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.
The CEO of a healthcare service firm and veteran of the corporate world, Min Chang 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
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.
Min Chang: I believe that whether you like him or don’t like him, Dr. Wayne is our current superintendent. Firing him will only be more disruptive and add to the problem, not resolve it. I would much prefer focusing on solving the fiscal crisis with the current team. We need a cohesive school board and a strong superintendent to work together as a team to resolve this.
What issue in SFUSD do you feel doesn’t get enough attention and what do you plan to do about it?
The transportation challenge is significant for SFUSD students and families. We need to ensure that public transportation is available and sufficient to accommodate students’ schedules to and from school.
Muni is in the midst of its own financial crisis. What specifically can SFUSD or the school board do to help?
I would propose that SFUSD work more closely with the mayor’s office to ensure that we have enough routes and times for Muni so that our kids can get to and from school effectively. This has been and continues to be of concern with parents and students.
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.
With the savings from the central office and the revenue sources detailed below, we can funnel investments to our schools and focus on introducing courses earlier in elementary and middle schools.
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?
We should look for additional sources for special education. We can look at the social work space as well as medical space for resources and talent. In addition, we can train existing educators in special education and start developing a pipeline of multi-skilled educators that can teach children with all different needs.
If you’re elected, will you abide by the final decisions in December to close schools?
I would like to relook at the decision and see if we can close the gap in other ways as defined below.
How do you propose keeping families in the district after the school closure decisions and further budget cuts?
I’m not in support of closing schools. We should look to reduce the direct and indirect spend at the central office; this will help close the gap on the deficit along with the revenue suggestions below.
Closing schools will free up facilities. What should the district do with those buildings? Do you support charter schools moving in?
I’m not in support of closing schools and believe that this action will not fix the fiscal crisis and will only drive families away from SF public schools. We should, however, look at all the buildings and properties that SFUSD owns and find better uses for them inclusive of renting and housing for teachers.
What’s the No. 1 thing that SFUSD can do to improve campus safety for students and staff?
SFUSD should work closely with the mayor’s office and the police and sheriff’s departments. We can leverage the resources needed and share our efforts so that security is provided effectively in our communities and schools.
Can you be more specific about resources to leverage from law enforcement departments? Do you support more SFPD and sheriff’s personnel in the schools?
I am supportive of leveraging both SFPD and the sheriff’s office in terms of resources, staff, best practices, and technology to better support our schools — both inside and outside the perimeter within the community.
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?
I think that the efforts of SFUSD are good but it needs to continue; we need to bring back the core subjects like math, science, history, languages, the arts, etc. We also need to provide practical courses in financial management and computer skills that will be useful for our children when they graduate from high school. In addition, we should have accelerated courses and advanced programs as well as strong vocational courses for children that want to follow that path.
Math and literacy reforms are ongoing. Are these not enough? If not, what other core subjects need attention? You also mention personal finance. The district has a grant and has begun programs in high school. Do you have a sense whether these programs are working?
It is not enough. I would like to see more core subjects brought back effectively: history, civics, languages, the arts. We should also have these subjects taught earlier in a child’s development. It is also important to invest in vocational tracks and specialty classes to ensure that all our kids are supported. SFUSD has done a lot in terms of improving the curriculum, but it has not gone far enough.
You said at the Sept. 5 forum that the district shouldn’t close schools and needs more revenue sources. Most revenue is tied to enrollment, which is in decline. What new sources do you propose?
We need to look at federal, state, and local sources of revenue. On the federal side, there are grants that are initiatives-driven, so we can look for ones that fit our needs in early education or education in general as well as in workforce development for educators or capacity building. There are many federal grants available that we can apply for.
On the state side, we only get $1,600/pupil. It is not the highest allocation in the state; we should advocate for a higher allocation given our diversity and demographics and size of our county.
On the local side, we can do better fundraising with the tech and financial sectors; our largest donor is Salesforce and that’s it. We can do better with locally founded companies that will care about the community and education.
Could you provide the source for the $1,600 per-pupil spending and Salesforce being the largest donor?
I have spent a great deal of time with SFUSD staff, and they have shared their operational and financial plans with me.
Click to jump to other candidates:
✏️ Matt Alexander
✏️ Virginia Cheung
✏️ Lefteris Eleftheriou
✏️ Parag Gupta
✏️ Ann Hsu
✏️ Jaime Huling
✏️ 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.
