Early budget proposals shared with school staff and obtained by Mission Local show that the San Francisco school district is considering significant cuts to plug a $113 million deficit, including laying off security guards and school counselors, eliminating middle school health programs, reducing social workers and cutting the school day by one period.
The proposed cuts come after Superintendent Maria Su said during last month’s school board meeting that school closures are back on the table as a way to “stabilize” the budget.
The cuts were presented to school principals at a meeting last month. One principal attending the meeting described the proposal, which will be presented to the school board on Dec. 9, as “detrimental” to students and staff, and the teachers’ union has also raised alarms.
“We were not consulted at all,” said Frank Lara, the vice president of the United Educators of San Francisco. The union is in the middle of contract negotiations, and teachers are expected to vote overwhelmingly on Wednesday to move forward with a potential strike.
“Our biggest concern is that they’re not having a public discussion,” Lara said. “This decision is being made solely by a cabinet that is the most disconnected in SFUSD history.”
No final decisions have been made, “but closing a deficit of this size will require difficult tradeoffs,” said Laura Dudnick, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Unified School District.
“Due to difficult decisions made last year, including $114 million in cuts, we have begun to reverse course. However, we are in the second year of our fiscal stabilization plan and must remain disciplined.”
The school district’s budget would need the approval of the school board, which will vote in June 2026.
The proposed cuts, according to slides reviewed by Mission Local, include the following:
- Eliminating health and wellness programs at middle schools
- Cutting security staff by 50 percent
- Moving to a six-period day from seven periods
- Eliminating social workers at schools, except at schools receiving federal anti-poverty funding
- Reducing funding allocated toward underserved students, including English-language learners and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds
The district is also considering ending the school bus program for students who do not receive special education, according to a well-placed source.
Ryan Alias, an English teacher at Balboa High School, is concerned that cutting the school day by a period would mean consolidating teachers and subsequently laying off staff.
The six-period day was standard across the district two years ago. Alias helped test and implement the seven-day period at Balboa, and said it has been instrumental for English-learning students and others who require additional time and support.
The extra period allows students to take-advanced placement classes, language support, electives, and ethnic studies. The latter is a statewide mandate.
“It’s a lot,” said a district principal regarding the proposed layoffs, which could include security guards, school counselors, social workers, and nurses, and school-wide changes. “I’m hoping that what we’re seeing is the worst-case scenario before it gets operationalized.”
The proposals to cut security come in the wake of a shooting at Burton High School. On Tuesday, security staff worked with San Francisco police officers to secure the school and arrest the suspect after a student was shot in the leg.
One day prior to the shooting, a district principal warned that reducing security staff and counselors would impact the safety of students.
“There’s a level of violence among young people right now,” she said. “I’m concerned about losing mental health staff and safety staff.”
SF has by far the highest number of millionaires and billionaires per capita in the country. Why is it that we can’t afford to support the most basic services like our schools?
Because the voters do not support endlessly mugging anyone who has been successful?
Successful people don’t make weak excuses for wealth inequality, nor do they hate on teachers making about minimum wage.
YMMV “will”
Why on earth is so-called :inequality” even an issue here?
This is about an out-of-control school board desperately trying to avoid layoffs when demand for public schools has been declining for years.
Yep! And they all send their children to $$$ private schools, or home school them-Go figure. In the last 10 years, there has been private schools springing up all over S.F and the price tag to attend then start at $20K
SFUSD spends $27k per student, versus the state average of $18K for the state. Even accounting for the high cost of living, the Board of Supervisors found that SFUSD’s total Operating Expenditures were 45% higher than the median of peer districts. The biggest difference in spending was for Central Administrative functions, for which the District spent 83 percent more than the other districts.
Yes, because cutting schools has been proven to have really great outcomes.
SFUSD is trying to avoid closing schools, by instead making these service cuts across the board.
The problem is that is not sufficient to bridge the gap. The only way to get real savings is to close schools and fire the teachers at them.
And since attendance at SF public schools has been declining for years, the closure of some schools is inevitable.
Yup. Our kids are all at SFUSD. However, it’s concerning how everyone involved seems unwilling to face reality: too many locations, too much overhead, and not enough students.
You also hate Unions, so it’s a double-win for you.
The problem with unions is that they have a very narrow agenda, which is benefiting their members at the expense of everyone else.
Why is that good for the city?
Because we need teachers, genius. I reject your uneducated notion that they’re somehow getting over on the rest of society at that payrate, genius.
Defend your position now.
I’m not sure which kids are actually benefitting from the school buses, but they are far from universal and the district already heavily relies on MUNI to get kids across town. If they want to cut bus service, though, they should be reverting to a neighborhood school model.
Moving to a 6-day period sounds awful for any HS kids who are high-achieving and want to get into “good” colleges. It will hasten the exodus of kids who don’t need tons of academic supports, which will reduce school funding overall, and which will ultimately harm the kids leftover.
It really seems like they should just close the underenrolled schools.
If SFUSD did not have a de facto bussing policy for schools, and a race-based allocation system, we would not even need school buses.
“If they want to cut bus service, though, they should be reverting to a neighborhood school model.”
Sense-making stuff, careful, that won’t get you far in SF.
…Where did this massive structural deficit come from? Over-reliance on federal funds?
Federal is only about 10%, and earmarked for specific things. Schools are largely (approx 62%) funded by the state, according to a fixed per-pupil amount. This seems fair if you don’t take into account how much more it costs to live in the Bay area, and thus how much you need to pay teachers/staff/etc. I think this is the primary source of our structural deficit. It would be great to have some of this background in articles like the above! https://ed100.org/lessons/whopays
Too much spending on Central Administrative functions, and the district’s refusal to close schools despite declining enrollment (>10%).
Ideological zealotry and a massive dose of incompetence.
All school systems depend on federal funds. This is under 10% of total.
Ok, so where is SFUSD supposed to get this money? If they don’t cut back spending this money isn’t just going to grow on trees. Teachers want more money and benefits, this has to impact SFUSD spending. SFUSD is forced to close schools, shut down programs, and eliminate much needed security. Simple economics, in order to give money you have to be able to get it from somewhere…
What a kick to the teeth. Of course low income families get hit hardest.
Thanks ‘moderate’ BOS.
The district should start cuts, at the district office, and anyone that does not come, in direct contact with students.
tubdo, the problem is that SFUSD has already made cuts everywhere except for teachers, and that is not close to bridging the deficit.
The only way to save a serious amount is to close some schools and fire some teachers. And if the City doesn’t do that, the State will take over and do it.