School closures dominated the year for San Francisco’s public school district. They cost the superintendent his job, they compounded confusion about the budget deficit, they overshadowed other makeovers like academic reforms and the kindergarten assignment system — and in the end, they didn’t even happen.
Former superintendent Matt Wayne started the closure process in late 2023, saying SFUSD could do it transparently and equitably – unlike closures in the mid-2000s that mainly shut down schools in Black neighborhoods.
There were months of town halls and a confusing survey, then a September 2024 announcement date for closures – which sputtered into a delay. Amid the chaos, Board of Education president Lainie Motamedi resigned, and Mayor London Breed appointed Phil Kim, who oversaw the closure process, to replace her.
When the list of schools to close finally came out in October, the backlash came quickly, including from Breed herself. Less than two weeks later, the district pulled the plug. Wayne soon resigned. Even then, several candidates running for four Board of Education seats in the November election – more than half the seven-member board – agreed school closures should remain on the table as enrollment continues to decline.
It’s unlikely the painful issue will be shelved for good. After taking office, Su told the SF Standard, “We want to make sure that the infrastructure of the school district reflects the enrollment level.”
The closure saga also put on hold a complicated overhaul of the elementary school lottery. Already delayed by the pandemic, the new assignment zones are supposed to keep students closer to home and reduce racial and ethnic disparities. Draft zones are due in the spring.
Academic reforms also moved ahead. When Wayne took over in 2022, he and the school board set five-year goals in math for eighth graders, literacy for third graders, and college and career readiness for high school seniors. Though math and literacy targets are not making much headway, curriculum changes are in the works.
After promising pilot results, elementary schools this fall began adopting a new English language arts curriculum. Bringing algebra back to middle school became a priority as well as a political issue and won landslide support. A few schools this year launched pilots. A broader math revamp is also underway.
New boss, new board
Next month, newcomers Jaime Huling, Parag Gupta, and Supriya Ray will join the board. Lone incumbent candidate Matt Alexander retained his seat.
They’ll be working with new superintendent Maria Su, formerly director of SF’s Department of Children, Youth and Their Families. Before Wayne’s resignation, Su led a Breed-appointed task force to help SFUSD clean up its financial and organizational mess.
That mess is now in Su’s lap. In her first month she had to turn to the district’s budget deficit. With state regulators already in partial control of financial decisions and watching closely, Su and staff stuck to a budget-cutting plan that Wayne outlined earlier in the year: $113 million in cuts for the 2025-26 school year – about 9 percent of the total budget – and $13 million the following year. SFUSD will try to avoid some layoffs by offering teachers early retirement.
Stay tuned: Numbers will change in January when Gov. Gavin Newsom reveals his draft budget. In March, SFUSD must send preliminary layoff notices, then finalize the budget by July.
There was some good financial news. After big worries that voters would punish SFUSD for its chaos, they approved a $790 million bond to renovate schools, build a new central kitchen, and more.
The district also started installing a new payroll system to replace the 2021 version that has botched paychecks and health insurance coverage. The final switch-over is due in July, with promises of better data for staffing and budgeting.
Looming over the district is, of course, a decline in state funding because of declining enrollment. SFUSD has about 48,000 students, and it’s projected to lose another 4,000 by 2032. But with closures off the board for the fall of 2025, at least, at this time next year we’ll likely be assessing the early effects of upcoming budget cuts.
