some students will continue to need services the district can’t provide, Kelley said the idea of returning to a district school is hopeful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really want for SFUSD to have more options for kids like my son who are just a little more complicated,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that expanded in-district options would help catch some of the kids like hers, who “fall through the cracks” of SFUSD’s offerings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His needs were more expensive than [general education] could provide, but [special day classes] were not appropriate because his needs were not as severe in some cases for [that] model, so it would be too restrictive,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How the district plans to expand its options for special education beyond identifying classrooms isn’t yet clear, but the district said it is “committed to transforming how we support our students, families and staff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The structural and systemic improvements that are already underway are not just necessary — they are long overdue, especially given the threats against the U.S. Department of Education,” district officials said in a statement. “We will continue to push forward with urgency and unwavering dedication.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "SFUSD Was a Pioneer in Ethnic Studies. Now the Program Could Be Put on Pause",
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"headTitle": "SFUSD Was a Pioneer in Ethnic Studies. Now the Program Could Be Put on Pause | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 3:45 p.m. Friday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After months of mounting pushback, San Francisco’s superintendent of schools is in talks to pause the district’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ethnic-studies\">ethnic studies\u003c/a> program, according to teachers and a member of the school board who have raised concerns over the move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program — which covers topics including identity, white supremacy, sexuality and social movements — has come under increasing scrutiny from some parents and a national education group that have criticized its course materials as biased and “activist-driven.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Superintendent Maria Su is considering reassigning ninth graders enrolled in the course next fall while the district conducts an audit of the curriculum, according to ethnic studies teachers and school board member Matt Alexander.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They say that the move would deviate from the district’s past protocols for handling curriculum changes and raises concerns about the future of the course, which has been heralded as a success for more than a decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a course that’s worked for a very long time,” Alexander said. “There doesn’t seem to be any reason for a pause, and it’s something that’s very effective. In fact, it may be the only initiative that we have that actually increases college and career outcomes for students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>More than a decade of ethnic studies\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Unified School District became one of the first in the nation to introduce ethnic studies after its board of education called for creating a dedicated course in 2008. The field, which has roots in Bay Area \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11830384/how-the-longest-student-strike-in-u-s-history-created-ethnic-studies\">student activism\u003c/a> in the 1960s, includes and examines the experiences of minorities in the United States, typically focusing on the experiences of Indigenous people, as well as Black, Latino and Asian Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, SFUSD launched a pilot program as an elective for high schoolers, which has been offered on all campuses since the 2015–16 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11918617\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11918617\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133.jpg\" alt=\"Children and adults hold signs at a demonstration to save a Filipino language program.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A group of students and community members demonstrates outside SFUSD headquarters on June 7, 2022, to protest the district’s plan to downsize the Filipino language program at Longfellow Elementary School. \u003ccite>(Julia McEvoy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://ed.stanford.edu/news/ninth-grade-ethnic-studies-helped-students-years-stanford-researchers-find\">2021 study\u003c/a> by Stanford’s Graduate School of Education raised the program’s profile when it found that low-achieving students who participated in SFUSD’s course were more likely to attend and be engaged in school, had higher probabilities of graduating and were more likely to go to college. And a new draft study from UC Irvine this year shows that over the 15 years SFUSD has offered the class, taking ethnic studies in ninth grade boosted the GPAs of students throughout their high school careers, especially among those who identify as Black and Latino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 2021 study persuaded policymakers at the state and local levels. That year, California lawmakers enacted a mandate for public schools to require a semester of ethnic studies, which is set to take effect in 2025. That same year, the San Francisco school board passed legislation making the two-semester course a graduation requirement, beginning with ninth graders entering high school in the fall of 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But one year after lawmakers passed those measures, three of the school board members who backed the SFUSD plan — and other social justice-oriented changes within the district, including renaming schools and eliminating merit-based admissions at Lowell High School — were overwhelmingly recalled. The contentious vote followed a swell of criticism from parents, particularly in the Asian American community.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Parents and advocacy groups push back\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Samantha Aguirre, who has taught ethnic studies in SFUSD since 2015, said she had not heard widespread pushback specifically about the course until this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One parent, Vivian Safrin, began raising concerns about the curriculum to district officials last year, after she said she was shown class materials that concerned her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036911\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036911\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" 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>“[Ethnic studies] is supposed to be an opportunity for students to learn about the histories, cultures, struggles and contributions of ethnic groups in California,” she said. “And at this time, the course in San Francisco is a lot of one-sided political dogma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our kids don’t have context to be able to analyze this material, given that it is being taught before world history, before U.S. history,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Criticism of the course didn’t break into the mainstream until May, though, following media coverage and a report from a national parents’ group about the class’ content.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents Defending Education, which said it aims to protect school districts from “activists imposing harmful agendas,” published an “incident report” criticizing the ethnic studies curriculum’s focus on “white supremacy culture” and support for undocumented immigrants.[aside postID=news_12044768 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-07-BL_qed.jpg']Weeks later, an \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/30/sfusd-new-ethnic-studies-mandate/\">article\u003c/a> published in the \u003cem>San Francisco Standard\u003c/em> said that one lesson plan viewed by parents asked students to role-play as Israeli soldiers putting Palestinians into refugee camps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-ethic-studies-school-20353723.php\">reported\u003c/a> that a lesson about social movements included as an example the Red Guards, an often-violent militant youth movement that backed Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong during the country’s cultural revolution in the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aguirre, along with SFUSD ethnic studies teacher Sarita Lavin and a third who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation since they are not tenured, all told KQED they had never used, or heard of any of their colleagues using, those materials in their classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the district’s publicly posted ethnic studies materials currently reference such lesson plans, though at least one of the unit curriculum slide decks contains broken links to slides that it said have been deleted, and it’s unclear when or if changes have been made.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is not something as an ethnic studies department that we are promoting or teaching en masse,” Lavin said. “I think that that’s just been wildly overblown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046354\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046354\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Student drawings hang on the wall of a classroom at Balboa High School in San Francisco on April 20, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And not all families have had negative experiences with ethnic studies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maria Elena Francis said that when her children took the course, they came home from school feeling like they saw themselves reflected in their curriculum for one of the first times ever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Both of my children are Puerto Rican, Chicano and Indigenous, so they’re multiracial, multi-ethnic, and don’t often hear their different histories in a classroom,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her son is a rising 11th grader, and her daughter, who took the honors course when she was in high school, graduated from UC Berkeley last month with an ethnic studies degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was important to me, it was important to my husband that we saw them coming back and saying, ‘We learned about this and I made this connection with this person,’” she said. “This program did for my children what I did not have as a student in SFUSD. I had never felt that way … and I’m so glad that my children had a different experience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We were in the middle of the process’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The teachers who spoke with KQED acknowledged that one of many parents’ resounding concerns with the class was valid: a standardized curriculum for it isn’t complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Aguirre, in the summer of 2021, amid the wider push to expand ethnic studies requirements in the district and across the state, she and other teachers were asked to participate in a working group to develop and vet a more standardized curriculum.\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>They split into small cohorts focused on each of the course’s four units, swapped and refined lesson plans, and came up with a draft for each of the class’s sections throughout the summers of 2021 and 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the working group had planned to gather to assess their first drafts, give each other feedback and make further changes before delivering a final product.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that never happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After the summer of 2022, there was no more money or funding to keep doing the process of making the pilot curriculum,” she said.[aside postID=news_12036406 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250417-HIGHEREDPROTESTS-08-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg']The work was cut short amid the return to classrooms and mass exodus of district employees after the COVID-19 pandemic and a growing budget deficit, she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s available right now on the website when you look at SFUSD curriculum is a lot of our draft work,” Aguirre said. “We were in the middle of the process. Project specialists went in and kind of just made it presentable and put it out there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those drafts — in the form of Google slide presentations for each of the class’s four units — include writing prompts, in-class group projects, links to articles and external resources that align with the class’s broader focus areas. The specific materials, Aguirre said, are suggestions, not requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is no standardized curriculum for the course, nor is there one for any of the district’s history classes, Aguirre said. Instead, teachers are required to teach based on a bullet-point list of content standards handed down by the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not a curriculum … that doesn’t exist,” she said, adding that the textbook she’s been using in her world history courses was developed 20 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pausing the course\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite the pushback that’s plagued the end of the school year, the educators said they went into the summer working on updates to their lesson plans and preparing to teach ethnic studies again in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Then, about last week, I started hearing murmurs through the different ethnic study teachers that I was already working with over the summer that something might happen and that there was some sort of plan that things might not be the same in the fall,” said the teacher who requested anonymity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046361\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\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\">\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>In a statement, a district spokesperson said, “The superintendent is currently in active discussions with principals and various stakeholders regarding high school curriculum and course sequencing for social studies, including Ethnic Studies, in fall 2025.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district said there was no anticipated change to the ethnic studies graduation requirement, which is mandated by school board policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are committed to keeping our community informed as soon as we have an official update,” the statement said.[aside postID=news_12024203 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/005_KQED_StanfordGradUnion_05302023_qed-1020x680.jpg']Ethnic studies teachers told KQED they’re worried that a potential pause could turn into a repeal of the class altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no more teachers on special assignment, nobody’s actually teaching ethnic studies, I’ve heard no talk of work groups, there’s no funding to get teachers together to keep on working on the curriculum … then you run into the same issue about access to resources,” Aguirre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alexander said that an audit of the curriculum is a good idea — especially given valid concerns about certain class materials — but he believes the class should continue in the interim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said that a few years ago, when a group of parents approached the district with concerns about racism in the U.S. history curriculum, prompting an audit, “we didn’t stop teaching U.S. history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We analyzed the curriculum and looked at ways that we could improve [it] and make them anti-racist in line with our values,” Alexander told KQED. “That to me seems like the appropriate response when this kind of thing comes up. I’ve never heard of stopping a course because of curriculum concerns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A larger movement\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The decision comes as the state also seems to be backing away from its push to broaden ethnic studies education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation in 2021 mandating a semester in the course for all public school students beginning with the class of 2030, who will enter ninth grade in the fall. The same year, the state board of education adopted a model curriculum for the course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008270\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008270\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/10.02.2024-SB1016-03-scaled-1-e1733162494960.jpg\" alt=\"A white man wearing a suit sits at a desk in an office, writing on a piece of paper with an American flag behind him.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1300\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 28, 2024. \u003ccite>(Photo Courtesy of Governor of California via Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, California’s current 2025–26 budget plan, which needs to be adopted by the end of this month, doesn’t include funding to implement ethnic studies statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the 2021 law that created the ethnic studies requirement, the state had to provide money to pay for course materials, teachers and training for the mandate to take effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, districts around the Bay Area and the state have also been backing off plans to expand the course in the face of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/palo-alto-ethnic-studies-19588959.php\">legal challenges\u003c/a>, many of which have stemmed from Israel’s war in Gaza and concerns over allegations of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12008739/sfusd-antisemitism-training-sparks-controversy-as-some-educators-opt-for-alternative\">antisemitism in schools\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab715\">bill making its way through California’s Legislature\u003c/a> that aims to strengthen protections against discrimination and antisemitism has also been criticized by some teachers and \u003ca href=\"https://ca.cair.com/action/stop-ab-715-in-the-senate-defend-our-classrooms/\">advocacy groups\u003c/a> who worry it could prohibit students from learning about Palestine and human rights more broadly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason why ethnic studies was created in the 1960s in San Francisco was because of the lack of education for students of color about their own identities,” Lavin said. Without ethnic studies, she asked, “Where exactly are those students supposed to get their representation?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They say that the move would deviate from the district’s past protocols for handling curriculum changes and raises concerns about the future of the course, which has been heralded as a success for more than a decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a course that’s worked for a very long time,” Alexander said. “There doesn’t seem to be any reason for a pause, and it’s something that’s very effective. In fact, it may be the only initiative that we have that actually increases college and career outcomes for students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>More than a decade of ethnic studies\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Unified School District became one of the first in the nation to introduce ethnic studies after its board of education called for creating a dedicated course in 2008. The field, which has roots in Bay Area \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11830384/how-the-longest-student-strike-in-u-s-history-created-ethnic-studies\">student activism\u003c/a> in the 1960s, includes and examines the experiences of minorities in the United States, typically focusing on the experiences of Indigenous people, as well as Black, Latino and Asian Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, SFUSD launched a pilot program as an elective for high schoolers, which has been offered on all campuses since the 2015–16 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11918617\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11918617\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133.jpg\" alt=\"Children and adults hold signs at a demonstration to save a Filipino language program.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A group of students and community members demonstrates outside SFUSD headquarters on June 7, 2022, to protest the district’s plan to downsize the Filipino language program at Longfellow Elementary School. \u003ccite>(Julia McEvoy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://ed.stanford.edu/news/ninth-grade-ethnic-studies-helped-students-years-stanford-researchers-find\">2021 study\u003c/a> by Stanford’s Graduate School of Education raised the program’s profile when it found that low-achieving students who participated in SFUSD’s course were more likely to attend and be engaged in school, had higher probabilities of graduating and were more likely to go to college. And a new draft study from UC Irvine this year shows that over the 15 years SFUSD has offered the class, taking ethnic studies in ninth grade boosted the GPAs of students throughout their high school careers, especially among those who identify as Black and Latino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 2021 study persuaded policymakers at the state and local levels. That year, California lawmakers enacted a mandate for public schools to require a semester of ethnic studies, which is set to take effect in 2025. That same year, the San Francisco school board passed legislation making the two-semester course a graduation requirement, beginning with ninth graders entering high school in the fall of 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But one year after lawmakers passed those measures, three of the school board members who backed the SFUSD plan — and other social justice-oriented changes within the district, including renaming schools and eliminating merit-based admissions at Lowell High School — were overwhelmingly recalled. The contentious vote followed a swell of criticism from parents, particularly in the Asian American community.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Parents and advocacy groups push back\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Samantha Aguirre, who has taught ethnic studies in SFUSD since 2015, said she had not heard widespread pushback specifically about the course until this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One parent, Vivian Safrin, began raising concerns about the curriculum to district officials last year, after she said she was shown class materials that concerned her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036911\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036911\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" 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>“[Ethnic studies] is supposed to be an opportunity for students to learn about the histories, cultures, struggles and contributions of ethnic groups in California,” she said. “And at this time, the course in San Francisco is a lot of one-sided political dogma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our kids don’t have context to be able to analyze this material, given that it is being taught before world history, before U.S. history,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Criticism of the course didn’t break into the mainstream until May, though, following media coverage and a report from a national parents’ group about the class’ content.