Overview:
The final two seats on San Francisco's school board are officially called, as GrowSF's slate swept the race — backed by more than $400,000.
Tim Tung and Autumn Brown Garibay have won election to San Francisco’s school board — both declared victory on Thursday after their early leads remained strong with subsequent vote drops.
The two will join school board president Phil Kim, who won reelection Tuesday in a landslide. Mayor Daniel Lurie, the advocacy group GrowSF and others in the city’s moderate camp had endorsed the trio for school board.
The three were backed by $407,000, including money raised by the candidates and expenses made by outside groups like GrowSF, which put in $242,000, according to the latest filings. That was about 1.4 times as much as the rival teachers union slate.
The union-backed candidates took the No. 4, 5 and 6 slots. The union’s slate had $283,000 raised by candidates and spent on their behalf, including $210,000 from the union and a labor PAC.
Tung is a financial analyst and also the brother of San Francisco Democratic Party chair Nancy Tung. He entered the race in late July. Brown Garibay is a parent of three public school students who has served on PTAs and is a senior customer success manager at Sprout Social, Inc.
The teachers union, for its part, was coming off a successful February strike that saw them win major benefits, including 100% funded healthcare by 2027, and raises between 5% and 8.5%.
But the election dealt them a blow. Ryan Hazelton, one of the slate candidates, congratulated the elected commissioners and wrote on Instagram: “That’s a wrap for 2026 mid-term elections but not for the important work that needs to happen to support children, families and educators.”
Virginia Cheung, one of the union’s three candidates, was the closest to snagging a spot but still short by over 14,000 votes.
Incumbent Alida Fisher officially failed to seek reelection. Fisher’s chances were grim after the first drop on Tuesday night, with only 7% of the vote, and stayed near there with each subsequent round. She was endorsed by the political arm of SF Parents Coalition, a relatively new advocacy group that also endorsed Kim and Garibay.
Slates, and the money behind them, defined the race. GrowSF spent heavily on mailers, advertisements and flyers touting their picks. The mountain of spending led the teachers union to campaign on a “Teachers vs. Billionaires” slogan.
Kim, Tung and Brown Garibay will have a hand in major decisions in the San Francisco Unified School District. Just three weeks before the election, the board voted to overhaul its lottery system in favor of a system where children will go to schools in their neighborhoods. Parents, by and large, are not happy and will likely be vocal against the recent change until the board votes on its final policy in April.
On Tuesday evening, Brown Garibay was happily teary-eyed after the first drop but still cautious. She was waiting for someone to call the race or for every last ballot to be counted, knowing winners in this race are often decided by very few votes. In 2024, for example, Matt Alexander won his seat by just over 200 votes.
But on Thursday, Brown Garibay celebrated.
“We have a lot of work to do in San Francisco Unified, and I’m grateful to be a part of it,” she said.