This is a critical election for San Francisco’s public schools, which are grappling with falling enrollment, staff shortages, and a fiscal crisis that could trigger a state takeover.
Four of the seven Board of Education seats are up for grabs, with 11 candidates vying for them.
A city attorney for eight years in San Francisco, and now in Oakland, Jaime Huling answers our questions below.
For more background on the school district’s situation, our questionnaire methodology (such as: why do some links come with asterisks?), and an overview of all the candidates, please visit our main page. – Ida Mojadad and Alex Lash
The Frisc: If Superintendent Wayne deserves to be fired, what specifically has he done that can’t be blamed on longtime SFUSD dysfunction? If he deserves to stay, please describe why.
Jaime Huling: If elected, I would be in the position of supervising Wayne. I am giving him the courtesy I would give any employee of not pre-judging their performance, especially since I have not yet worked directly with him and am not privy to closed session evaluations.
That said, I am concerned about the lack of progress that the superintendent has made on improving a number of key business functions for the district — especially in HR and budgeting. I would also expect to see more communication and transparency from the superintendent — with the board, our state fiscal overseer, and the public — than he has demonstrated. I hope to see him work well with and benefit from the experts the city is offering to support him.
What issue in SFUSD doesn’t get enough attention and what do you plan to do about it?
I’ll strongly advocate for the school district to finally move to the long-overdue zone assignment system as quickly as possible. We know that the existing student assignment system hasn’t reduced segregation, but it has driven families away from the district. Sometimes, the lottery drives families out of San Francisco entirely. The district’s homework of moving to a zone assignment system is now four years late. It’s not equitable to have a school assignment system that feels like you need a law degree to understand it.
It won’t be equitable if the district closes schools in student-rich neighborhoods in the southeast before moving to the proposed zone assignment system. Under a zone assignment system, schools that are now under-enrolled should succeed in attracting more students.
We need a simple, predictable system. Families need to know that they’re going to be assigned to a school that they can get to and has a schedule that works for them. Families need a resource that shows all of their options in one place to help them choose a school: language pathways, transportation, schedule, and before- and aftercare options.
You say the assignment zones should be implemented as quickly as possible. The plan is for 2026-27. Do you think they can be implemented sooner?
At the present moment, I don’t think zone assignment can be implemented before 2026-27. I’ve been speaking to the urgency of moving to zone assignment since before Wayne announced the move would be made in 2026.
On the school board, I’ll hold the superintendent accountable for keeping to that schedule. We’ve had promised timelines in the past that were completely disregarded — the change was originally supposed to be made in 2022.
You say it won’t be equitable to close schools in the southeast before moving to the proposed zone assignment system. Should the assignment system come before school closures?
My initial hope for the Resource Alignment Initiative was that school closures, co-locations, and mergers would have been undertaken at the same time as moving to a zone assignment system.
That ship has sailed, and it is no longer possible to undertake these initiatives simultaneously.
School closure decisions should still take into account not just a school’s current enrollment under the present assignment system but also its projected enrollment under the new zone system, so that each neighborhood maintains the schools that it needs to support its student population when we do move to zones.
Many candidates bring up the importance of more early education, intervention, and meeting basic needs. What do you recommend, under the current financial circumstances? Please be specific.
If we don’t right-size the district, we’ll just end up under state control. The hard decisions we avoid today will be made tomorrow by Sacramento staffers who don’t know our city.
We’re at a key inflection point for the future of public education in San Francisco. The superintendent’s Resource Alignment Initiative is going to be hard. But we can do hard things, especially when we’re doing the right thing.
We must fulfill our promise of fully funded, staffed, and enrolled schools. The reason to close schools is so that we can provide every student with the enrichment and supportive resources that they deserve. When our resources are spread too thin, key positions in all of our schools remain unfilled. By closing and consolidating schools, we will be able to ensure that every school has an assistant principal, an intervention specialist, a PE teacher, a librarian, and a social worker — the basics that help kids learn.
I’ll do everything in my power to ensure that the inevitable school closures and consolidations are communicated and implemented well, so that we emerge with a smaller number of stronger schools and avoid setting off further drops in enrollment.