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents Defending Education, which said it aims to protect school districts from “activists imposing harmful agendas,” published an “incident report” criticizing the ethnic studies curriculum’s focus on “white supremacy culture” and support for undocumented immigrants.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Weeks later, an \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/30/sfusd-new-ethnic-studies-mandate/\">article\u003c/a> published in the \u003cem>San Francisco Standard\u003c/em> said that one lesson plan viewed by parents asked students to role-play as Israeli soldiers putting Palestinians into refugee camps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-ethic-studies-school-20353723.php\">reported\u003c/a> that a lesson about social movements included as an example the Red Guards, an often-violent militant youth movement that backed Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong during the country’s cultural revolution in the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aguirre, along with SFUSD ethnic studies teacher Sarita Lavin and a third who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation since they are not tenured, all told KQED they had never used, or heard of any of their colleagues using, those materials in their classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the district’s publicly posted ethnic studies materials currently reference such lesson plans, though at least one of the unit curriculum slide decks contains broken links to slides that it said have been deleted, and it’s unclear when or if changes have been made.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is not something as an ethnic studies department that we are promoting or teaching en masse,” Lavin said. “I think that that’s just been wildly overblown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046354\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046354\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Student drawings hang on the wall of a classroom at Balboa High School in San Francisco on April 20, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And not all families have had negative experiences with ethnic studies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maria Elena Francis said that when her children took the course, they came home from school feeling like they saw themselves reflected in their curriculum for one of the first times ever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Both of my children are Puerto Rican, Chicano and Indigenous, so they’re multiracial, multi-ethnic, and don’t often hear their different histories in a classroom,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her son is a rising 11th grader, and her daughter, who took the honors course when she was in high school, graduated from UC Berkeley last month with an ethnic studies degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was important to me, it was important to my husband that we saw them coming back and saying, ‘We learned about this and I made this connection with this person,’” she said. “This program did for my children what I did not have as a student in SFUSD. I had never felt that way … and I’m so glad that my children had a different experience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We were in the middle of the process’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The teachers who spoke with KQED acknowledged that one of many parents’ resounding concerns with the class was valid: a standardized curriculum for it isn’t complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Aguirre, in the summer of 2021, amid the wider push to expand ethnic studies requirements in the district and across the state, she and other teachers were asked to participate in a working group to develop and vet a more standardized curriculum.\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>They split into small cohorts focused on each of the course’s four units, swapped and refined lesson plans, and came up with a draft for each of the class’s sections throughout the summers of 2021 and 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the working group had planned to gather to assess their first drafts, give each other feedback and make further changes before delivering a final product.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that never happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After the summer of 2022, there was no more money or funding to keep doing the process of making the pilot curriculum,” she said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The work was cut short amid the return to classrooms and mass exodus of district employees after the COVID-19 pandemic and a growing budget deficit, she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s available right now on the website when you look at SFUSD curriculum is a lot of our draft work,” Aguirre said. “We were in the middle of the process. Project specialists went in and kind of just made it presentable and put it out there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those drafts — in the form of Google slide presentations for each of the class’s four units — include writing prompts, in-class group projects, links to articles and external resources that align with the class’s broader focus areas. The specific materials, Aguirre said, are suggestions, not requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is no standardized curriculum for the course, nor is there one for any of the district’s history classes, Aguirre said. Instead, teachers are required to teach based on a bullet-point list of content standards handed down by the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not a curriculum … that doesn’t exist,” she said, adding that the textbook she’s been using in her world history courses was developed 20 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pausing the course\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite the pushback that’s plagued the end of the school year, the educators said they went into the summer working on updates to their lesson plans and preparing to teach ethnic studies again in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Then, about last week, I started hearing murmurs through the different ethnic study teachers that I was already working with over the summer that something might happen and that there was some sort of plan that things might not be the same in the fall,” said the teacher who requested anonymity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046361\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\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\">\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>In a statement, a district spokesperson said, “The superintendent is currently in active discussions with principals and various stakeholders regarding high school curriculum and course sequencing for social studies, including Ethnic Studies, in fall 2025.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district said there was no anticipated change to the ethnic studies graduation requirement, which is mandated by school board policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are committed to keeping our community informed as soon as we have an official update,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Ethnic studies teachers told KQED they’re worried that a potential pause could turn into a repeal of the class altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no more teachers on special assignment, nobody’s actually teaching ethnic studies, I’ve heard no talk of work groups, there’s no funding to get teachers together to keep on working on the curriculum … then you run into the same issue about access to resources,” Aguirre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alexander said that an audit of the curriculum is a good idea — especially given valid concerns about certain class materials — but he believes the class should continue in the interim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said that a few years ago, when a group of parents approached the district with concerns about racism in the U.S. history curriculum, prompting an audit, “we didn’t stop teaching U.S. history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We analyzed the curriculum and looked at ways that we could improve [it] and make them anti-racist in line with our values,” Alexander told KQED. “That to me seems like the appropriate response when this kind of thing comes up. I’ve never heard of stopping a course because of curriculum concerns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A larger movement\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The decision comes as the state also seems to be backing away from its push to broaden ethnic studies education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation in 2021 mandating a semester in the course for all public school students beginning with the class of 2030, who will enter ninth grade in the fall. The same year, the state board of education adopted a model curriculum for the course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008270\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008270\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/10.02.2024-SB1016-03-scaled-1-e1733162494960.jpg\" alt=\"A white man wearing a suit sits at a desk in an office, writing on a piece of paper with an American flag behind him.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1300\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 28, 2024. \u003ccite>(Photo Courtesy of Governor of California via Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, California’s current 2025–26 budget plan, which needs to be adopted by the end of this month, doesn’t include funding to implement ethnic studies statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the 2021 law that created the ethnic studies requirement, the state had to provide money to pay for course materials, teachers and training for the mandate to take effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, districts around the Bay Area and the state have also been backing off plans to expand the course in the face of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/palo-alto-ethnic-studies-19588959.php\">legal challenges\u003c/a>, many of which have stemmed from Israel’s war in Gaza and concerns over allegations of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12008739/sfusd-antisemitism-training-sparks-controversy-as-some-educators-opt-for-alternative\">antisemitism in schools\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab715\">bill making its way through California’s Legislature\u003c/a> that aims to strengthen protections against discrimination and antisemitism has also been criticized by some teachers and \u003ca href=\"https://ca.cair.com/action/stop-ab-715-in-the-senate-defend-our-classrooms/\">advocacy groups\u003c/a> who worry it could prohibit students from learning about Palestine and human rights more broadly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason why ethnic studies was created in the 1960s in San Francisco was because of the lack of education for students of color about their own identities,” Lavin said. Without ethnic studies, she asked, “Where exactly are those students supposed to get their representation?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "San Francisco Starts Construction on Its 2nd Teacher Housing Project",
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"content": "\u003cp>Teachers in San Francisco looking for affordable housing could have more options by the end of next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction began earlier this year on the city’s second subsidized housing development for teachers and school staff. The site, located at 750 Golden Gate Avenue in the Western Addition, will offer 75 apartments, with preference for employees of San Francisco’s Unified School District and Community College District. It’s slated to finish construction by the end of 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today, we’re breaking ground on our future,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said Wednesday. “A future for our families and teachers, and a future where building housing in San Francisco is not the exception, it is the expectation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event marked the early stages of construction for the educator workforce housing, as well as a second affordable housing development for families at 850 Turk Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news--san-francisco-announces-two-new-affordable-educator-housing-projects-0\">city\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://a46.asmdc.org/press-releases/20200928-governor-newsom-signs-legislation-spur-production-affordable-housing\">state\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11997949/california-schools-keep-losing-teachers-the-state-wants-to-help-build-homes-for-them\"> leaders\u003c/a> have proposed solutions to the state’s housing shortage and the impact of high rents and home prices on educators, many of whom are forced to commute from outside of San Francisco. According to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cta.org/press-release/new-study-shows-californias-educators-are-stretched-thin-due-to-financial-pressures-with-four-in-10-thinking-of-leaving-the-profession\">survey\u003c/a> released in January by the California Teachers Association, more than 80% of the nearly 2,000 public school educators statewide said their salaries could not keep up with the rising cost of living.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044983\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12044983 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-14-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-14-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-14-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-14-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayor Daniel Lurie breaks ground alongside members of the team behind a new housing project during a groundbreaking ceremony at 750 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco on June 18, 2025. The event marked the start of 2 affordable housing developments — one with 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and another at 850 Turk that will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To meet the need in San Francisco, officials have passed \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/resource/sb423-application\">streamlining\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017695/san-francisco-wants-to-make-it-cheaper-for-developers-to-build-housing-downtown\"> bills\u003c/a> and used state programs to bring new homes online faster. But the process has been slow going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the developer MidPen Housing completed the city’s first affordable housing development for teachers at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11981429/applications-to-open-for-san-franciscos-first-affordable-housing-project-for-educators\">Shirley Chisholm Village\u003c/a> in the Outer Sunset. It took almost seven years to get the project’s permits approved and construction completed. When applications opened last April, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/teacher-housing-demand-19578185.php\">more than 900 people\u003c/a> applied for a spot in the 135-unit building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the years since construction started at Shirley Chisholm Village, a lot has changed for the city and the developer, said Lauren Fuhry, project manager for MidPen Housing, which is also developing the Golden Gate site. Fuhry said the nonprofit was able to secure financing in Aug. 2023 and started construction in January — a relatively short timeline compared to the previous project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One thing that really helped Golden Gate kind of streak forward is there were some changes at the state level in laws around permit timelines,” Fuhry said. “Golden Gate directly benefited from permit submissions having explicit deadlines for how long the city has to respond.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12045026\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12045026\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/SFTeacherHousingRendering.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1356\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/SFTeacherHousingRendering.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/SFTeacherHousingRendering-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/SFTeacherHousingRendering-1536x1041.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The affordable housing development, located at 750 Golden Gate Ave., will have 75 affordable apartments, with preference for employees of the San Francisco Unified School District and Community College District. The development is slated to finish construction by the end of 2026. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of David Baker Architects)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The project is also being built on state-owned excess land. It replaces a parking lot for the Employment Development Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city took advantage of the governor’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/public-lands-affordable-housing-development\">Surplus Land Act\u003c/a>, which aims to repurpose underused public land for affordable housing by offering it to developers at a low cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you think about projects like this, land cost is often a really significant cost,” Tomiquia Moss, secretary of the state’s Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, told KQED. “When we’re able to offer state land at a deeply discounted rate, it allows the developers to focus on the other parts of the financing stack that they have to put together.”[aside postID=news_12037474 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250425-SFSUStudentHousing-10-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg']Though the Shirley Chisholm Village took years to complete, officials are seeing success in what was built. Today, the apartments are 100% occupied, according to Anne Stanley, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 90% of the 135 units are occupied by SFUSD educators and employees, with the remaining set aside for members of the general public with mobility, hearing or visual impairments, Stanley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One more project is in the city’s teacher housing pipeline, but awaits funding: 2205 Mission Street. It’s the third teacher housing project \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news--san-francisco-announces-two-new-affordable-educator-housing-projects-0\">San Francisco officials \u003c/a>have vowed to build.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Mission Local, that project, developed by the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), received about $12 million in funding from Proposition I in 2023 but has failed to get other financing needed to start construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“MEDA remains committed to this project, which will bring much-needed housing for our educators,” Juan Mesa, the nonprofit’s spokesperson, said in a statement. “We continue to work with public and private partners to secure funding for 2205 Mission Street, exploring solutions to make this vision a reality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The development, at 750 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco’s Western Addition neighborhood, would add 75 apartments for teachers and school staff. ",
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"title": "San Francisco Starts Construction on Its 2nd Teacher Housing Project | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Teachers in San Francisco looking for affordable housing could have more options by the end of next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction began earlier this year on the city’s second subsidized housing development for teachers and school staff. The site, located at 750 Golden Gate Avenue in the Western Addition, will offer 75 apartments, with preference for employees of San Francisco’s Unified School District and Community College District. It’s slated to finish construction by the end of 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today, we’re breaking ground on our future,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said Wednesday. “A future for our families and teachers, and a future where building housing in San Francisco is not the exception, it is the expectation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event marked the early stages of construction for the educator workforce housing, as well as a second affordable housing development for families at 850 Turk Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news--san-francisco-announces-two-new-affordable-educator-housing-projects-0\">city\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://a46.asmdc.org/press-releases/20200928-governor-newsom-signs-legislation-spur-production-affordable-housing\">state\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11997949/california-schools-keep-losing-teachers-the-state-wants-to-help-build-homes-for-them\"> leaders\u003c/a> have proposed solutions to the state’s housing shortage and the impact of high rents and home prices on educators, many of whom are forced to commute from outside of San Francisco. According to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cta.org/press-release/new-study-shows-californias-educators-are-stretched-thin-due-to-financial-pressures-with-four-in-10-thinking-of-leaving-the-profession\">survey\u003c/a> released in January by the California Teachers Association, more than 80% of the nearly 2,000 public school educators statewide said their salaries could not keep up with the rising cost of living.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044983\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12044983 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-14-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-14-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-14-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-14-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayor Daniel Lurie breaks ground alongside members of the team behind a new housing project during a groundbreaking ceremony at 750 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco on June 18, 2025. The event marked the start of 2 affordable housing developments — one with 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and another at 850 Turk that will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To meet the need in San Francisco, officials have passed \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/resource/sb423-application\">streamlining\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017695/san-francisco-wants-to-make-it-cheaper-for-developers-to-build-housing-downtown\"> bills\u003c/a> and used state programs to bring new homes online faster. But the process has been slow going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the developer MidPen Housing completed the city’s first affordable housing development for teachers at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11981429/applications-to-open-for-san-franciscos-first-affordable-housing-project-for-educators\">Shirley Chisholm Village\u003c/a> in the Outer Sunset. It took almost seven years to get the project’s permits approved and construction completed. When applications opened last April, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/teacher-housing-demand-19578185.php\">more than 900 people\u003c/a> applied for a spot in the 135-unit building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the years since construction started at Shirley Chisholm Village, a lot has changed for the city and the developer, said Lauren Fuhry, project manager for MidPen Housing, which is also developing the Golden Gate site. Fuhry said the nonprofit was able to secure financing in Aug. 2023 and started construction in January — a relatively short timeline compared to the previous project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One thing that really helped Golden Gate kind of streak forward is there were some changes at the state level in laws around permit timelines,” Fuhry said. “Golden Gate directly benefited from permit submissions having explicit deadlines for how long the city has to respond.