Incumbent school board president Phil Kim, known for leading the San Francisco school board through the tumultuous teacher-led strike against the school district, is poised to sweep the election, taking nearly 63 percent of the vote thus far.
The combined total of votes for his challengers, Virginia Cheung and Brandee Marckmann, made up just 37 percent of the vote.
Kim’s success was a surprise for some school board stakeholders, who expected an incumbent board president to face backlash from voters following the February district-wide strike that shut schools for one week.
Kim found himself at the center of that battle between district officials and the United Educators of San Francisco. But despite the strike’s impact on roughly 70 percent of school-aged children in the city, parents and educators’ appeared not to blame Kim.
And, for others, Kim’s election was no surprise at all, but rather part of a city-wide trend where Mayor Daniel Lurie’s nod of approval meant a great deal. And in a small, down-ballot election like the school board, it might have meant everything.
“City College and school board are the two elections where endorsements really matter a lot,” said Todd David, a campaign consultant who has worked on multiple city races, and supported the 2022 school recall.
David said a lack of dollars flowing into the school board race means many voters won’t know whom to vote for — most, he said, will vote based on endorsements.
“The ability for individual [school board] candidates to communicate citywide just does not exist,” said David.
Cheung, the teachers’union pick, entered the race shortly after the conclusion of the strike, and was supported by the union as an alternative to Kim; the union does not believe Kim supported its efforts to prevent the strike.
“Educators support Virginia Cheung for Board of Ed, not Phil Kim!” read a union post published shortly after the conclusion of the strike. “Time to put the workers in power, not the billionaire-backed GrowSF anointed leaders.” That well-heeled tech-backed political group subsequently spent $220,000 to back Kim.
Marckmann’s campaign also attempted to attack Kim’s reputation following the strike. In a post to social media, Marckmann posted that Kim, who previously worked for a charter school group before transferring to the school district, is “backed by charter interests.”
“We must have leadership that fights for public education,” the post read.
But Cheung and Marckmann’s social media presence seemingly failed to outweigh the impact of the popular mayor’s endorsement.
Confusion over school board politics and voter fatigue over the dozens of unknown names on the June primary ballot may have also worked in Kim’s favor.
“Most of us, frankly, don’t know who the school board commissioners are,” said commissioner Alida Fisher, who endorsed Kim. “Because of that in particular there’s huge power in incumbency … Especially in ballots that are five to six pages long.”
Fisher, who is running again in November, unseated an incumbent when she won her race in 2023, one year after voters recalled three members of the school board. Unless anger over the strike surfaces, her campaign may be easier this time around.
Kim was appointed by former mayor London Breed in 2024 in the midst of the district’s attempt to close and consolidate schools across the district, which was later shelved. He is credited with navigating an over $100 million budget deficit and the teachers’ strike, but has drawn criticism from his opponents on his view that some schools will need to close.
Though Kim and the rest of the San Francisco school board were not directly involved in negotiating with the teachers’ union, Kim pushed back on the union’s demands to dip into one-time funds to pay for ongoing expenses, including higher wages and fully-funded healthcare, drawing its ire.
Eventually, the district’s reserves were used to pay for the unions’ demands, which Kim says he supports, though he has said that continuing to use one-time funds could create a financial crisis.
While one voter, Madeline Silbert, said she didn’t vote for Kim because of “negative things [she] heard” about the strike, others who spoke to Mission Local and voted for Kim said they voted based on two things: experience and endorsements. Most said they didn’t know much about the school board.
Dan Chilson, who dropped off his ballot at City Hall on Tuesday, said he voted based on the public voter guide, which lists each candidates’ endorsements. “All I did was read the voter guide,” said Chilson. “One was a mother, the other was a teacher,” he said, referring to Kim. “I voted for that guy.”
And having the popular mayor’s support was likely a game-changer, as it was for other candidates. “I think I’ve been involved in S.F. politics since 2009,” said the political consultant David, “and I have never seen a mayor who has electoral coattails like Daniel Lurie.”