There’s a chronic shortage of special education staff. Students have to go outside the district for services, which costs the district a lot of money. What do you propose to fix this?
Regionally, neighboring school districts in Marin County draw families who are seeking special education services away from San Francisco. Those school districts are able to hire and retain special education staff. Why can’t we?
Many of the problems we have in special education are symptomatic of larger problems in the district. Our HR function is too slow to hire and onboard educators, and our resources are spread too thin throughout the district, leaving unfilled openings at many schools.
The district is not meeting its legal obligations to special education students and their families, and we pay for it on the back end. Instead of investing in giving kids the education they are entitled to, we pay for some to leave the district and seek private education and pay settlements to others.
In connection with the Resource Alignment Initiative, I’ll work to ensure all of our school sites are fully-staffed to meet special education students’ needs, and are receiving adequate early literacy support that can alleviate the need for IEPs later for some students. I’ll also advocate to provide teachers and paraeducators with more coordination and prep time to ensure all of a students’ team, including parents, are communicating to meet their needs.
You say Marin County is drawing families who seek special education services. Where did this information come from?
This comes from meetings I’ve had with special education teachers, parents, and advocates throughout this campaign to hear their experiences with and insights on SFUSD special education.
If you’re elected, will you abide by the final decisions in December to close schools?
School communities across the city are understandably anxious, starting the year without knowing if they are on the chopping block. When the list of schools being considered for closure is announced, every school will organize and petition the Board of Education to reconsider. The vote to determine which schools will be closed is scheduled to be taken in December, before the new school board takes office in January, so new board members will not have the opportunity to vote on whether to close particular schools.
It’s the school board’s responsibility to do what’s best for the entire district, not for any one school. It is not in the district’s best interest for the new board to re-visit the school closure vote. In order to keep families and educators in the district, plans will need to be executed immediately to find new placements. Families need to enter the school assignment system by January 31, 2025 if they choose to be re-assigned to a new school — we can’t leave any school community in limbo with indecision while their window to find a new, welcoming community disappears.
How do you propose keeping families in the district after the school closure decisions and further budget cuts?
Parents see that we are underperforming in basic markers of achievement, and they vote with their feet. In order to stabilize our enrollment, the district must communicate clearly with families and deliver on the Resource Alignment Initiative’s promise of focusing our spending on student outcomes to ensure that every student has a fully-enrolled, fully-staffed, fully-funded school with all of the support and enrichment that they deserve.
My kid’s school lost its assistant principal and two reading and math interventionists due to budget cuts. That’s what happens when our resources are spread too thin — we can’t afford crucial staff and services. The reason to close and consolidate schools is to make sure these positions are staffed — every student deserves a school librarian, PE teacher, and social worker.
I’ll fight to ensure that communities and programs affected by closures have the option to stay together. I’ll push to provide additional resources to affected families to help them stay in the district, have workable schedules and commutes, and get needed supports — such as priority school assignments, new bus routes, and expanded before- and aftercare.
Closing schools will free up facilities. What should the district do with those buildings? Do you support charter schools moving in?
Outrageous housing costs drive away great teachers. My cousin and her husband, a beloved TK teacher, literally lived across the street from the future site of Shirley Chisholm Village, and they moved away because of housing costs before it was completed.
SFUSD has a major teacher recruitment and retention problem and San Francisco has a massive housing crisis — both demand more concerted and swift action by the SFUSD to develop teacher housing on unused school properties.
The district has many unused properties throughout the city — before school closures. I support seeking a bill similar to SB 4* to streamline the development of affordable housing on unused school properties.
I’d seek to enter into public-private partnerships similar to the one for the SFMTA Potrero Yard,* where the district keeps the land and a private developer enters a long term lease and builds housing. This will bring revenue into the district to diversify our district’s finances and make us less reliant on the whims of the real estate market. I don’t support expanding charter schools.
What’s the No. 1 thing that SFUSD can do to improve campus safety for students and staff?
Nothing is more important to me than our kids’ safety. My older kiddo is the same age as the children whose lives were cut short at Sandy Hook. As long as there’s violence in our schools, there’s work to do to keep our kids safe.