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12045026\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12045026\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/SFTeacherHousingRendering.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1356\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/SFTeacherHousingRendering.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/SFTeacherHousingRendering-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/SFTeacherHousingRendering-1536x1041.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The affordable housing development, located at 750 Golden Gate Ave., will have 75 affordable apartments, with preference for employees of the San Francisco Unified School District and Community College District. The development is slated to finish construction by the end of 2026. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of David Baker Architects)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The project is also being built on state-owned excess land. It replaces a parking lot for the Employment Development Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city took advantage of the governor’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/public-lands-affordable-housing-development\">Surplus Land Act\u003c/a>, which aims to repurpose underused public land for affordable housing by offering it to developers at a low cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you think about projects like this, land cost is often a really significant cost,” Tomiquia Moss, secretary of the state’s Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, told KQED. “When we’re able to offer state land at a deeply discounted rate, it allows the developers to focus on the other parts of the financing stack that they have to put together.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Though the Shirley Chisholm Village took years to complete, officials are seeing success in what was built. Today, the apartments are 100% occupied, according to Anne Stanley, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 90% of the 135 units are occupied by SFUSD educators and employees, with the remaining set aside for members of the general public with mobility, hearing or visual impairments, Stanley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One more project is in the city’s teacher housing pipeline, but awaits funding: 2205 Mission Street. It’s the third teacher housing project \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news--san-francisco-announces-two-new-affordable-educator-housing-projects-0\">San Francisco officials \u003c/a>have vowed to build.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Mission Local, that project, developed by the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), received about $12 million in funding from Proposition I in 2023 but has failed to get other financing needed to start construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“MEDA remains committed to this project, which will bring much-needed housing for our educators,” Juan Mesa, the nonprofit’s spokesperson, said in a statement. “We continue to work with public and private partners to secure funding for 2205 Mission Street, exploring solutions to make this vision a reality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "sf-school-district-unveils-balanced-budget-after-cutting-over-110-million-in-spending",
"title": "SF School District Unveils Balanced Budget After Cutting Over $110 Million in Spending",
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"headTitle": "SF School District Unveils Balanced Budget After Cutting Over $110 Million in Spending | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>After months of budget wrangling, buyouts and the threat of state takeover, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-unified-school-district\">San Francisco’s school district\u003c/a> will deliver a balanced budget, according to Superintendent Maria Su.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the San Francisco Unified School District nears the end of its fiscal year, Su on Tuesday unveiled the financial plan she was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">brought into the embattled system to deliver\u003c/a> last fall. The budget eliminates a $113 million deficit, focuses more spending on school campuses, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12040756/sfusd-reverses-over-150-layoffs-but-hiring-teachers-may-still-be-an-uphill-battle\">avoids teacher layoffs\u003c/a> and cuts down nearly half of the district’s deficit spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have made a lot of really, really tough decisions and all of those necessary cuts that need to be made to support our budget and, of course, to maintain local control,” Su told reporters last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s budget focus will be three-pronged, she said: improving student learning, creating strong and supported schools, and prioritizing effective governance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have worked really hard to strategically invest in what we know our students need the most,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest cuts will be in staffing. Nearly 400 positions are being eliminated across school sites and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036914/more-sfusd-layoffs-to-target-central-office-bringing-budget-gap-closer-to-zero\">the central office\u003c/a>, and 345 more positions are being vacated by retiring staffers who took a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">voluntary buyout\u003c/a> earlier this year. Of those, 315 positions will be filled by mostly lower-paid — and less experienced — workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036911\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036911\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" 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>About 180 of the eliminated positions involve employees who work on school campuses, according to district documents, though their exact roles have not been made clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frank Lara, vice president of the SFUSD teachers union, said most were “special assignment” roles that many experienced teachers had moved into to focus on English language learning, reforms to teaching and curriculum, or reducing class sizes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district said every school site will have a principal, clerk and classroom teachers for each grade level, but those specialized staffers, along with assistant principals and higher-than-mandated numbers of paraeducators, counselors and social workers, are not guaranteed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re really facing a major disruption to how schools serve students,” without those jobs, but the effects won’t be fully known until next year, Lara said.[aside postID=news_12040756 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250204-WeCantWait-04-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg']Su said last week that the district was focused on making sure schools still have access to enrichment courses in the arts and physical education, along with language immersion opportunities and improved food options — a hot topic with students, she told reporters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the central office, the gaps could be more glaring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 190 roles have been eliminated there, which will extend wait times for technology needs and force the office to prioritize certain communications and digital resources that are aligned with curriculum, according to the district. With the reductions, spending on the central office will be about 16% of the district’s total budget, down from 25% five years ago and lower than similar districts in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That shows the commitment to our students, our schools, our families, and it’s much appreciated,” said board member Matt Alexander.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union leaders have long said the district spends too much of its resources on the administrative office staff, and they urged for cuts to be kept away from school sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lara said it was a positive step, but he added that the union is continuing to monitor if, and how, central office positions are reintroduced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the next year, Su said further reductions will be needed, especially after the district reported that it will receive about $8 million less revenue in state and attendance-related funding than it budgeted for in a fiscal update last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is also continuing to try to curb deficit spending, which is down from more than $90 million to $47 million this year. Projections for future years show the district continuing to overspend by about the same amount, meaning it will need to take additional steps to reach longer-term stability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said that could mean discussing whether school closures are needed, investing in changes to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031802/san-francisco-public-schools-see-surge-applications-thanks-transitional-kindergarten-demand\">transitional kindergarten\u003c/a> and special education services, and making additional reductions in some programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A clearer picture of next year’s budget outlook will come into focus next week, when the district plans to present a fiscal stabilization plan for the 2026–2027 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "San Francisco schools Superintendent Maria Su unveiled the financial plan she was brought into the embattled district to deliver, saying officials had to make 'tough decisions.'",
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"title": "SF School District Unveils Balanced Budget After Cutting Over $110 Million in Spending | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After months of budget wrangling, buyouts and the threat of state takeover, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-unified-school-district\">San Francisco’s school district\u003c/a> will deliver a balanced budget, according to Superintendent Maria Su.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the San Francisco Unified School District nears the end of its fiscal year, Su on Tuesday unveiled the financial plan she was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">brought into the embattled system to deliver\u003c/a> last fall. The budget eliminates a $113 million deficit, focuses more spending on school campuses, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12040756/sfusd-reverses-over-150-layoffs-but-hiring-teachers-may-still-be-an-uphill-battle\">avoids teacher layoffs\u003c/a> and cuts down nearly half of the district’s deficit spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have made a lot of really, really tough decisions and all of those necessary cuts that need to be made to support our budget and, of course, to maintain local control,” Su told reporters last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s budget focus will be three-pronged, she said: improving student learning, creating strong and supported schools, and prioritizing effective governance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have worked really hard to strategically invest in what we know our students need the most,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest cuts will be in staffing. Nearly 400 positions are being eliminated across school sites and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036914/more-sfusd-layoffs-to-target-central-office-bringing-budget-gap-closer-to-zero\">the central office\u003c/a>, and 345 more positions are being vacated by retiring staffers who took a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">voluntary buyout\u003c/a> earlier this year. Of those, 315 positions will be filled by mostly lower-paid — and less experienced — workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036911\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036911\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" 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>About 180 of the eliminated positions involve employees who work on school campuses, according to district documents, though their exact roles have not been made clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frank Lara, vice president of the SFUSD teachers union, said most were “special assignment” roles that many experienced teachers had moved into to focus on English language learning, reforms to teaching and curriculum, or reducing class sizes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district said every school site will have a principal, clerk and classroom teachers for each grade level, but those specialized staffers, along with assistant principals and higher-than-mandated numbers of paraeducators, counselors and social workers, are not guaranteed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re really facing a major disruption to how schools serve students,” without those jobs, but the effects won’t be fully known until next year, Lara said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Su said last week that the district was focused on making sure schools still have access to enrichment courses in the arts and physical education, along with language immersion opportunities and improved food options — a hot topic with students, she told reporters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the central office, the gaps could be more glaring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 190 roles have been eliminated there, which will extend wait times for technology needs and force the office to prioritize certain communications and digital resources that are aligned with curriculum, according to the district. With the reductions, spending on the central office will be about 16% of the district’s total budget, down from 25% five years ago and lower than similar districts in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That shows the commitment to our students, our schools, our families, and it’s much appreciated,” said board member Matt Alexander.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union leaders have long said the district spends too much of its resources on the administrative office staff, and they urged for cuts to be kept away from school sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lara said it was a positive step, but he added that the union is continuing to monitor if, and how, central office positions are reintroduced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the next year, Su said further reductions will be needed, especially after the district reported that it will receive about $8 million less revenue in state and attendance-related funding than it budgeted for in a fiscal update last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is also continuing to try to curb deficit spending, which is down from more than $90 million to $47 million this year. Projections for future years show the district continuing to overspend by about the same amount, meaning it will need to take additional steps to reach longer-term stability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said that could mean discussing whether school closures are needed, investing in changes to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031802/san-francisco-public-schools-see-surge-applications-thanks-transitional-kindergarten-demand\">transitional kindergarten\u003c/a> and special education services, and making additional reductions in some programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A clearer picture of next year’s budget outlook will come into focus next week, when the district plans to present a fiscal stabilization plan for the 2026–2027 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "SFUSD Reverses Over 150 Layoffs, But Hiring Teachers May Still Be an Uphill Battle",
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"content": "\u003cp>After months of uncertainty, San Francisco’s teachers union is celebrating a win in the district’s move to rescind nearly all of the layoff notices it had planned for school-site staffers. Now, union representatives say the district’s staffing woes have shifted to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12039904/sfusd-cuts-spending-dozens-classroom-roles-still-need-filled\">filling classrooms that will be left empty\u003c/a> by retiring and resigning teachers next month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, grim budget predictions suggested that hundreds of teachers, counselors and other San Francisco Unified School District employees \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028317/sf-schools-brace-hundreds-layoffs-including-teachers-librarians-counselors\">could be laid off\u003c/a> as part of significant cuts to patch a $114 million deficit. But on Friday afternoon, the district announced that it would pull back pink slips that had been approved for 34 school counselors and 117 paraeducators, who provide instructional support to teachers, leaving just nine remaining notices going out to school-site staffers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District officials said they were able to cut the number down significantly through collaboration with the county and state boards of education, along with a successful early retirement buyout offer to educators. About 100 staffers in SFUSD’s administrative central office \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036914/more-sfusd-layoffs-to-target-central-office-bringing-budget-gap-closer-to-zero\">were also laid off\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frank Lara, the vice president of SFUSD’s teachers union, called the announcement a victory and commended the district for its work to balance the budget, but he emphasized that there is still work to be done. Before children return to campuses next fall, he said, the district will have to replace classroom teachers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031347/san-francisco-schools-may-cut-staff-face-backlash-over-new-hiring-limits\">taking the voluntary buyout\u003c/a> as well as others who could announce their resignations this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We still have a lot of work to do to fully staff classrooms, and we very much are in collaboration with the district to get that done,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\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>A spokesperson for SFUSD said the exact number of classroom vacancies throughout the district’s 120 campuses fluctuates significantly, but each year, a couple of hundred teachers often leave their roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A hiring freeze has limited the district’s ability to make staffing decisions without state approval for the last year, but according to a spokesperson, it’s been approved to hire 77 additional classroom teachers, on top of the 162 hires it was granted to fill open positions earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lara said SFUSD’s hiring allowance is enough to offer every eligible temporary teacher in the district a new contract for next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, principals have a list of all these individuals and principals are calling these folks to get into the classroom and offering them contracts,” Lara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s more worried that some schools will be unable to fill classroom openings, especially if the number grows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once they end the school year, [teachers] often announce in their email threads to their school community that they’re leaving, so we expect that number to increase while the pool of candidates will decrease,” Lara said. “We’re not out of the woodwork yet in terms of staffing, but at least everybody now knows what the rules are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12039904 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The volume of open positions at this point in the school year has some principals worried, according to Anna Klafter, the president of the district’s administrators union and principal at Independence High School.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every school has open positions, she said, and a principal at one of the westside high schools is looking to fill about 30 open roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“School is over in two and a half weeks,” she said, adding that principals aren’t paid to work throughout all of summer break. “Principals will be forced to work over the summer to staff their schools because the alternative is not working and not having staff in your schools, and that’s just not OK. And then we’ll be asking for money to be paid because it is a lot of work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD said it plans to first offer open roles to internal candidates who were laid off from the central office or are on temporary contracts, then open hiring to others, which could extend the hiring timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Klafter said her union is pushing to open hiring to all as soon as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re quite late in the hiring season to have this many open positions,” Klafter told KQED. “Other districts around us are done hiring teachers in May, and we’re just beginning our opening hiring. That makes school leaders nervous because we have to assume first, are we going to get enough candidates for these positions? And then second, are these going to be the best candidates out there?