Welcome back to our “Meet the Candidates” series, where candidates for the San Francisco Unified School Board of Education respond to questions each week in 100 words or fewer. Answers will be published every Friday.
Mission Local now includes all eight of the candidates who will appear on the November ballot. They are as follows: Autumn Brown Garibay, Virginia Cheung, Alida Fisher, Ryan Hazelton, Phil Kim, Laurance Lee, Reina Tello and Tim Tung.
Each candidate is first ordered alphabetically, then rotated each week.
There’s a lot of back-and-forth about reserves in the San Francisco Unified School District.
The district said it has an official reserve of $139 million and must preserve some of that for emergencies; $28 million of the money is a state-mandated reserve. Some voices on the board want the district to be conservative and hold on to more money in reserves; others say the money should be spent now.
During the teachers strike in February, the district was faced with whether to draw on its reserves to meet demands. The district decided to draw on its reserves to pay for some of the cost of dependent health care and a salary increase for educators, but SFUSD warned this could lead to future cuts and layoffs.
The debate over reserves has continued throughout the race to fill three seats on the school board.
This week, Mission Local asked candidates for school board: How should SFUSD use its reserves?
Virginia Cheung
- Job: Chief advancement officer of Open Door Legal
- Age: 43
- Party: Democratic
- Residency: Homeowner in Crocker Amazon, previously lived in the Mission District and the Portola since moving to San Francisco in 2008
- Children: Yes, they attend Alice Fong Yu Alternative School and Wah Mei School
- SFUSD experience: Treasurer for Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco and served on the Parent Advisory Board of Wah Mei BASE ExCel
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in social ecology with a minor in digital art, University of California, Irvine
- Languages: English, Cantonese, Mandarin and French
- Transportation: Driving
- Website: Virginia Cheung for School Board
SFUSD’s reserves should protect students, not come at their expense. Any reserves above the state-required minimum should be determined transparently, with meaningful public input.
Overaccumulating funds can mean understaffed classrooms, students with disabilities lacking paraprofessional support, and essential programs never reaching children.
With a reported fund balance exceeding $420 million, we must ask: Which students need help, and how do we deliver?
I would prioritize investments that improve student outcomes, attract and retain families, reduce chronic absenteeism, expand community schools, and address environmental hazards like lead and asbestos.
Today’s dollars belong to today’s students.
Endorsed by: United Educators of San Francisco, San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council, Assemblymember Matt Haney, Board of Education Commissioner Matt Alexander, Supervisor Connie Chan, Supervisor Jackie Fielder … read more here.
Alida Fisher
- Job: Executive Director at the Community Alliance for Special Education, incumbent Board of Education member
- Age: 51
- Party: Democratic
- Residency: Homeowner in Lakeview/OMI, lived in the Sunset until 2015
- Children: Yes, four adults, ages 18-25. Three have graduated from SFUSD, and the fourth is a senior at Mission High School this year.
- SFUSD experience: Current SFUSD Board of Education member. Has served as Chair of the Community Advisory Committee for Special Education, member or past member of SFUSD’s African American Parent Advisory Council, LCAP Task Force, Charter School Oversight Committee, and PIR/CEIS/CCEIS Committee, PTSAs and SSCs at nine school sites
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Case Western Reserve University
- Languages: English, with limited ability to speak and understand Spanish and French
- Transportation: Driving, public transit and walking
- Website: Reelect Alida Fisher
In my term, we’ve worked hard to balance our budget. SFUSD should maintain sufficient reserves to protect students from economic uncertainty and unexpected funding losses, but reserves should not become an excuse for austerity or chronic underinvestment. With fiscal stability improving, we should ensure reserves are appropriately sized and use available resources strategically to address the opportunity gap. That means investing in student supports, restorative practices, and a school staffing model that is baseline-sufficient. We must also continue improving forecasting, position control, and contracting so dollars are spent predictably, transparently, and where they have the greatest impact for students.
Endorsements: SF Parents Action, Supervisor Myrna Melgar, Supervisor Shamann Walton, former Supervisor Gordon Mar … read more here.
Ryan Hazelton
- Job: Executive director of Mariposa Kids, a nonprofit for play-based programs for kids ages 1-11
- Age: 43
- Party: Democratic
- Residency: Homeowner in the SoMa, living in San Francisco since 2007
- Children: None
- SFUSD experience: Chair of San Francisco Child Care Planning & Advisory Council, appointed by SFUSD
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, San Diego
- Languages: English
- Transportation: Public transit, walking and biking
- Website: Ryan Hazelton for SF School Board
We need to invest in our schools to attract higher enrollment, increase attendance, and improve outcomes. First, we should invest in staff who call families of absent children to check in on their needs so we can get children in classrooms. This builds our revenue, which is based on attendance, and improves outcomes since children learn when they are in school. We should expand our community schools model, which improves attendance and outcomes. Lastly, we need early interventions and diagnosis for students with special needs, which improves long-term outcomes and saves the district money. These investments build our budget.
Endorsed by: United Educators of San Francisco, Harvey Milk Democratic Club, League of Pissed Off Voters, Supervisor Connie Chan, Board of Education Commissioner Matt Alexander, former Supervisor Gordon Mar … read more here.