That’s why, as a deputy city attorney, I’ve worked with Moms Demand Action on legislation to help civil prosecutors prevent violence before it happens by getting civil gun violence restraining orders to take weapons away from people who are a danger to our community. I’m proud to be a Gun Sense Candidate.
Creating affirming and open communities for students through inclusive policies and affinity groups and uniformly enforcing our anti-bullying policies are all important. It’s also key to fully fund social-emotional learning coaches who help kids develop conflict resolution skills and social workers who help prevent school disputes from erupting into violence.
Recent incidents of strangers intruding at schools, and violent incidents among students, have made clear how urgent our work is to keep our campuses safe. Nearly all of our schools need modernization to have functioning PA systems and the proper locks if needed, which is why we must pass the bond this November.*
It’s been two years since 5-year academic reforms began: math, literacy, and high school curriculum. What’s gone right? What’s gone wrong? How should the board address the next three years of the plan?
After years of school closures, dysfunction, and distraction, the school board is finally rowing in the same direction. The new student-outcomes-focused governance model that Commissioner Jenny Lam introduced has helped sharpen the attention of the board on the things that matter to help our kids learn.
Under that model, a number of things have gone right. The district’s recent adoption of a new evidence-based literacy curriculum and anticipated adoption of a new math curriculum next year are victories for our students. The superintendent budgeting for each school to have a literacy and numeracy coach to help educators adopt the new curricula is the type of coordinated execution that I’d like to see more of across the district.
Similarly, the return of 8th grade algebra is a big win for kids. We can’t succeed in educating students by holding them back. In a district that is 86 percent students of color,* it is profoundly inequitable to deny students opportunities to learn. Still, I remain concerned that the 8th grade algebra pilot models don’t follow best practices. I’ll advocate to protect 8th grade algebra, to ensure its district-wide implementation of 8th grade algebra isn’t thwarted by potentially flawed pilot models.
Could you be more specific about your concerns with the 8th grade algebra pilot?
I’m concerned that none of the three options being piloted are the known best practice that has succeeded in other districts — a compaction course of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade math over the course of two years in 6th and 7th grade, followed by 8th grade algebra. I suspect this option wasn’t piloted because the pilot project was scheduled for two years, and the best practice is to teach the modified curriculum over the course of three years.
I don’t want us to be setting ourselves up to fail by having pilot programs that are less likely to lead to success. For example, having 8th graders take Math 8 and algebra at the same time, even though those classes are supposed to build on each other and be taken in sequence — and then declaring the return of 8th grade algebra a failure because we implemented it wrong and got bad results. We need to make sure that as adults, we design a program that works for kids.
You said in May that you “know how the city works” behind the scenes from your time in the attorney’s office. What can the board do with better city connections and knowledge while retaining its independence?
For too long, SFUSD has viewed itself as too special to learn from other districts and other local governments. We’ve wasted money on bespoke payroll systems instead of contracting with DHR and crafted unique curricula instead of using what’s been proven to work for other districts.
As a deputy city attorney, I’ve represented or advised nearly every city department, working with department heads, managers, and line employees. I’ve advised elected and appointed officials on governance matters and solving tough problems. There are many areas of city expertise the district can leverage through intergovernmental MOUs while retaining independence.
On the board, I’ll use my experience to help build partnerships with city departments. These types of relationships could’ve avoided past missteps. For example, an MOU with the City Attorney’s Office to review major procurement contracts could have avoided the Empower fiasco, which was worsened by a contract which lacked standard clauses and left the district on the hook for $14M to address the problem.*
Moving forward, I’ll look to partner with the city to bring resources into the district by developing unused properties into affordable housing that can diversify our revenue streams and help recruit and retain educators.
Click to jump to other candidates:
✏️ Matt Alexander
✏️ Min Chang
✏️ Virginia Cheung
✏️ Lefteris Eleftheriou
✏️ Parag Gupta
✏️ Ann Hsu
✏️ John Jersin
✏️ Maddy Krantz
✏️ Laurance Lem Lee
✏️ Supryia Ray
Ida Mojadad covers education for The Frisc. Alex Lash is The Frisc’s editor in chief.