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After months of uncertainty, San Francisco’s teachers union is celebrating a win in the district’s move to rescind nearly all of the layoff notices it had planned for school-site staffers. Now, union representatives say the district’s staffing woes have shifted to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12039904/sfusd-cuts-spending-dozens-classroom-roles-still-need-filled\">filling classrooms that will be left empty\u003c/a> by retiring and resigning teachers next month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, grim budget predictions suggested that hundreds of teachers, counselors and other San Francisco Unified School District employees \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028317/sf-schools-brace-hundreds-layoffs-including-teachers-librarians-counselors\">could be laid off\u003c/a> as part of significant cuts to patch a $114 million deficit. But on Friday afternoon, the district announced that it would pull back pink slips that had been approved for 34 school counselors and 117 paraeducators, who provide instructional support to teachers, leaving just nine remaining notices going out to school-site staffers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District officials said they were able to cut the number down significantly through collaboration with the county and state boards of education, along with a successful early retirement buyout offer to educators. About 100 staffers in SFUSD’s administrative central office \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036914/more-sfusd-layoffs-to-target-central-office-bringing-budget-gap-closer-to-zero\">were also laid off\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frank Lara, the vice president of SFUSD’s teachers union, called the announcement a victory and commended the district for its work to balance the budget, but he emphasized that there is still work to be done. Before children return to campuses next fall, he said, the district will have to replace classroom teachers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031347/san-francisco-schools-may-cut-staff-face-backlash-over-new-hiring-limits\">taking the voluntary buyout\u003c/a> as well as others who could announce their resignations this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We still have a lot of work to do to fully staff classrooms, and we very much are in collaboration with the district to get that done,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\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>A spokesperson for SFUSD said the exact number of classroom vacancies throughout the district’s 120 campuses fluctuates significantly, but each year, a couple of hundred teachers often leave their roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A hiring freeze has limited the district’s ability to make staffing decisions without state approval for the last year, but according to a spokesperson, it’s been approved to hire 77 additional classroom teachers, on top of the 162 hires it was granted to fill open positions earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lara said SFUSD’s hiring allowance is enough to offer every eligible temporary teacher in the district a new contract for next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, principals have a list of all these individuals and principals are calling these folks to get into the classroom and offering them contracts,” Lara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s more worried that some schools will be unable to fill classroom openings, especially if the number grows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once they end the school year, [teachers] often announce in their email threads to their school community that they’re leaving, so we expect that number to increase while the pool of candidates will decrease,” Lara said. “We’re not out of the woodwork yet in terms of staffing, but at least everybody now knows what the rules are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The volume of open positions at this point in the school year has some principals worried, according to Anna Klafter, the president of the district’s administrators union and principal at Independence High School.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every school has open positions, she said, and a principal at one of the westside high schools is looking to fill about 30 open roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“School is over in two and a half weeks,” she said, adding that principals aren’t paid to work throughout all of summer break. “Principals will be forced to work over the summer to staff their schools because the alternative is not working and not having staff in your schools, and that’s just not OK. And then we’ll be asking for money to be paid because it is a lot of work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD said it plans to first offer open roles to internal candidates who were laid off from the central office or are on temporary contracts, then open hiring to others, which could extend the hiring timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Klafter said her union is pushing to open hiring to all as soon as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re quite late in the hiring season to have this many open positions,” Klafter told KQED. “Other districts around us are done hiring teachers in May, and we’re just beginning our opening hiring. That makes school leaders nervous because we have to assume first, are we going to get enough candidates for these positions? And then second, are these going to be the best candidates out there?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>While San Francisco public schools will avoid teacher layoffs thanks to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">hundreds of buyouts \u003c/a>offered this spring, the district’s work to make significant budget cuts as painless as possible has left schools needing to fill about 150 classroom positions before next fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to tentative budget documents district officials plan to present to the school board on Tuesday evening, the early retirement plan will save the district more than $7.5 million through educator buyouts, and layoffs in the administrative central office total more than $28 million in spending reductions, although those numbers could change since the district temporarily reopened buyout applications in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the staffing changes also leave the district with classroom vacancies to fill and strict limits on how to fill them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The efforts that the leadership took to close the deficit in the ‘easiest pill to swallow’ way … [mean that] right now there are hundreds of positions because of the shuffling [that] need to be filled this spring,” said Meredith Dodson, the executive director of advocacy group San Francisco Parents. “But the state is preventing them from doing any external hiring.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a>’s hiring process comes at the end of a whirlwind school year marked by a botched school closure plan, a new superintendent and public scrutiny tied up in the city’s contentious election cycle. This year, the district must make $114 million in budget cuts to avoid state takeover after years of overspending, and it has faced mounting pressure to do so without cutting teachers or classrooms.\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 from Decreasing the Distance 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>Because of the budget shortfall, SFUSD has been under heightened state oversight since last May, including a hiring freeze that requires state advisors to approve any district plans to bring in new staff. Earlier this month, the California Department of Education partially lifted that freeze, allowing SFUSD to begin hiring eligible internal employees for classroom positions after they were affected by layoffs in the central office or cuts to other special assignment roles and offering renewals to temporary teachers on one-year contracts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Dodson said that if the district is not allowed to recruit candidates from outside, whether those vacancies get filled fully depends on where teachers want to work — and if they choose to remain at SFUSD at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is the challenge of a principal being like, ‘Wait, it’s the end of the year, I need to fill my school for the next year,’ and they’re not being allowed to,” she told KQED. “It’s really bad, especially for those high priority, high need schools, [that] are typically the schools that are harder to staff.”[aside postID=news_12039737 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/OaklandSchoolChildren-1020x696.jpg']Even if the district is allowed to begin hiring externally and fills its classroom roles, it is still set to have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031347/san-francisco-schools-may-cut-staff-face-backlash-over-new-hiring-limits\">hundreds fewer staff members next year\u003c/a> and lose some of its most experienced teachers to early retirement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodson said parents are especially worried about “the cuts in para[educators], the cuts in counselors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t have counselors with hundreds and hundreds of kids on their caseload; they’ll never be able to meet with them all,” she said. “And then, of course, paras [serve] our kids in special education who need that additional support. There are a lot of concerns about some of those cuts that we’re seeing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Superintendent Maria Su recently said SFUSD is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036914/more-sfusd-layoffs-to-target-central-office-bringing-budget-gap-closer-to-zero\">within $10 million\u003c/a> of balancing this year’s shortfall, but the district isn’t out of the woods financially in the long term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is forecasting deficits in the tens of millions in each of the next three years. Those projections would spend down the majority of SFUSD’s restricted and unrestricted fund balances and wipe out its rainy day reserves, and they don’t reflect any salary increases that could be negotiated with employee unions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district said some of the excess spending it plans to do in the next few years allows it to utilize one-time money in its restricted fund, but it will need to make more reductions as that money is spent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Fiscal Stabilization Plan has a significant positive impact on our financial forecast, but additional steps will be necessary to achieve sustainability in the long term,” according to district documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodson said the district’s new leadership is making strides in the right direction, but without better collaboration with the state, long-term problems will continue to loom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to see the state giving San Francisco Unified a little more carrot and a little less stick,” she said. “If they don’t allow principals to hire to fill classrooms, then the state is as much responsible as our district for denying kids a quality education.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>While San Francisco public schools will avoid teacher layoffs thanks to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">hundreds of buyouts \u003c/a>offered this spring, the district’s work to make significant budget cuts as painless as possible has left schools needing to fill about 150 classroom positions before next fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to tentative budget documents district officials plan to present to the school board on Tuesday evening, the early retirement plan will save the district more than $7.5 million through educator buyouts, and layoffs in the administrative central office total more than $28 million in spending reductions, although those numbers could change since the district temporarily reopened buyout applications in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the staffing changes also leave the district with classroom vacancies to fill and strict limits on how to fill them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The efforts that the leadership took to close the deficit in the ‘easiest pill to swallow’ way … [mean that] right now there are hundreds of positions because of the shuffling [that] need to be filled this spring,” said Meredith Dodson, the executive director of advocacy group San Francisco Parents. “But the state is preventing them from doing any external hiring.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a>’s hiring process comes at the end of a whirlwind school year marked by a botched school closure plan, a new superintendent and public scrutiny tied up in the city’s contentious election cycle. This year, the district must make $114 million in budget cuts to avoid state takeover after years of overspending, and it has faced mounting pressure to do so without cutting teachers or classrooms.\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 from Decreasing the Distance 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>Because of the budget shortfall, SFUSD has been under heightened state oversight since last May, including a hiring freeze that requires state advisors to approve any district plans to bring in new staff. Earlier this month, the California Department of Education partially lifted that freeze, allowing SFUSD to begin hiring eligible internal employees for classroom positions after they were affected by layoffs in the central office or cuts to other special assignment roles and offering renewals to temporary teachers on one-year contracts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Dodson said that if the district is not allowed to recruit candidates from outside, whether those vacancies get filled fully depends on where teachers want to work — and if they choose to remain at SFUSD at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is the challenge of a principal being like, ‘Wait, it’s the end of the year, I need to fill my school for the next year,’ and they’re not being allowed to,” she told KQED. “It’s really bad, especially for those high priority, high need schools, [that] are typically the schools that are harder to staff.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Even if the district is allowed to begin hiring externally and fills its classroom roles, it is still set to have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031347/san-francisco-schools-may-cut-staff-face-backlash-over-new-hiring-limits\">hundreds fewer staff members next year\u003c/a> and lose some of its most experienced teachers to early retirement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodson said parents are especially worried about “the cuts in para[educators], the cuts in counselors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t have counselors with hundreds and hundreds of kids on their caseload; they’ll never be able to meet with them all,” she said. “And then, of course, paras [serve] our kids in special education who need that additional support. There are a lot of concerns about some of those cuts that we’re seeing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Superintendent Maria Su recently said SFUSD is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036914/more-sfusd-layoffs-to-target-central-office-bringing-budget-gap-closer-to-zero\">within $10 million\u003c/a> of balancing this year’s shortfall, but the district isn’t out of the woods financially in the long term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is forecasting deficits in the tens of millions in each of the next three years. Those projections would spend down the majority of SFUSD’s restricted and unrestricted fund balances and wipe out its rainy day reserves, and they don’t reflect any salary increases that could be negotiated with employee unions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district said some of the excess spending it plans to do in the next few years allows it to utilize one-time money in its restricted fund, but it will need to make more reductions as that money is spent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Fiscal Stabilization Plan has a significant positive impact on our financial forecast, but additional steps will be necessary to achieve sustainability in the long term,” according to district documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodson said the district’s new leadership is making strides in the right direction, but without better collaboration with the state, long-term problems will continue to loom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to see the state giving San Francisco Unified a little more carrot and a little less stick,” she said. “If they don’t allow principals to hire to fill classrooms, then the state is as much responsible as our district for denying kids a quality education.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "More SFUSD Layoffs to Target Central Office, Bringing Budget Gap Closer to Zero",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">San Francisco’s schools\u003c/a> superintendent said a plan to cut hundreds of positions in the district’s central office, while preserving classroom teacher roles, will bring the district within $10 million of bridging a hundred-million-dollar deficit by the end of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Top administrative staffers will be included in the second round of employee cuts that Superintendent Maria Su is set to present to the Board of Education on Tuesday. In addition to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031347/san-francisco-schools-may-cut-staff-face-backlash-over-new-hiring-limits\">counselor and paraeducator layoffs\u003c/a> announced earlier, Su said the reduction of 205 administrative roles is necessary to ensure that every classroom in the district has a certificated teacher next fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There will be no layoffs to our teachers because we value and know how important it is to have a teacher in every single classroom,” Su told reporters on Monday. “But of course, this does mean that we still need to move forward with certain other positions. We will be laying off central office staff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 100 staffers in the central office will be laid off, and 30 more roles will be eliminated after employees took the district’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">early retirement buyout\u003c/a> earlier this year. Su said the district plans to promote internal employees to fill some of the roles left vacant by high-level retirements. The remaining 75 positions affected by the cuts are currently vacant and will not be filled. The district said the plan will save it $34 million a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents and union leaders have long called for cuts to what they say is a “bloated” and dysfunctional central office and accused the district of spending too much money on positions that don’t serve students. Su, who has led the district for six months, said that in the past, about 25% of district spending went toward the administrative arm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036911\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036911\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" 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>The cuts will reduce that to 16%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are taking a thoughtful, multi-pronged approach, balancing the budget carefully while doing everything we can to minimize the impact on students and our staff,” Su said. “Everything we do is guided by our belief that every dollar should support student success and that strong systems create the foundation for thriving schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frank Lara, the vice president of the union representing SFUSD teachers, told KQED that the union is optimistic about her proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think it’s about time that a superintendent took the matter seriously and is making the level of cuts that [she is] presenting to the board,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Lara, past central office cuts have overwhelmingly affected lower-level staff and union members, while Su’s plan consolidates more upper-management roles.[aside postID=news_12031802 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-13-BL-KQED.jpg']“We can see that it’s actually coming out of where it should,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Su has repeatedly said no classroom teachers will be laid off as part of the significant spending reduction, she noted that all 114 teachers currently on special assignments — usually district veterans who focus on specialized small group instruction, reading intervention, or other targeted services for struggling students — have been asked to return to the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of those special positions will be eliminated, or at least remain vacant until the district fills 92% of its base staffing needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su’s plan for the central office also includes a new executive office structure meant to eliminate some of the “silos” she noticed between departments after taking over the superintendency last fall. Her plan shrinks her executive staff from eight to four positions and merges other high-ranking roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two top business and operations positions will be combined, and four positions heading educational services for different grade levels will be merged into two. The largest number of central office positions being cut are in curriculum and instruction, student and family services\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008939\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\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\">\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 technology. Human resources and early education will also lose more than a dozen roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the district works to make $114 million in budget reductions, it is also shelling out nearly $30 million over four years to implement a new payroll system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though not ideal, Su said it’s a necessary expense after the district \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11908196/sfusd-teachers-protest-missed-paychecks-and-payroll-glitches-at-headquarters-overnight-sfusd\">tried and failed\u003c/a> to implement a new system in 2022 and 2023, which left employees with missing or incorrect paychecks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That cannot happen under my watch. It will not happen,” Su said. “It is unconscionable that it did happen, and we cannot allow that to be the case moving forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fiasco \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-payroll-scandal-empower-teacher-pay-18698224.php\">cost the district $34 million\u003c/a> and a lot of trust from staff and families. Last March, the district committed to pivoting to Frontline, a payroll system used by more than 60% of districts across California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It does take us a lot of money to stabilize the current system,” Su said. “However, when we do pivot to the new Frontline system, I believe that the amount will significantly reduce.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is on track to present a balanced budget by the state’s deadline at the end of June, Su said, but the process will continue to require “lots of difficult decisions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“SFUSD is committed to ending our habit of deficit spending and avoiding future state oversight,” Su said Monday. “We have been living on a credit card and this cycle is not acceptable. Our students deserve better. Our staff deserves better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "San Francisco’s schools superintendent is set to present a plan to cut 205 central office positions, including top administrative staffers, to the Board of Education on Tuesday.",
