San Francisco public schools serve nearly 50,000 students. But enrollment has been dropping here for decades, and across the state in more recent years. Many of the district’s problems are linked to the exodus: a $100 million budget deficit. A failed school closure attempt — and perhaps another one coming. The first teachers strike in nearly 50 years. Worries about immigrant student programs.
The seven-member Board of Education oversees the district’s superintendent and staff and must sign off on the budget — more than $1 billion a year — as well as key policies and curriculum changes, such as recent revisions to math, literacy, and ethnic studies.
Once relatively sleepy, school board elections have become charged, partly because local politicians used the board before COVID as a stepping stone to other ambitions. Then, during COVID, the lack of urgency getting kids back in schools led to a landslide recall of three members in 2022.
This June marks a special election for the final few months of board president Phil Kim’s term. Kim was appointed by then-Mayor London Breed in 2024; he must run to keep his seat. (In the regular November election his seat will again be up, along with two others.)
Kim faces two competitors. All three candidates spoke with The Frisc about how they would solve what they see as SFUSD’s key issues. Here’s what you should know.
Approach: We emailed questions to each candidate and also conducted a live interview. We combined these responses and edited for length and clarity.
Accuracy: We fact-checked as many statements as possible. Links with an asterisk (*) indicate studies, references, and other evidence that candidates provided. Unmarked links are provided by The Frisc. In some cases we have removed claims that we could not substantiate or that candidates left unexplained.
Virginia Cheung
- Chief advancement officer at Open Door Legal
- Former director of advancement at the Wu Yee Children’s Services
- Endorsements: The United Educators of San Francisco, Sup. Connie Chan, the SF Green Party, and others
Phil Kim
- Deputy director and chief of staff, SF Human Rights Commission
- Former teacher and administrator at KIPP NorCal (a charter school group)
- Endorsements: SF Parents Coalition, Mayor Daniel Lurie, state Sen. Scott Weiner, and others
Brandee Marckmann
- Founder of the nonprofit San Francisco Education Alliance
- Former teacher of English as a second language for adults
- Endorsements: Service Employees International Union, Sup. Jackie Fielder, the Progressive Democrats of America, and others
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Lisa Plachy and Alex Lash contributed to this reporting.
