Some San Francisco public schools are fundraising powerhouses, with parents who bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to beef up staff and supplies. Other schools’ parent associations raise far less, and some schools don’t have PTAs at all.
Many schools were counting on PTA funds to buffer against staff shortages, which the pandemic and a payroll system meltdown have exacerbated. On Haight Street, the Chinese Immersion School at De Avila PTA raised $390,000 last year.
It has used that money to hire two extra teachers but cannot keep them this fall. New San Francisco Unified School District rules forbid schools from using parent-raised funds or other outside money to pay for additional teachers. The ban won’t be lifted until the district goes through cuts this spring – nearly 10 percent of SFUSD’s $1.3 billion budget – and reshuffles classroom staff after years of keeping poor track of its personnel.
The directive is to have 92 percent of classrooms with qualified teachers – no easy task because of chronic shortages – before schools can start tapping PTA funds again.
Some PTAs are also thinking about spreading extra funds to schools that aren’t lucky to have wealthier parents; there are examples to follow from other cities. But some parents and advocates warn that selflessness will have its limits, and in the short term, some PTAs are still trying to stave off the loss of teachers.
Restrictions on PTA and grant money first came as part of a hiring freeze dictated by state advisors who have taken partial control over SFUSD’s finances. After months without explaining the situation to school staff, SFUSD finally announced an official restriction earlier this month. The ban will extend at least into the next school year, which starts in August.
“[SFUSD] is trying to address some major structural issues with how we budget across our district,” says Meredith Dodson, executive director of San Francisco Parent Coalition. “There’s ways we can be creative to support kids in an equitable way so [money] is not just taken off the table entirely.”
(Note: The name of parent groups varies from school to school: parent-teacher association or organization, for example. For brevity’s sake, this article will use the shorthand “PTA.”)
SFUSD’s finances could get even worse, as the Trump administration signed an order Monday to kill the Department of Education after gutting staff earlier this month. SFUSD superintendent Maria Su said in February the district could lose “upwards of $50 million” in federal funds. A district spokesperson did not respond to The Frisc’s requests for further information.
Palo Alto, Portland, pooled funding
About 60 schools, roughly half the district, have PTAs, according to a tally by Second District PTA (as of 2022). Ten years ago, coming out of the Great Recession, the gap between the haves and have-nots had increased. A 2014 SF Public Press investigation found that parents at 10 elementary schools raised $2.7 million, more than the other 61 schools combined.
There are still wide gaps. For example, Claire Lilienthal K-8 Alternative School, which splits its campus between the Marina and Presidio Heights, raised $842,000 last year. Monroe Elementary in the Excelsior raised $43,000.
San Francisco PTAs are a long way from pooling their resources, but a small step in that direction occurred in 2020. The nonprofit Spark SF, the district’s official fundraising partner, developed a buddy system to allow one PTA to fundraise on behalf of another.
Examples from two other school systems have caught the attention of SF parents. In Palo Alto, the school board ruled in 2002 that out of fairness PTA funds for extra staff had to be centrally raised and evenly distributed through a designated nonprofit. It bases its distribution formula on dollars per student; Palo Alto Unified has about 10,000 students.
The nonprofit says it raises around $5.5 million a year that funds over 250 positions districtwide, including art teachers, classroom aides, and an extra science elective class at a middle school. PTAs may still raise funds for materials and supplies.
The Board of Education in Portland, Ore., which has about the same number of students as SFUSD, took a similar route in the 1990s. PTAs can keep the first $10,000 raised at their school, then two-thirds of funds raised beyond that threshold. The other 33 percent is pooled and redistributed to schools based on students eligible for free meals.
The board went further last year, barring PTAs from paying for staff at their schools and designating an official foundation as the only account to accept donations for staff positions. A parent committee is developing distribution recommendations, according to the Fund for Portland Public Schools.
There’s absolutely an appetite to pool resources, but I want to see more from the district first. Ultimately, the goal would be everyone gets what they need, and PTAs work to get extras.
chinese immersion pta president jenn wofford
SFUSD school board president Phil Kim says the district’s temporary funding ban wasn’t meant as a first step toward changing the system, but as a step toward proper staff accounting. New funding rules aren’t likely to happen soon.
“What I would imagine is the superintendent and her team would work very closely with the PTAs to understand what the needs and desires are,” Kim says. “The biggest focus right now is what we need to do to provide a balanced budget that meets our fiscal obligations.”
Ask for a little extra
At Monroe Elementary, PTA copresident Emily de Ayora agrees with the Portland board to some extent. PTAs should not be allowed to reduce their schools’ class sizes by hiring additional teachers, she says, unless it can happen for the whole school district.
But she says that a districtwide pool would be a nonstarter for parents who’d want their schools to benefit directly from their contributions. (The Parent Coalition’s Dodson agrees.) De Ayora also says a formula would get bogged down in the details.
Instead of forced pooling, De Ayora wants a voluntary pool system. She suggests that Spark SF, the district’s fundraising partner, add an option on its website, and that school events provide an extra funding option – like when grocery checkouts ask customers to top up purchases with a small donation.
“It’s early days but I think there’s interest,” de Ayora says. “For this to evolve into something grander maybe it’s a foundation or something that’s a little bigger. I definitely believe in starting somewhere.”
In the 2023-2024 school year, Spark SF distributed $14.7 million to schools for initiatives that included mental health services in middle schools, college and career readiness, curriculum support for teachers, and the African American Achievement and Leadership Initiative.
Chinese Immersion PTA president Jenn Wofford says “there’s absolutely an appetite to pool resources,” but the school is bracing for the upcoming loss of two parent-funded teachers. By the beginning of next semester, the shakeout from budget cuts should have settled. SFUSD announced earlier this month that more early teacher retirements than expected will make teacher layoffs unnecessary. But 177 counselors and paraeducators will see pink slips.
“I want to see more from the district first,” says Wofford. “Ultimately, the goal would be everyone gets what they need and PTAs work to get extras.”
Chinese Immersion is making a last-ditch effort to preserve its extra teachers by showing SFUSD its fundraising track record. Wofford also says that with the uncertainty around the district and current funds in limbo, her school shouldn’t expect to raise as much next year.
With federal grants now in jeopardy, how can SFUSD find additional funding? One way is to reverse the long enrollment decline that in part has put the district in dire straits. (California funding for local districts is based on enrollment.) A glimmer of good news on that front: applications for next year are at their highest level in a decade.
Another way to change funding on the local or state level is with new legislation. But budgets at City Hall and in Sacramento are also in dire straits. Even promised extra funding from the city has been caught in the budget crisis. The hiring freeze that has blocked PTA funding also applies to the Student Success Fund, approved by SF voters in 2022. Schools have only been able to spend a sliver of the $26 million earmarked for them this year.
Whether it’s parent funding, extra city funds, or other donations, nothing will move until the city rebuilds community trust and gets its financial house in order. As United Educators of San Francisco vice president Frank Lara says, “[SFUSD] doesn’t know where their money is.”