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"title": "More SFUSD Layoffs to Target Central Office, Bringing Budget Gap Closer to Zero | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">San Francisco’s schools\u003c/a> superintendent said a plan to cut hundreds of positions in the district’s central office, while preserving classroom teacher roles, will bring the district within $10 million of bridging a hundred-million-dollar deficit by the end of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Top administrative staffers will be included in the second round of employee cuts that Superintendent Maria Su is set to present to the Board of Education on Tuesday. In addition to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031347/san-francisco-schools-may-cut-staff-face-backlash-over-new-hiring-limits\">counselor and paraeducator layoffs\u003c/a> announced earlier, Su said the reduction of 205 administrative roles is necessary to ensure that every classroom in the district has a certificated teacher next fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There will be no layoffs to our teachers because we value and know how important it is to have a teacher in every single classroom,” Su told reporters on Monday. “But of course, this does mean that we still need to move forward with certain other positions. We will be laying off central office staff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 100 staffers in the central office will be laid off, and 30 more roles will be eliminated after employees took the district’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">early retirement buyout\u003c/a> earlier this year. Su said the district plans to promote internal employees to fill some of the roles left vacant by high-level retirements. The remaining 75 positions affected by the cuts are currently vacant and will not be filled. The district said the plan will save it $34 million a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents and union leaders have long called for cuts to what they say is a “bloated” and dysfunctional central office and accused the district of spending too much money on positions that don’t serve students. Su, who has led the district for six months, said that in the past, about 25% of district spending went toward the administrative arm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036911\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036911\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" 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>The cuts will reduce that to 16%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are taking a thoughtful, multi-pronged approach, balancing the budget carefully while doing everything we can to minimize the impact on students and our staff,” Su said. “Everything we do is guided by our belief that every dollar should support student success and that strong systems create the foundation for thriving schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frank Lara, the vice president of the union representing SFUSD teachers, told KQED that the union is optimistic about her proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think it’s about time that a superintendent took the matter seriously and is making the level of cuts that [she is] presenting to the board,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Lara, past central office cuts have overwhelmingly affected lower-level staff and union members, while Su’s plan consolidates more upper-management roles.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We can see that it’s actually coming out of where it should,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Su has repeatedly said no classroom teachers will be laid off as part of the significant spending reduction, she noted that all 114 teachers currently on special assignments — usually district veterans who focus on specialized small group instruction, reading intervention, or other targeted services for struggling students — have been asked to return to the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of those special positions will be eliminated, or at least remain vacant until the district fills 92% of its base staffing needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su’s plan for the central office also includes a new executive office structure meant to eliminate some of the “silos” she noticed between departments after taking over the superintendency last fall. Her plan shrinks her executive staff from eight to four positions and merges other high-ranking roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two top business and operations positions will be combined, and four positions heading educational services for different grade levels will be merged into two. The largest number of central office positions being cut are in curriculum and instruction, student and family services\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008939\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\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\">\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 technology. Human resources and early education will also lose more than a dozen roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the district works to make $114 million in budget reductions, it is also shelling out nearly $30 million over four years to implement a new payroll system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though not ideal, Su said it’s a necessary expense after the district \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11908196/sfusd-teachers-protest-missed-paychecks-and-payroll-glitches-at-headquarters-overnight-sfusd\">tried and failed\u003c/a> to implement a new system in 2022 and 2023, which left employees with missing or incorrect paychecks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That cannot happen under my watch. It will not happen,” Su said. “It is unconscionable that it did happen, and we cannot allow that to be the case moving forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fiasco \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-payroll-scandal-empower-teacher-pay-18698224.php\">cost the district $34 million\u003c/a> and a lot of trust from staff and families. Last March, the district committed to pivoting to Frontline, a payroll system used by more than 60% of districts across California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It does take us a lot of money to stabilize the current system,” Su said. “However, when we do pivot to the new Frontline system, I believe that the amount will significantly reduce.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is on track to present a balanced budget by the state’s deadline at the end of June, Su said, but the process will continue to require “lots of difficult decisions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“SFUSD is committed to ending our habit of deficit spending and avoiding future state oversight,” Su said Monday. “We have been living on a credit card and this cycle is not acceptable. Our students deserve better. Our staff deserves better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "san-francisco-public-schools-see-surge-applications-thanks-transitional-kindergarten-demand",
"title": "San Francisco Public Schools See Surge of Applications, Thanks to Transitional Kindergarten Demand",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco public schools received the largest number of applications in more than a decade thanks to a statewide initiative to offer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989955/what-to-expect-when-enrolling-your-child-in-transitional-kindergarten\">a free year of prekindergarten to all 4-year-olds this fall\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district announced Monday first-round school assignments for the 2025–26 school year for nearly 15,500 applicants, a 10% increase in applications compared to last year, said Lauren Koehler, executive director of San Francisco Unified School District’s enrollment center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a bit of good news for a district facing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031347/san-francisco-schools-may-cut-staff-face-backlash-over-new-hiring-limits\">a major budget shortfall\u003c/a>, partly caused by declining enrollment trends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While applications for kindergarten, 6th grade and 9th grade went up, the biggest surge in applications was for transitional kindergarten, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/schools/enroll/student-assignment-policy/annual-assignment-highlights#77792\">according to district data\u003c/a>. SFUSD received nearly 1,990 student applications for TK, which is 673 more than last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California started adding TK to its sprawling public school system in 2022 and has been gradually accommodating more 4-year-olds based on their birth dates. Starting this fall, all kids who turn 4 by September will be guaranteed a spot in TK. SFUSD is planning to open 18 more classrooms to meet the demand, Koehler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We’re all really excited about the expansion in TK because it makes [preschool] more affordable for many more families,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12030561 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250307_ALAMEDACHILDCARE_GC-2-KQED-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To encourage families to enroll in TK, the district changed its assignment policy so that students can continue into kindergarten at the same school without having to reapply. That way, parents don’t have to contend with the assignment process two years in a row, and school staff can nurture students’ social and academic growth over the course of two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Koehler noted that 90% of TK-to-12th-grade applicants were assigned to one of their requested schools, almost 1,000 more students than last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So not only are we having more interest in our schools, we’re also able to assign more kids to schools that they prefer,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Families must accept or decline their assignments by March 27, and a new waitlist system allows them to get results without reapplying for their preferred school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though some families may decline their assignments, Koehler expects SFUSD’s overall enrollment to be slightly higher for the coming year than the current \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/about-sfusd/facts-about-sfusd-glance\">50,000 students\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a small bright spot for a district facing enrollment declines in the long term. The city’s public schools lost more than 4,000 students since 2012–13 and are projected to lose 4,600 more students by 2032 due to demographic trends such as declining birth rates, \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LJBGENPuvXFmR8nuko9c1goeW1WijG_I/view\">according to \u003c/a>district forecasts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, SFUSD said it would \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031347/san-francisco-schools-may-cut-staff-face-backlash-over-new-hiring-limits\">issue about 170 \u003c/a>preliminary layoff notices to school counselors and paraeducators as it works to close a $113 million budget deficit by year’s end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco public schools received the largest number of applications in more than a decade thanks to a statewide initiative to offer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989955/what-to-expect-when-enrolling-your-child-in-transitional-kindergarten\">a free year of prekindergarten to all 4-year-olds this fall\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district announced Monday first-round school assignments for the 2025–26 school year for nearly 15,500 applicants, a 10% increase in applications compared to last year, said Lauren Koehler, executive director of San Francisco Unified School District’s enrollment center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a bit of good news for a district facing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031347/san-francisco-schools-may-cut-staff-face-backlash-over-new-hiring-limits\">a major budget shortfall\u003c/a>, partly caused by declining enrollment trends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While applications for kindergarten, 6th grade and 9th grade went up, the biggest surge in applications was for transitional kindergarten, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/schools/enroll/student-assignment-policy/annual-assignment-highlights#77792\">according to district data\u003c/a>. SFUSD received nearly 1,990 student applications for TK, which is 673 more than last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California started adding TK to its sprawling public school system in 2022 and has been gradually accommodating more 4-year-olds based on their birth dates. Starting this fall, all kids who turn 4 by September will be guaranteed a spot in TK. SFUSD is planning to open 18 more classrooms to meet the demand, Koehler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We’re all really excited about the expansion in TK because it makes [preschool] more affordable for many more families,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To encourage families to enroll in TK, the district changed its assignment policy so that students can continue into kindergarten at the same school without having to reapply. That way, parents don’t have to contend with the assignment process two years in a row, and school staff can nurture students’ social and academic growth over the course of two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Koehler noted that 90% of TK-to-12th-grade applicants were assigned to one of their requested schools, almost 1,000 more students than last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So not only are we having more interest in our schools, we’re also able to assign more kids to schools that they prefer,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Families must accept or decline their assignments by March 27, and a new waitlist system allows them to get results without reapplying for their preferred school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though some families may decline their assignments, Koehler expects SFUSD’s overall enrollment to be slightly higher for the coming year than the current \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/about-sfusd/facts-about-sfusd-glance\">50,000 students\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a small bright spot for a district facing enrollment declines in the long term. The city’s public schools lost more than 4,000 students since 2012–13 and are projected to lose 4,600 more students by 2032 due to demographic trends such as declining birth rates, \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LJBGENPuvXFmR8nuko9c1goeW1WijG_I/view\">according to \u003c/a>district forecasts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, SFUSD said it would \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031347/san-francisco-schools-may-cut-staff-face-backlash-over-new-hiring-limits\">issue about 170 \u003c/a>preliminary layoff notices to school counselors and paraeducators as it works to close a $113 million budget deficit by year’s end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 10:40 a.m. Friday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-unified-school-district\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> announced Thursday evening that it will issue about 170 preliminary layoff notices as it works to close a massive budget deficit by year’s end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pink slips will be sent to 34 counselors and 143 paraeducators — a sharp reduction from the hundreds of potential notices \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028317/sf-schools-brace-hundreds-layoffs-including-teachers-librarians-counselors\">the school board approved\u003c/a> in February — but the smaller list does not guarantee that staff reductions won’t be more significant next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Superintendent Maria Su has said the district spends about 80% of its $1.3 billion budget on staffing and faces about a $113 million shortfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While it is very painful, it is very necessary for us to reduce our existing workforce in both our central office as well as throughout our schools,” she told reporters in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other teachers, social workers, counselors and paraeducators will leave the district through an early retirement buyout, which more than 300 agreed to in February. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Due to the overwhelming popularity of the supplemental early retirement plan, I am really grateful to say that we do not have to issue any preliminary layoff notices to our teachers across the district,” Su said at a budget town hall Thursday night. “This is really great news for us because we were hoping and trying to find a way to preserve consistency of our [classroom] teaching staff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>United Educators of San Francisco Vice President Frank Lara said the district is also cross-referencing about 280 sunsetting temporary contracts and could opt not to replace some educators who leave the district voluntarily in the spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has already sent 57 assistant principals preliminary letters of release or reassignment, some of whom could be moved into classroom positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD shared a baseline staffing formula last month stating that classroom teachers, principals, clerks and janitors will be funded at its schools. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the district’s \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Go6kR6mU85O8bcHVZlBHntXBYvuZo-qQ/view\">new supplementary staffing guide\u003c/a>, schools will only be able to hire new social workers, nurses, librarians and counselors after those roles are covered at their campus. Schools with supplemental funding can also hire assistant principals. Hiring for some additional roles, such as English language and intervention specialists, will be on hold until 92% of classroom teaching positions across the district are filled.[aside postID=news_12028317 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241009-SFUSDCLOSURESMARCH-29-BL-KQED.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new guide also disallows hiring class size reduction teachers, angering some parent-teacher associations, which have traditionally funded these roles — such as two positions at Chinese Immersion School at DeAvila — at their children’s schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For many years in San Francisco, PTAs have stepped up to fill budget gaps for a variety of operating costs,” reads \u003ca href=\"https://www.change.org/p/let-parents-help-fund-sfusd-teachers\">a petition signed by more than 500 parents\u003c/a> opposing the new policy. “These PTA-funded resources have allowed schools to continue performing well academically despite inadequate funding and continued uncertainty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district said the notices being sent are preliminary and that it is “hopeful” final notices won’t be necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As site budgets are finalized, we will gain a clearer understanding of which positions schools will choose to fund,” an SFUSD spokesperson said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 10:40 a.m. Friday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-unified-school-district\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> announced Thursday evening that it will issue about 170 preliminary layoff notices as it works to close a massive budget deficit by year’s end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pink slips will be sent to 34 counselors and 143 paraeducators — a sharp reduction from the hundreds of potential notices \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028317/sf-schools-brace-hundreds-layoffs-including-teachers-librarians-counselors\">the school board approved\u003c/a> in February — but the smaller list does not guarantee that staff reductions won’t be more significant next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Superintendent Maria Su has said the district spends about 80% of its $1.3 billion budget on staffing and faces about a $113 million shortfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While it is very painful, it is very necessary for us to reduce our existing workforce in both our central office as well as throughout our schools,” she told reporters in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other teachers, social workers, counselors and paraeducators will leave the district through an early retirement buyout, which more than 300 agreed to in February. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Due to the overwhelming popularity of the supplemental early retirement plan, I am really grateful to say that we do not have to issue any preliminary layoff notices to our teachers across the district,” Su said at a budget town hall Thursday night. “This is really great news for us because we were hoping and trying to find a way to preserve consistency of our [classroom] teaching staff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>United Educators of San Francisco Vice President Frank Lara said the district is also cross-referencing about 280 sunsetting temporary contracts and could opt not to replace some educators who leave the district voluntarily in the spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has already sent 57 assistant principals preliminary letters of release or reassignment, some of whom could be moved into classroom positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD shared a baseline staffing formula last month stating that classroom teachers, principals, clerks and janitors will be funded at its schools. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the district’s \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Go6kR6mU85O8bcHVZlBHntXBYvuZo-qQ/view\">new supplementary staffing guide\u003c/a>, schools will only be able to hire new social workers, nurses, librarians and counselors after those roles are covered at their campus. Schools with supplemental funding can also hire assistant principals. Hiring for some additional roles, such as English language and intervention specialists, will be on hold until 92% of classroom teaching positions across the district are filled.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new guide also disallows hiring class size reduction teachers, angering some parent-teacher associations, which have traditionally funded these roles — such as two positions at Chinese Immersion School at DeAvila — at their children’s schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For many years in San Francisco, PTAs have stepped up to fill budget gaps for a variety of operating costs,” reads \u003ca href=\"https://www.change.org/p/let-parents-help-fund-sfusd-teachers\">a petition signed by more than 500 parents\u003c/a> opposing the new policy. “These PTA-funded resources have allowed schools to continue performing well academically despite inadequate funding and continued uncertainty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district said the notices being sent are preliminary and that it is “hopeful” final notices won’t be necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As site budgets are finalized, we will gain a clearer understanding of which positions schools will choose to fund,” an SFUSD spokesperson said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Bay Area public schools are struggling, especially in Oakland and San Francisco. Both districts are among only a handful across the state with negative budgets, and as a result recently voted to approve preliminary layoff notices for teachers, counselors, and other staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC4698991256\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:19] All right, Katie, so last week, some huge budget cuts were announced for Oakland and San Francisco schools. How big of a deal are these cuts?