Phil Kim
- Job: Deputy Director at San Francisco Agency for Human Rights, incumbent Board of Education president
- Age: 36
- Party: Democratic
- Residency: Renter in the Castro
- Children: None
- SFUSD experience: School board president
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Bucknell University; master’s in education policy and administration from Loyola Marymount University; Pursuing EdD at the University of California, Berkeley
- Languages: English and Korean
- Transportation: Public transit, Walking
- Website: Phil Kim for School Board
As Board President, I’ve fought hard to pull SFUSD back from the brink of fiscal insolvency. Reserves should be used to cover one-time emergency expenses or utilized for strategic efforts. For years, the district relied on one-time federal COVID relief funds to cover ongoing expenses, creating a structural deficit when those funds ran out. Spending one-time, emergency dollars on permanent, non-emergency costs long-term is a one-way street toward the kind of crisis we’ve worked so hard to overcome. Our educators and students deserve better than that cycle repeating itself.
Endorsed by: Mayor Daniel Lurie, State Senator Scott Wiener, Assemblymember Matt Haney, Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, GrowSF, San Francisco Democratic Party, SF Parents Action … read more here.
Laurance Lee
- Job: Volunteer at schools and licensed general contractor
- Age: 56
- Party: Democratic
- Residency: Homeowner in Noe Valley, born in the Richmond District
- Children: Yes, but did not attend SFUSD
- SFUSD experience: Current vice chair SFUSD Citizens Bond Oversight Committee (Appointed in 2022)
- Education: Bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and history & science from Harvard University
- Languages: English (learning Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish and French)
- Transportation: Driving, public transit and walking
- Website: Laurance Lee for School Board
I would keep about $130 million in reserves for another year, roughly five weeks of expenses. As a small business owner, I know we need that cushion. But we also have children falling behind who need more help. I’ve read school plans where principals counted on staff who never arrived. Those missing staff mean children miss out on reading help and someone checking why they’re absent. I would cut unneeded fiscal consulting and put savings toward the staffing schools need. Before growing reserves further, we should deliver the help we’ve already promised our children.
Endorsed by: State Senator Scott Wiener, Chinese American Citizens Alliance San Francisco Lodge, United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 648 … read more here.
Reina Tello
- Job: Community organizer
- Age: 44
- Party: Democratic
- Residency: Renter, born and raised in San Francisco
- Children: Two children: 14, rising eighth grader at James Lick; 18, recently graduated from June Jordan School for Equity
- SFUSD experience: Served on School Site Council two years ago
- Education: Current City College of San Francisco student studying labor and community studies
- Languages: English and Spanish
- Transportation: Driving
- Website: Reina for School Board
The reserves should be used to bring back supports to address chronic absenteeism so that we are not leaving money on the table.
Endorsed by: United Educators of San Francisco, San Francisco Rising Action Fund, Teamsters Local 853, Board of Education Commissioner Matt Alexander, Supervisor Connie Chan, Supervisor Jackie Fielder, Supervisor Chyanne Chan, Supervisor Shamann Walton … read more here.
Tim Tung
- Job: Public finance analyst, research analyst, public finance lecturer
- Age: 46
- Party: Democratic
- Residency: Homeowner in the Western Addition, previously lived in the Richmond and SoMa
- Children: Two children at Chinese Immersion School at De Avila
- SFUSD experience: Chair of the school site council at the Chinese Immersion School at De Avila; serves on SFUSD’s local control and accountability plan advisory committee
- Education: Bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in information and data science from the University of California, Berkeley; master’s degree in public administration from San Jose State University
- Languages: English
- Transportation: Driving, public transit and walking
- Website: Tim Tung for School Board
Reserves are SFUSD’s savings account: they should provide one-time funding for genuine emergencies and to buffer uneven revenues or expenses. SFUSD’s reserves are about 12% of budget–below the 17% recommended best practice–and the forecast shows reserves declining to 3% by 2029. Without adequate reserves, balancing the budget means disruptive cuts to staff and programs, creating instability for students, families, and employees and making it harder to attract and retain the educators we need. We need a credible plan to reach best-practice reserves and clear guardrails for their use and replenishment. One-time reserves should not fund ongoing expenses.
Endorsed by: GrowSF, State Senator Scott Wiener, Nancy Tung, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, Supervisor Matt Dorsey, Supervisor Stephen Sherrill, Supervisor Alan Wong, Supervisor Danny Sauter … read more here.
Autumn Brown Garibay
- Job: Senior customer success manager at Sprout Social, Inc.
- Age: 41
- Party: Democratic
- Residency: Renter in the Mission District
- Children: Three in SFUSD schools
- SFUSD experience: PTA at kids’ school, served on the Parent Leadership Council of the San Francisco Parent Coalition
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in public relations and marketing from Long Beach State University and Sacramento State University
- Languages: English
- Transportation: Public transit, walking and biking
- Website: Autumn Brown Garibay for School Board
SFUSD should protect its required reserves and use available funds strategically for one-time investments that benefit students. Priorities could include improving facilities to accommodate much-needed TK classrooms, targeted teacher recruitment efforts, and covering unexpected costs. Every expenditure should have a clear purpose and a plan families can understand. I consistently hear from families that they want stable classrooms, reliable staffing, and consistent student support. We cannot use reserves to make ongoing commitments. We also cannot sustain or delay fixing our structural deficit. The decisions we make today must protect students from future cuts and help provide the stability families expect.
Endorsed by: SF Parents Action, GrowSF, San Francisco Democratic Party, State Senator Scott Wiener, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, Supervisor Alan Wong, Supervisor Danny Sauter, Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Supervisor Matt Dorsey … read more here.
Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at rosina@missionlocal.com.
You can register to vote via the sf.gov website.
