Two days after San Francisco public school teachers voted 99.34 percent to authorize a strike, and Mission Local reported that the district is considering deep cuts that could include layoffs, Superintendent Maria Su announced that the school district is on track to stabilize its budget, and return to local control over its finances.
But that’s only if the school district “continue[s] to make budget cuts for next school year and avoid any significant cost escalations,” Su said.
The district is seeking to make $102 million in cuts for the next school year to plug a $113 million deficit, Su said on Friday. Any cuts will need the approval of the board of education in June before they can be implemented.
The district’s finances have been overseen by the California Department of Education since May 2024 after the San Francisco Unified School District reported a projected $120 million deficit for the upcoming school year. The district has been under threat of a full state takeover of its operations and finances, which would likely lead to school closures and consolidations.
Last budget cycle, the district made millions of dollars in cuts — which, said Su, has paid off.
The district will submit its updated budget to the state this month. Su said that would reverse the status of its last budget from “negative” — meaning that the district will not meet its financial obligations and could face state takeover— to “qualified,” meaning it may meet its budget goals.
“This is the result of disciplined choices and strong financial management,” said Su. “Our fiscal stabilization efforts are working, and we must stay the course to maintain this progress. “
But there’s a looming problem for Su: The teacher’s union is set to strike, and demanding better health care, pay raises and a new model for special education teachers. The union says many of those demands are low-cost.
But the district says otherwise. On Friday morning, SFUSD school board vice president Jaime Huling, said that while the district “values all of our teachers and educators, we cannot give them money we don’t have.”
“This will require all of us to close the remainder of the budget,” Su said. “All of our staff need to come together.”
Frank Lara, Vice President of United Educators of San Francisco said that while the district is considering deep cuts to programming and staffing, the district has proposed that some management positions may receive a 13 percent raise.
“We fundamentally disagree that continued cuts to services to students and rejecting no cost and affordable proposals that will keep educators in SFUSD is sustainable or stabilizing.” The proposed cuts, said Lara, “does not serve our students or build the schools [they] deserve.”
SFUSD has been dysfunctional and incompetently managed for decades. Among a host of other failures, failing to consolidate campuses in a proactive and timely fashion as the student population plummeted is one of the most egregious.
Just as the reactionary politics of SF has resulted in 5+ decades of housing policy failure necessitating that the State step in and compel zoning reform, the State needs to step in and take over the school system.
And, yes, rather than wasting over $1.3 billion/year on the whole spectrum of unaccountable non-profits, we end that graft entirely and redirect these funds into hiring, paying and retaining the best teachers for our schools.
Karl how many school districts have you managed successfully?
The district can’t afford teacher pay hikes so this strike is unjust. If there was a change in medical coverage where eveyone had to move their kids to Kaiser (not saying Kaiser is bad but if teachers have their kids doctors and do not want to loose them) the such strike would be more ethical like at SCUSD but even they wanted raises for teachers and staff but the union never fought for nor included in the net part time classified who wanted full time. WCCUSD union twisted the arm to get most of the budget to pay in a horrific way all while not giving medical to many full time classified who were not even on the books as positions. Unions need to check themselves.
“The district” can’t raise taxes on Billionaires, of which SF is the Capitol City in America. Lurie and his bespoke BOS could do that, if they wanted, and actually pay teachers a fair wage – and maybe even remove lead pipes from SF drinking fountains and the like. IF THEY WANTED TO.
Talk about unjust, yeah it’s the teachers doing that? Pfft.
NP, no, the City cannot create a city income tax, nor a wealth tax. Both would be contrary to state law.
SFUSD needs to balance its books under the existing ssystem.
Please let us know what the salary and benefits demand is from the union. Motivating, dedicated teachers deserve good compensation. But if the union is still protecting the deadbeat, ineffective teachers from being terminated, then they don’t deserve a raise.
So because there are some problem employees in an organization that means nobody is doing good work and nobody deserves fair compensation?
Think about what you type before you type it. Ask a teacher for help.
Cut the homeless industrial complex funding and send the money directly to teachers and education. There’s a billion dollars a year ready and waiting.
And you promise not to whine daily about the poor, immigrants?
What will you do instead?
So when Su says we all must work together and Huling insists there’s no money for raises, they’re excluding upper management (the people who made this mess in the first place). Those 13% raises aren’t something that “may” happen, they did happen. It’s the third raise in two years for the district’s highest-paid staff, and it costs 2.3 million dollars. That’s over half what the entire settlement with the principals cost for a much smaller group. Moreover, that group already receives millions in additional benefits the rank and file don’t receive – fully-funded pensions, preferential insurance rates, housing allowances, etc.
Unfortunately, Su and this Board have forgotten the district exists to serve students and that school staff are the people who do that. They believe the district exists to serve them.
Bad idea, to go on strike right around the, Winter Break, due to the fact that Su & Co. can use this to their advantage.When Arlene Ackerman, came in she gave teacher’s and teachers only a 12% pay increase.With the exception of principals, the pay raise should go to personnel that are directly involved with the students.Like Oakland SFUSD is too top heavy.
We’ve been trying to get SFUSD to sell some of it’s land holdings for decades and they refuse, thinking they may need the building some day, when the student populations comes back-Fat Chance! While we are on the subject of money, where did they get the money to build that brand spanking new school, in Mission Bay, that is scheduled to open in 2026?
“Our fiscal stabilization efforts are working, and we must stay the course to maintain this progress. “
Quotes like this need more pushback. It might be working for the district balance sheets, but it’s not working in the local schools for our students and the teachers, staff and faculty who are on site. The schools are already understaffed to critical levels. These cut backs will only lead to more students leaving the district when the quality of education and care plummets.
WHERE ARE THE YIMBY BILLIONAIRES?
Land portfolio ? please,
Is that what you call a list of the District’s property ?
I smell a big land sale coming up with big commissions.
That’s what happened last time we were on this square.
As I recall, Feinstein’s hubby, Richard Blum got exclusive deal to sell 100 million in SFUSD holdings.
I’ve never seen a complete list of their holdings but I know that for over a hundred years widows often left what their lawyers didn’t get to the District.
I believe they had holdings as far away as the Caribbean.
go Niners !!
h.