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:02:29] They’re significant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:31] Katie DeBenedetti is a reporter for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:02:34] San Francisco needs to cut about $113 million from their budget, and Oakland needs to cut about $95 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:02:45] In San Francisco, the cuts, which are really potential layoff notices, impact about 10% of the district’s teachers, social workers, counselors, teacher aides. And in Oakland, hundreds of staff could be affected. There, the district is eliminating about 800 positions, but it’s creating 700 new ones. So a lot of people might get shifted into a new role. They might move from a 12 month position to an 11 month position, but there’s still gonna be a lot of confusion and a lot of jobs are changing, which could result in pay cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:03:29] I think it’s really demoralizing for both teachers and staff that have kind of gotten used to receiving these pink slips. We’re looking at staffing that might cut a lot of the really key services that students rely on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:47] Yeah, let’s dig into that a little bit more. What is the range of things actually on the chopping block? Starting with San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:03:55] In San Francisco, they have basically said, we’re going to cut 395 or so roles across teachers, social workers, counselors, and under teachers, there are a lot of specialist positions. So those are English language arts specialist, literacy coaches, a lot of librarians are teachers. And then a lot of also administrators, most schools right now might not have an assistant principal. Basically, it’s anything that doesn’t fit in the state standard of positions needed to, quote, keep the lights on in school. So classroom teachers, a principal, a janitor, and a clerk are pretty much the only guarantees right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:42] And what about Oakland?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:04:44] In Oakland, a lot of the positions that are getting cut are going to be reallocated. So, you know, there’s going to be some cuts to classroom teachers in certain cases. But a big category of the cuts that people are worried about are these substitute teachers called STIP subs. They work at one school site. They say they’re year round. Basically, the district is going to eliminate those roles and kind of replace them with a group of subs that will live at the district level and be sent out based on teacher absences. The other big category there is a lot of roles for support staff are going to be changed from 12 months to 11 months, which results in a pay cut and also makes it so that those staff members won’t be able to use that 12th month of the year where they’re doing planning and preparing over the summer to really get things done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:05:51] I really do feel like I have seen story after story after story about budget cuts at public schools all over the Bay Area. It really seems like a tough time right now for public schools. I mean, is it just, am I just imagining this, Katie? Like, or are public schools across the Bay really struggling right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:06:16] No, you are not imagining it. This is not isolated to San Francisco and Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:06:25] Many, many school districts are struggling. In just the Bay Area, Santa Rosa is planning to close five schools because of budget cuts. In San Jose, they’re also closing schools. And districts throughout the state are facing these deficits and making staff cuts kind of across the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:47] And why is that, Katie? Why is it that so many public schools seem to be struggling so much in this particular moment in time?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:06:57] One of the biggest reasons is declining enrollment. Families have moved out of cities. Kids might be attending private school in higher numbers. The birth rate is also declining. So there are a couple of reasons that schools aren’t growing. Basically the way that school districts get their funding is they get a certain amount of money for every student that they have. That makes up a big bulk of their total budget. So when you have a district like San Francisco, which has lost 10,000 students in the last 10 years or Oakland, which has lost 15,000 in the last 20, they’re getting a lot less money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:07:42] Another big reason is during COVID, districts got a lot of relief money from the government and a lot of districts already facing that declining enrollment kind of used it to pay for ongoing expenses, but that money is now gone. And I think things are also just costing more. The cost of living in Oakland and San Francisco has gone up disproportionately to the, you know, amount of funding that they get from the state for schools. but they need to pay more in wages, they’re paying more for their buildings, for their third-party contracts, and that’s just not being reflected in the amount of funding they’re getting from the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:08:27] Coming up, why the budget situation is even worse in Oakland and San Francisco. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:12] So it sounds like a lot of school districts across the Bay Area are struggling with issues like low enrollment, the end of these COVID funds, inflation, but where do the budget problems at Oakland and San Francisco public schools, where do they stack up against these other Bay Area school districts?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:09:34] They’re definitely among the worst off. Oakland and San Francisco are among seven of about a thousand districts in California that have negative interim budgets from December. That basically means that without making big changes, they won’t be able to pay their bills in the next few years. Hayward Unified School District is also on that list, but the other four districts are much smaller. They’re in rural parts of the state and their budgets are really a fraction of the size of San Francisco and Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:07] I mean, Katie, why are things so bad at schools in Oakland and San Francisco, specifically?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:10:14] Oakland and San Francisco have historically, you know, talked about big cuts, talked about school closures, and then backed off those plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lisa Grant Dawson \u003c/strong>[00:10:24] It’s been decades of not dealing with systemic issues and ultimately asking the superintendent and the staff to make it work for the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:10:36] So Lisa Grant Dawson is Oakland’s budget officer, and she said that they have this pattern. They’ll workshop a plan, they’ll discuss it, they’ll talk about the community impact, what can go, but then they won’t implement it. And that’s kind of continued for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lisa Grant-Dawson \u003c/strong>[00:10:56] It often sounds like our issue is strictly financial, but it’s really how we operate and we’ve just reached a place that we’ve run out of space in order for us to be able to make amends as we have historically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:15] I mean, is this normal that that these two districts sort of come up with a plan, you know, commit to these cuts and then decide to sort of back off on them?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:11:30] No.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Fine \u003c/strong>[00:11:33] Oakland is notorious for planning, for taking a plan, and naming it five different times, but never fully implementing the plan. San Francisco has yet to come up with a plan, in my opinion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:11:46] Mike Fine, who is the executive director of FCMAT, which is a financial company that helps California districts with their finances, said that a lot of districts are having these same issues, but what’s hurting Oakland and San Francisco is that they’re not taking the steps they need to, to remediate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Fine \u003c/strong>[00:12:06] This failure to implement idea is really harmful because you go through the same grind and you go through the same emotional trauma year after year after year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:12:20] Realistically, all of the budget balancing work that they’re doing costs money. Like last fall, Oakland and San Francisco both had plans to close schools, which admittedly it’s unclear how much money closing schools really saves, but developing the plans to close schools costs money, staff puts time into it. It’s a lot of work and then to get no gain out of it is hurting them even more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:49] Coming back to the students here who really will, I imagine, bear the brunt of these cuts. I mean, what are these cuts going to mean for San Francisco and Oakland students?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:13:01] I think a lot of families and teachers are really concerned about how equitable they’re going to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kampala Taiz-Rancifer \u003c/strong>[00:13:10] Our main function as a school district is to provide quality education. And when we make cuts so close to schools, we’re really undermining that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:13:19] Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, who is the Oakland Union President for teachers, she says that a lot of the cuts that are being made are gonna impact students on their school sites. So, you know, teachers who are working 11 instead of 12 months won’t engage with families during the summer as much. Without subs on site, kids will have to, you know, get accustomed to working with teachers that they don’t know as well. They’ll lose kind of another adult resource. And really, they’re just going to hurt students more than they’re hurting the function of the district at the central office level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kampala Taiz-Rancifer \u003c/strong>[00:14:00] We are going to be having threats from our national government and we really at this time need to make sure that schools are stable and that they are places that students can rely upon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:14:16] Both districts in the past have had school closure plans and budget cut plans that school communities feel have really negatively impacted low -income students and students of color disproportionately. And so there’s a lot of distrust just when we’re making these cuts, are we prioritizing those students’ needs?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Community Member 1 \u003c/strong>[00:14:36] The positions that you’re proposing to cut or reduce work directly with students and families, particularly from our most disadvantaged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:14:43] and you can really hear a lot of those concerns at these districts recent board meetings from parents and from teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Community Member 2 \u003c/strong>[00:14:51] Please fund a full social worker at every site at minimum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Community Member 3 \u003c/strong>[00:14:54] District employees receive high salaries, yet they remain inaccessible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Community Member 4 \u003c/strong>[00:14:58] I am here to demand that this board protect our student -facing services. I don’t even like calling it services. These are human beings. These are people, essential people, that work with our babies every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:15:15] What is next here, Katie? It sounds like, at least in San Francisco, TBD on who exactly could lose their jobs. And then in the case of Oakland, I mean, are these cuts going to happen in the next school year or what is next year?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:15:36] So the next step is layoff notice letters going out. These are not set in stone. A lot of people are going to get layoff notices and then in May, when budgets become more clear, get those notices rescinded. If they don’t get rescinded and they get confirmed in May, those employees will be without a job beginning in the next school year. The state would only step in if either district makes it to June just before the start of the new fiscal year without balancing a budget. So because both districts did pass layoff notice resolutions, they are technically making the cuts that they need to make. So it really depends on May and what cuts stay and what cuts get rescinded. And I’m sure in the months in between, there’s gonna be a lot of organizing from, you know each district’s unions, the parent communities, to fight cuts and try to shift them away from students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:46] Well, Katie, thanks so much for breaking this down for us. I really appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:16:49] Thanks so much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:56] That was Katie DeBenedetti, a reporter for KQED. This 25 -minute conversation with Katie was cut down and edited by senior editor, Alan Montecillo. Jessica Kariisa is our producer. She scored this episode. Our intern, Mel Velasquez, added all the tape. Music courtesy of Audio Network, Blue Dot Sessions, and NPR. Support for The Bay is provided in part by the Osher Production Fund. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco, Northern California Local. I’m Erica Cruz Guevarra, thanks for listening, peace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12027158/how-oakland-and-sf-ended-up-among-7-ca-school-districts-who-cant-pay-their-bills\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How Oakland and SF Ended Up Among 7 CA School Districts Who Can’t Pay Their Bills\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Bay Area public schools are struggling, especially in Oakland and San Francisco. Both districts are among only a handful across the state with negative budgets, and as a result recently voted to approve preliminary layoff notices for teachers, counselors, and other staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC4698991256\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:19] All right, Katie, so last week, some huge budget cuts were announced for Oakland and San Francisco schools. How big of a deal are these cuts?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:02:29] They’re significant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:31] Katie DeBenedetti is a reporter for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:02:34] San Francisco needs to cut about $113 million from their budget, and Oakland needs to cut about $95 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:02:45] In San Francisco, the cuts, which are really potential layoff notices, impact about 10% of the district’s teachers, social workers, counselors, teacher aides. And in Oakland, hundreds of staff could be affected. There, the district is eliminating about 800 positions, but it’s creating 700 new ones. So a lot of people might get shifted into a new role. They might move from a 12 month position to an 11 month position, but there’s still gonna be a lot of confusion and a lot of jobs are changing, which could result in pay cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:03:29] I think it’s really demoralizing for both teachers and staff that have kind of gotten used to receiving these pink slips. We’re looking at staffing that might cut a lot of the really key services that students rely on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:47] Yeah, let’s dig into that a little bit more. What is the range of things actually on the chopping block? Starting with San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:03:55] In San Francisco, they have basically said, we’re going to cut 395 or so roles across teachers, social workers, counselors, and under teachers, there are a lot of specialist positions. So those are English language arts specialist, literacy coaches, a lot of librarians are teachers. And then a lot of also administrators, most schools right now might not have an assistant principal. Basically, it’s anything that doesn’t fit in the state standard of positions needed to, quote, keep the lights on in school. So classroom teachers, a principal, a janitor, and a clerk are pretty much the only guarantees right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:42] And what about Oakland?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:04:44] In Oakland, a lot of the positions that are getting cut are going to be reallocated. So, you know, there’s going to be some cuts to classroom teachers in certain cases. But a big category of the cuts that people are worried about are these substitute teachers called STIP subs. They work at one school site. They say they’re year round. Basically, the district is going to eliminate those roles and kind of replace them with a group of subs that will live at the district level and be sent out based on teacher absences. The other big category there is a lot of roles for support staff are going to be changed from 12 months to 11 months, which results in a pay cut and also makes it so that those staff members won’t be able to use that 12th month of the year where they’re doing planning and preparing over the summer to really get things done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:05:51] I really do feel like I have seen story after story after story about budget cuts at public schools all over the Bay Area. It really seems like a tough time right now for public schools. I mean, is it just, am I just imagining this, Katie? Like, or are public schools across the Bay really struggling right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:06:16] No, you are not imagining it. This is not isolated to San Francisco and Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:06:25] Many, many school districts are struggling. In just the Bay Area, Santa Rosa is planning to close five schools because of budget cuts. In San Jose, they’re also closing schools. And districts throughout the state are facing these deficits and making staff cuts kind of across the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:47] And why is that, Katie? Why is it that so many public schools seem to be struggling so much in this particular moment in time?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:06:57] One of the biggest reasons is declining enrollment. Families have moved out of cities. Kids might be attending private school in higher numbers. The birth rate is also declining. So there are a couple of reasons that schools aren’t growing. Basically the way that school districts get their funding is they get a certain amount of money for every student that they have. That makes up a big bulk of their total budget. So when you have a district like San Francisco, which has lost 10,000 students in the last 10 years or Oakland, which has lost 15,000 in the last 20, they’re getting a lot less money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:07:42] Another big reason is during COVID, districts got a lot of relief money from the government and a lot of districts already facing that declining enrollment kind of used it to pay for ongoing expenses, but that money is now gone. And I think things are also just costing more. The cost of living in Oakland and San Francisco has gone up disproportionately to the, you know, amount of funding that they get from the state for schools. but they need to pay more in wages, they’re paying more for their buildings, for their third-party contracts, and that’s just not being reflected in the amount of funding they’re getting from the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:08:27] Coming up, why the budget situation is even worse in Oakland and San Francisco. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:12] So it sounds like a lot of school districts across the Bay Area are struggling with issues like low enrollment, the end of these COVID funds, inflation, but where do the budget problems at Oakland and San Francisco public schools, where do they stack up against these other Bay Area school districts?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:09:34] They’re definitely among the worst off. Oakland and San Francisco are among seven of about a thousand districts in California that have negative interim budgets from December. That basically means that without making big changes, they won’t be able to pay their bills in the next few years. Hayward Unified School District is also on that list, but the other four districts are much smaller. They’re in rural parts of the state and their budgets are really a fraction of the size of San Francisco and Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:07] I mean, Katie, why are things so bad at schools in Oakland and San Francisco, specifically?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:10:14] Oakland and San Francisco have historically, you know, talked about big cuts, talked about school closures, and then backed off those plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lisa Grant Dawson \u003c/strong>[00:10:24] It’s been decades of not dealing with systemic issues and ultimately asking the superintendent and the staff to make it work for the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:10:36] So Lisa Grant Dawson is Oakland’s budget officer, and she said that they have this pattern. They’ll workshop a plan, they’ll discuss it, they’ll talk about the community impact, what can go, but then they won’t implement it. And that’s kind of continued for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lisa Grant-Dawson \u003c/strong>[00:10:56] It often sounds like our issue is strictly financial, but it’s really how we operate and we’ve just reached a place that we’ve run out of space in order for us to be able to make amends as we have historically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:15] I mean, is this normal that that these two districts sort of come up with a plan, you know, commit to these cuts and then decide to sort of back off on them?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:11:30] No.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Fine \u003c/strong>[00:11:33] Oakland is notorious for planning, for taking a plan, and naming it five different times, but never fully implementing the plan. San Francisco has yet to come up with a plan, in my opinion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:11:46] Mike Fine, who is the executive director of FCMAT, which is a financial company that helps California districts with their finances, said that a lot of districts are having these same issues, but what’s hurting Oakland and San Francisco is that they’re not taking the steps they need to, to remediate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Fine \u003c/strong>[00:12:06] This failure to implement idea is really harmful because you go through the same grind and you go through the same emotional trauma year after year after year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:12:20] Realistically, all of the budget balancing work that they’re doing costs money. Like last fall, Oakland and San Francisco both had plans to close schools, which admittedly it’s unclear how much money closing schools really saves, but developing the plans to close schools costs money, staff puts time into it. It’s a lot of work and then to get no gain out of it is hurting them even more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:49] Coming back to the students here who really will, I imagine, bear the brunt of these cuts. I mean, what are these cuts going to mean for San Francisco and Oakland students?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:13:01] I think a lot of families and teachers are really concerned about how equitable they’re going to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kampala Taiz-Rancifer \u003c/strong>[00:13:10] Our main function as a school district is to provide quality education. And when we make cuts so close to schools, we’re really undermining that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:13:19] Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, who is the Oakland Union President for teachers, she says that a lot of the cuts that are being made are gonna impact students on their school sites. So, you know, teachers who are working 11 instead of 12 months won’t engage with families during the summer as much. Without subs on site, kids will have to, you know, get accustomed to working with teachers that they don’t know as well. They’ll lose kind of another adult resource. And really, they’re just going to hurt students more than they’re hurting the function of the district at the central office level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kampala Taiz-Rancifer \u003c/strong>[00:14:00] We are going to be having threats from our national government and we really at this time need to make sure that schools are stable and that they are places that students can rely upon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:14:16] Both districts in the past have had school closure plans and budget cut plans that school communities feel have really negatively impacted low -income students and students of color disproportionately. And so there’s a lot of distrust just when we’re making these cuts, are we prioritizing those students’ needs?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Community Member 1 \u003c/strong>[00:14:36] The positions that you’re proposing to cut or reduce work directly with students and families, particularly from our most disadvantaged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:14:43] and you can really hear a lot of those concerns at these districts recent board meetings from parents and from teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Community Member 2 \u003c/strong>[00:14:51] Please fund a full social worker at every site at minimum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Community Member 3 \u003c/strong>[00:14:54] District employees receive high salaries, yet they remain inaccessible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Community Member 4 \u003c/strong>[00:14:58] I am here to demand that this board protect our student -facing services. I don’t even like calling it services. These are human beings. These are people, essential people, that work with our babies every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:15:15] What is next here, Katie? It sounds like, at least in San Francisco, TBD on who exactly could lose their jobs. And then in the case of Oakland, I mean, are these cuts going to happen in the next school year or what is next year?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:15:36] So the next step is layoff notice letters going out. These are not set in stone. A lot of people are going to get layoff notices and then in May, when budgets become more clear, get those notices rescinded. If they don’t get rescinded and they get confirmed in May, those employees will be without a job beginning in the next school year. The state would only step in if either district makes it to June just before the start of the new fiscal year without balancing a budget. So because both districts did pass layoff notice resolutions, they are technically making the cuts that they need to make. So it really depends on May and what cuts stay and what cuts get rescinded. And I’m sure in the months in between, there’s gonna be a lot of organizing from, you know each district’s unions, the parent communities, to fight cuts and try to shift them away from students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:46] Well, Katie, thanks so much for breaking this down for us. I really appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katie DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:16:49] Thanks so much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:56] That was Katie DeBenedetti, a reporter for KQED. This 25 -minute conversation with Katie was cut down and edited by senior editor, Alan Montecillo. Jessica Kariisa is our producer. She scored this episode. Our intern, Mel Velasquez, added all the tape. Music courtesy of Audio Network, Blue Dot Sessions, and NPR. Support for The Bay is provided in part by the Osher Production Fund. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco, Northern California Local. I’m Erica Cruz Guevarra, thanks for listening, peace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12027158/how-oakland-and-sf-ended-up-among-7-ca-school-districts-who-cant-pay-their-bills\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How Oakland and SF Ended Up Among 7 CA School Districts Who Can’t Pay Their Bills\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 12:30 p.m. Thursday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s school board on Tuesday night \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028309/sf-school-board-must-consider-worst-case-scenario-over-800-layoffs\">approved a plan to send layoff notices\u003c/a> to hundreds of educators and other employees amid a major budget shortfall, raising concerns from school workers and families about diminishing student services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The final number of layoffs at the end of the year will almost certainly be lower, the district said, but its workforce is still going to shrink. Tuesday’s unanimous vote allows the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> to issue preliminary notices to 559 employees, but it hopes to find not-yet-guaranteed restricted funding to rescind notices for some of the 280 included support staff. Classroom educators are also included, with 115 credentialed teaching positions that won’t be budgeted for next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The layoffs are the board’s first major budget decision of the year as SFUSD rushes to patch a $113 million deficit and regain local control over its spending. Without major changes, the district has reported, it could run out of cash by the middle of next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district has experienced a significant decline in overall enrollment consistent with statewide trends, and yet we’ve kept staffing levels largely the same,” said Board President Phil Kim. “It simply is not sustainable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While it’s unclear whether the cuts will come mostly from pink slips, voluntary departures or SFUSD’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">early retirement buyout\u003c/a> plan — which Superintendent Maria Su confirmed Tuesday received more than the minimum 314 applications to go forward — there will be fewer staff positions in the district next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010494\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12010494\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-04-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-04-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-04-KQED-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-04-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-04-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-04-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-04-KQED-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maria Su speaks at a press event in front of the SFUSD offices in San Francisco on Oct. 21, 2024. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This could force schools to have more combined-grade classes or fewer full-time support staff, such as English language arts specialists and social workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Art teacher Laura Simon said Visitacion Valley Middle School is at risk of losing a full-time counselor and nurse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My school nurse helped me get vaccinated so that I could come to school, she helped my family find a clinic so that we could go see a doctor — so many of our newcomer students wrote that same thing,” Simon said during the board meeting, reading notes from students. “‘The nurse is always there for me; she talked to me about substance abuse and my feelings; she makes my school feel safe.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tara Ramos, who has been the librarian at Sanchez Middle School for a decade, said the most notable effect on students would be a lack of enrichment opportunities. Librarian roles, which weren’t included in the preliminary layoff notices approved Tuesday, could be redistributed based on the district’s new staffing model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My only role would probably end up being to just release teachers,” Ramos told KQED. Four days a week, she hosts a whole grade level in the library for almost two hours while their teachers have a planning meeting. But she said this isn’t the part of her job that inspires her — or the students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wouldn’t be able to do any book clubs, I wouldn’t be able to do any special projects. I’ll have no opportunities for collaboration with teachers, to make connections between what I’m doing in library class and what the kids are doing in classrooms,” she continued. “It’s just going to be very basic, and it kind of feels like I’m more of like a substitute than a librarian.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12028309 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-12-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the school budgets sent to schools last week, Sanchez is budgeted to have a librarian three days a week, according to Ramos. If she takes that role, she would work at another school the other two days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under that schedule, Ramos said she probably wouldn’t work with the second and third-grade classes like she has this year — taking them on curriculum-relevant field trips like Mondays to the African American Art and Culture Complex in the Fillmore during second grade’s history of San Francisco unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also wouldn’t host book clubs, which have helped coax some of her more hesitant readers into becoming bookworms but require individualized attention as she gets to know what excites students about reading.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008731\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008731\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsFamiliesGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsFamiliesGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsFamiliesGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsFamiliesGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsFamiliesGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsFamiliesGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsFamiliesGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students and parents protest San Francisco Unified School District for closures in San Francisco on Sept. 24, 2024. Educators claim that the California Department of Education is blocking SFUSD from hiring critical staff such as counselors, nurses, social workers and psychologists. \u003ccite>(Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Assistant principals, who focus on issues like chronic absenteeism and managing individualized education programs for students with disabilities, are also not included in the district’s preliminary staffing model. Earlier this month, the school board approved 149 administrator layoffs — all positions considered supplemental by the state and that SFUSD can’t afford to pay for with general funds under its bare-bones staffing plan, according to Su.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That fund — which comes from local property taxes and the state — would guarantee the staffing of classroom teachers, a principal, a clerk and janitorial staff at each school site, which are the requirements for “keeping the lights on.”[aside postID=news_12027158 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg']Other roles would be filled only if the district can find restricted money to allocate to them. Ramos’ position will likely be covered by the Public Education Enrichment Fund, which comes from the city and a portion of which must be used for sports, libraries, arts and music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents, teachers and board members have repeatedly implored district staff to cut contracts and positions in the central office first so that SFUSD doesn’t have to issue and later rescind as many layoff notices — which hurts morale and is likely to lead educators to look for jobs elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Receiving a pink slip — and not knowing whether it will be rescinded — “often causes a lot of anxiety and, of course, a real reaction of folks to seek employment elsewhere,” said teachers union president Cassondra Curiel before the vote. “For these layoffs to be coming in at almost 400 when we know that annually in a regular school year, 400 of our educators churn out of education in San Francisco Unified … we really find this to be an unnecessarily high number.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said her team would turn to reductions in the central office next but had to look at teacher staffing first because the state requires districts to send out preliminary notices for those positions by March 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The total number of educators that will be cut — and how many will be through layoffs — won’t be clear until May, when Gov. Gavin Newsom releases his state budget revision and the district has a better understanding of its attrition and retirement rates. A final vote on layoff notices has to happen before May 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to see the central office reductions. We need to see the contract reductions,” board member Matt Alexander told Su and the budget team, adding that he felt uncomfortable supporting the layoffs while these cuts remained up in the air. “If we get to May 15, I’m not going to vote for this same number of layoffs unless the data shows that that’s what needs to happen — but there needs to be a lot more evidence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Feb. 27: This story was updated to clarify that school librarian cuts were not included in the layoff notices approved Tuesday night. Instead, campuses could have reduced and redistributed librarian roles under the district’s overall staffing model for next year.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 12:30 p.m. Thursday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s school board on Tuesday night \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028309/sf-school-board-must-consider-worst-case-scenario-over-800-layoffs\">approved a plan to send layoff notices\u003c/a> to hundreds of educators and other employees amid a major budget shortfall, raising concerns from school workers and families about diminishing student services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The final number of layoffs at the end of the year will almost certainly be lower, the district said, but its workforce is still going to shrink. Tuesday’s unanimous vote allows the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> to issue preliminary notices to 559 employees, but it hopes to find not-yet-guaranteed restricted funding to rescind notices for some of the 280 included support staff. Classroom educators are also included, with 115 credentialed teaching positions that won’t be budgeted for next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The layoffs are the board’s first major budget decision of the year as SFUSD rushes to patch a $113 million deficit and regain local control over its spending. Without major changes, the district has reported, it could run out of cash by the middle of next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district has experienced a significant decline in overall enrollment consistent with statewide trends, and yet we’ve kept staffing levels largely the same,” said Board President Phil Kim. “It simply is not sustainable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While it’s unclear whether the cuts will come mostly from pink slips, voluntary departures or SFUSD’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">early retirement buyout\u003c/a> plan — which Superintendent Maria Su confirmed Tuesday received more than the minimum 314 applications to go forward — there will be fewer staff positions in the district next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010494\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12010494\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-04-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-04-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-04-KQED-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-04-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-04-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-04-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241021-SFUSD-BREED-STATE-PRESSER-MD-04-KQED-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maria Su speaks at a press event in front of the SFUSD offices in San Francisco on Oct. 21, 2024. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This could force schools to have more combined-grade classes or fewer full-time support staff, such as English language arts specialists and social workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Art teacher Laura Simon said Visitacion Valley Middle School is at risk of losing a full-time counselor and nurse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My school nurse helped me get vaccinated so that I could come to school, she helped my family find a clinic so that we could go see a doctor — so many of our newcomer students wrote that same thing,” Simon said during the board meeting, reading notes from students. “‘The nurse is always there for me; she talked to me about substance abuse and my feelings; she makes my school feel safe.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tara Ramos, who has been the librarian at Sanchez Middle School for a decade, said the most notable effect on students would be a lack of enrichment opportunities. Librarian roles, which weren’t included in the preliminary layoff notices approved Tuesday, could be redistributed based on the district’s new staffing model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My only role would probably end up being to just release teachers,” Ramos told KQED. Four days a week, she hosts a whole grade level in the library for almost two hours while their teachers have a planning meeting. But she said this isn’t the part of her job that inspires her — or the students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wouldn’t be able to do any book clubs, I wouldn’t be able to do any special projects. I’ll have no opportunities for collaboration with teachers, to make connections between what I’m doing in library class and what the kids are doing in classrooms,” she continued. “It’s just going to be very basic, and it kind of feels like I’m more of like a substitute than a librarian.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the school budgets sent to schools last week, Sanchez is budgeted to have a librarian three days a week, according to Ramos. If she takes that role, she would work at another school the other two days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under that schedule, Ramos said she probably wouldn’t work with the second and third-grade classes like she has this year — taking them on curriculum-relevant field trips like Mondays to the African American Art and Culture Complex in the Fillmore during second grade’s history of San Francisco unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also wouldn’t host book clubs, which have helped coax some of her more hesitant readers into becoming bookworms but require individualized attention as she gets to know what excites students about reading.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008731\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008731\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsFamiliesGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsFamiliesGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsFamiliesGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsFamiliesGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsFamiliesGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsFamiliesGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsFamiliesGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students and parents protest San Francisco Unified School District for closures in San Francisco on Sept. 24, 2024. Educators claim that the California Department of Education is blocking SFUSD from hiring critical staff such as counselors, nurses, social workers and psychologists. \u003ccite>(Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Assistant principals, who focus on issues like chronic absenteeism and managing individualized education programs for students with disabilities, are also not included in the district’s preliminary staffing model. Earlier this month, the school board approved 149 administrator layoffs — all positions considered supplemental by the state and that SFUSD can’t afford to pay for with general funds under its bare-bones staffing plan, according to Su.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That fund — which comes from local property taxes and the state — would guarantee the staffing of classroom teachers, a principal, a clerk and janitorial staff at each school site, which are the requirements for “keeping the lights on.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Other roles would be filled only if the district can find restricted money to allocate to them. Ramos’ position will likely be covered by the Public Education Enrichment Fund, which comes from the city and a portion of which must be used for sports, libraries, arts and music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents, teachers and board members have repeatedly implored district staff to cut contracts and positions in the central office first so that SFUSD doesn’t have to issue and later rescind as many layoff notices — which hurts morale and is likely to lead educators to look for jobs elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Receiving a pink slip — and not knowing whether it will be rescinded — “often causes a lot of anxiety and, of course, a real reaction of folks to seek employment elsewhere,” said teachers union president Cassondra Curiel before the vote. “For these layoffs to be coming in at almost 400 when we know that annually in a regular school year, 400 of our educators churn out of education in San Francisco Unified … we really find this to be an unnecessarily high number.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said her team would turn to reductions in the central office next but had to look at teacher staffing first because the state requires districts to send out preliminary notices for those positions by March 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The total number of educators that will be cut — and how many will be through layoffs — won’t be clear until May, when Gov. Gavin Newsom releases his state budget revision and the district has a better understanding of its attrition and retirement rates. A final vote on layoff notices has to happen before May 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to see the central office reductions. We need to see the contract reductions,” board member Matt Alexander told Su and the budget team, adding that he felt uncomfortable supporting the layoffs while these cuts remained up in the air. “If we get to May 15, I’m not going to vote for this same number of layoffs unless the data shows that that’s what needs to happen — but there needs to be a lot more evidence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Feb. 27: This story was updated to clarify that school librarian cuts were not included in the layoff notices approved Tuesday night. Instead, campuses could have reduced and redistributed librarian roles under the district’s overall staffing model for next year.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco’s school board will make its first major budget decision of the year on Tuesday night when it votes on a proposal to potentially lay off hundreds of educators and administrators — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026596/sf-school-staffing-cuts-leave-counselors-social-workers-on-the-chopping-block\">“painful” cuts\u003c/a> that parents and teachers say will unfairly harm students’ education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-unified-school-district\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a>, which is already under state oversight after certifying two negative budget reports in a row, has to cut $113 million — 10% of its total spending — next year. In an announcement on Friday, SFUSD said that about 80% of its budget goes toward staffing, so cuts across school sites and the district’s central office will be necessary to close its funding gap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has been warning of the budget crisis’ effects on school staffing since it launched its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010008/sf-schools-crisis-is-spiraling-with-top-official-to-resign-heres-all-thats-happened\">now-shelved school closure plan\u003c/a> last March. Still, for many, Tuesday’s decision will be a reality check of what campuses could look like next fall when the district starts operating on a staffing plan focused on “keeping the lights on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I hear that it is a really tough place to be in right now where we have to make these tough decisions, and these tough decisions are going to, as I shared in our last meeting, impact people that we know and impact our students and impact our schools,” Superintendent Maria Su said at a board meeting earlier this month. “However, we are, at this moment in time, facing a very large deficit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday’s proposal is part of a worst-case scenario that would see the district issue as many as 837 preliminary layoff notices. If approved, it would give the district permission to send pink slips to 559 student-facing employees such as teachers, counselors and teachers aides. Earlier this month, the board approved a plan to send notices to 149 administrators and release temporary staffers. In the coming months, it also expects to request approval to pink slip 129 central office employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12028401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12028401\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-05-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-05-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-05-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-05-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-05-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-05-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-05-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SFUSD Superintendent Maria Su speaks during a press conference 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>The district said these high numbers were chosen out of an “abundance of caution” and added that the final number of employees left without a job next year will likely be lower. But because it is required by state law to issue preliminary pink slips by March 15 — before it has a complete picture of its budget for the next fiscal year based on resignations, an early retirement buyout plan, and final state and federal funding allocations — it wants to ensure “flexibility” to lay off the necessary number of employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really find this to be an unnecessarily high number, even if they were in good faith doing due diligence in order to make sure their budget matches their staffing,” said Cassondra Curiel, the president of San Francisco’s teachers union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have so many families and students without a [permanent] educator in their classroom right now, so the concept of a layoff yet again of educators that are already employed seems counterproductive to ensuring that every student has a qualified credentialed educator in their classroom for next year,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12027158 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241010-SFUSDClosures-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, students in dozens of classrooms \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12002125/as-san-francisco-school-closures-loom-frustrated-teachers-say-hiring-has-hit-a-wall\">didn’t have a permanent teacher\u003c/a>. There’s also been an uptick in the number of combination classes that schools have to teach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next year, some schools, like Sheridan Elementary School, might have to introduce a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12025440/schools-face-cuts-california-teachers-unions-band-together-demands\">kindergarten-first grade combined class\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not one person who I know has a child in this district sends their child to school to be the teacher. They send their child to school to learn from teachers and educators,” Curiel said. “The district’s cuts [are] ultimately harming what students have to look forward to for the next year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents are also worried that important school-site positions like assistant principal roles won’t be funded. Some campuses are already without a \u003ca href=\"https://careers.sfusd.edu/job/San-Francisco-Assistant-Principal-2024-2025-School-Year-CA-94102/1111756000/#:~:text=Job%20Description&text=You%20will%20report%20to%20the,the%20achievement%20of%20all%20students.\">second-in-command\u003c/a> who helps supervise and train staff and work on “closing the opportunity gap” in schools — including managing individualized education programs and efforts to help chronically absent students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve got over 100 IEPs in the school, which is about 25%–30% of the student population, all of which not only requires the extra staffing to put those supports in place but also an administrative overhead to make sure they’re being met, that the reporting is happening, all of that kind of stuff,” said Daniel Hobe, whose third-grader attends Rosa Parks Elementary in the Western Addition. “That’s really where our assistant principal was carrying a lot of the water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12028404\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12028404\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-52-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-52-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-52-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-52-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-52-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-52-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-52-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Backpacks hang in the hallway 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>Su’s staffing plan presented earlier this month does not include guaranteed funding for assistant principals at any schools. The baseline model, which district staff said includes the positions required to keep schools functional, is trim — it includes classroom teachers, a principal, a clerk, janitorial staff and a few other roles. It doesn’t cover wages for many of the social workers or counselors the district employs, though Su said that doesn’t mean they will all be laid off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Half of our SFUSD students live in poverty, we have other kids with disabilities. This is just a real kick in the stomach,” parent Brandee Marckmann said of cuts to student support positions. “It’s not fair to basically balance the budget on the backs of our kids when it’s the SFUSD management that has made so many mistakes.”[aside postID=news_12026600 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250214-Dream-Keeper-Returns-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg']The board’s decision on Tuesday night won’t include a list of specific employees who’ll get pink slips next month, — only the numbers that will go out. If the plan is approved, the district said it will review employee resignations, retirements and leaves and then use a seniority list to determine which staffers will receive preliminary notices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some staff who have worked in the district for a long time might be bumped from a specialized role, like a language arts specialist, back to the classroom. That means that in some cases, two notices are issued while only one employee would be without a job, Curiel previously told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is also reviewing interest in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">buyout it offered more senior staff\u003c/a> last December, which had a deadline last week. If at least 314 agree to early retirement at the end of the year, they’ll get a one-time payment equal to 60% of their salary and keep their retirement benefits. The district said that could help offset the final number of layoffs, but if there is too little interest, the deal will be fully revoked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Su has said that the process of stabilizing the district’s finances will be “awful” over the next few months, she has maintained that it is necessary to keep the district from further state intervention — especially with uncertainty at the federal level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will be in a much better place in two years’ time where this district will be fully solvent, meaning we control our budget, we control how we allocate our dollars, we control what types of programs and initiatives we want to fund,” she told the school board at its last meeting. “More importantly, we will have and be able to give our teachers and educators and staff a level of stability and predictability that they need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco’s school board will make its first major budget decision of the year on Tuesday night when it votes on a proposal to potentially lay off hundreds of educators and administrators — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026596/sf-school-staffing-cuts-leave-counselors-social-workers-on-the-chopping-block\">“painful” cuts\u003c/a> that parents and teachers say will unfairly harm students’ education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-unified-school-district\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a>, which is already under state oversight after certifying two negative budget reports in a row, has to cut $113 million — 10% of its total spending — next year. In an announcement on Friday, SFUSD said that about 80% of its budget goes toward staffing, so cuts across school sites and the district’s central office will be necessary to close its funding gap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has been warning of the budget crisis’ effects on school staffing since it launched its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010008/sf-schools-crisis-is-spiraling-with-top-official-to-resign-heres-all-thats-happened\">now-shelved school closure plan\u003c/a> last March. Still, for many, Tuesday’s decision will be a reality check of what campuses could look like next fall when the district starts operating on a staffing plan focused on “keeping the lights on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I hear that it is a really tough place to be in right now where we have to make these tough decisions, and these tough decisions are going to, as I shared in our last meeting, impact people that we know and impact our students and impact our schools,” Superintendent Maria Su said at a board meeting earlier this month. “However, we are, at this moment in time, facing a very large deficit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday’s proposal is part of a worst-case scenario that would see the district issue as many as 837 preliminary layoff notices. If approved, it would give the district permission to send pink slips to 559 student-facing employees such as teachers, counselors and teachers aides. Earlier this month, the board approved a plan to send notices to 149 administrators and release temporary staffers. In the coming months, it also expects to request approval to pink slip 129 central office employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12028401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12028401\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-05-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-05-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-05-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-05-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-05-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-05-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-05-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SFUSD Superintendent Maria Su speaks during a press conference 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>The district said these high numbers were chosen out of an “abundance of caution” and added that the final number of employees left without a job next year will likely be lower. But because it is required by state law to issue preliminary pink slips by March 15 — before it has a complete picture of its budget for the next fiscal year based on resignations, an early retirement buyout plan, and final state and federal funding allocations — it wants to ensure “flexibility” to lay off the necessary number of employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really find this to be an unnecessarily high number, even if they were in good faith doing due diligence in order to make sure their budget matches their staffing,” said Cassondra Curiel, the president of San Francisco’s teachers union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have so many families and students without a [permanent] educator in their classroom right now, so the concept of a layoff yet again of educators that are already employed seems counterproductive to ensuring that every student has a qualified credentialed educator in their classroom for next year,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, students in dozens of classrooms \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12002125/as-san-francisco-school-closures-loom-frustrated-teachers-say-hiring-has-hit-a-wall\">didn’t have a permanent teacher\u003c/a>. There’s also been an uptick in the number of combination classes that schools have to teach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next year, some schools, like Sheridan Elementary School, might have to introduce a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12025440/schools-face-cuts-california-teachers-unions-band-together-demands\">kindergarten-first grade combined class\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not one person who I know has a child in this district sends their child to school to be the teacher. They send their child to school to learn from teachers and educators,” Curiel said. “The district’s cuts [are] ultimately harming what students have to look forward to for the next year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents are also worried that important school-site positions like assistant principal roles won’t be funded. Some campuses are already without a \u003ca href=\"https://careers.sfusd.edu/job/San-Francisco-Assistant-Principal-2024-2025-School-Year-CA-94102/1111756000/#:~:text=Job%20Description&text=You%20will%20report%20to%20the,the%20achievement%20of%20all%20students.\">second-in-command\u003c/a> who helps supervise and train staff and work on “closing the opportunity gap” in schools — including managing individualized education programs and efforts to help chronically absent students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve got over 100 IEPs in the school, which is about 25%–30% of the student population, all of which not only requires the extra staffing to put those supports in place but also an administrative overhead to make sure they’re being met, that the reporting is happening, all of that kind of stuff,” said Daniel Hobe, whose third-grader attends Rosa Parks Elementary in the Western Addition. “That’s really where our assistant principal was carrying a lot of the water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12028404\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12028404\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-52-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-52-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-52-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-52-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-52-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-52-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/241023-SFUSDSuperintendent-52-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Backpacks hang in the hallway 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>Su’s staffing plan presented earlier this month does not include guaranteed funding for assistant principals at any schools. The baseline model, which district staff said includes the positions required to keep schools functional, is trim — it includes classroom teachers, a principal, a clerk, janitorial staff and a few other roles. It doesn’t cover wages for many of the social workers or counselors the district employs, though Su said that doesn’t mean they will all be laid off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Half of our SFUSD students live in poverty, we have other kids with disabilities. This is just a real kick in the stomach,” parent Brandee Marckmann said of cuts to student support positions. “It’s not fair to basically balance the budget on the backs of our kids when it’s the SFUSD management that has made so many mistakes.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The board’s decision on Tuesday night won’t include a list of specific employees who’ll get pink slips next month, — only the numbers that will go out. If the plan is approved, the district said it will review employee resignations, retirements and leaves and then use a seniority list to determine which staffers will receive preliminary notices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some staff who have worked in the district for a long time might be bumped from a specialized role, like a language arts specialist, back to the classroom. That means that in some cases, two notices are issued while only one employee would be without a job, Curiel previously told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is also reviewing interest in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017631/embattled-sf-school-district-offer-hundreds-buyouts-potential-layoffs\">buyout it offered more senior staff\u003c/a> last December, which had a deadline last week. If at least 314 agree to early retirement at the end of the year, they’ll get a one-time payment equal to 60% of their salary and keep their retirement benefits. The district said that could help offset the final number of layoffs, but if there is too little interest, the deal will be fully revoked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Su has said that the process of stabilizing the district’s finances will be “awful” over the next few months, she has maintained that it is necessary to keep the district from further state intervention — especially with uncertainty at the federal level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will be in a much better place in two years’ time where this district will be fully solvent, meaning we control our budget, we control how we allocate our dollars, we control what types of programs and initiatives we want to fund,” she told the school board at its last meeting. “More importantly, we will have and be able to give our teachers and educators and staff a level of stability and predictability that they need.”\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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"marketplace": {
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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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"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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"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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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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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.",
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"possible": {
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"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.",
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"pri-the-world": {
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"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.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
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"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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"reveal": {
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"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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},
"science-friday": {
"id": "science-friday",
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"info": "Science Friday is a weekly science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide. Each week, the show focuses on science topics that are in the news and tries to bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues at hand. Panels of expert guests join host Ira Flatow, a veteran science journalist, to discuss science and to take questions from listeners during the call-in portion of the program.",
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"snap-judgment": {
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"title": "Snap Judgment",
"tagline": "Real stories with killer beats",
"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
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