SF Teachers, Students Face Uncertain Future as Budget Crisis Threatens Closures

San Francisco students are heading back to school on Monday. But amid the excitement, first-day outfits and fresh school supplies, uncertainty about the future of the city’s public school district looms.

The academic year is set to be volatile. Superintendent Matt Wayne will likely announce a list of recommended schools for school closures as soon as next month. The district has cut hundreds of positions to alleviate a budget shortfall, and the board of education will need to make more spending reductions to balance its budget or risk a state takeover.

Cassondra Curiel, the president of United Educators of San Francisco, said that teachers are feeling the weight of these challenges as they return to their classrooms this week.

“It’s a really exciting time. It’s a really positive environment you want to set up for students. It happens, though, with the backdrop of the concerns,” she told KQED. “As adults, we are holding this knowledge that the district is going to shortly propose a list of schools that it wants to merge or close.”

The exact number and locations of schools that will be closed are unknown, and the district’s website says there is no internal list of schools being considered. A proposed list is expected around mid-September. The plan will face a school board vote likely in December, according to a district spokesperson. Campuses affected will close at the end of the academic year.

The closures will be the first in the district in 20 years despite enrollment consistently declining since 1999, leaving more than 14,000 empty seats across campuses. More than 4,000 students have left the district since the 2017–18 school year. SFUSD could lose another 4,600 by 2032, according to the district.

“Ultimately, we hope that this is going to lead San Francisco into a more sustainable and well-resourced school district so that we can support all of our students across every single school in the city,” Laura Dudnick, SFUSD’s executive director of communications, told KQED.

In addition to school closures, SFUSD has already cut more than 900 positions, many of which were vacant, and implemented a hiring freeze for non-classroom positions to help rightsize the budget.

It is planning additional expenditure reductions of more than $100 million in the 2025–26 year and will not have access to one-time federal funds it has used to cover deficit spending for years. If the school board isn’t able to balance next year’s budget, it could face a state takeover.

The uncertainty makes it challenging for teachers to do their jobs, Curiel said.

“If you were told today that your job may not be available to you in 10 months, and it’s just flying around — there’s no plan, there’s no relocation, there’s no guarantees of any kind — how would you work for the next 10 months?’ she asked.

Parents dropping off their children on the first day of school also said they had worries about the year to come. Nadim Hossain said that he sees the state of the district as a “leadership failure.”

“I guess we screwed up as voters, I think, is what I would say,” he said.

Discontent with the school board is not new. In 2022, three members were recalled because of frustration over the district’s handling of schools during the pandemic, as well as budget concerns with declining enrollment. In November, four of the seven seats will be on the ballot.

In June, the city’s teachers’ union endorsed an unexpected group of four candidates — one progressive and three moderate. In the past, the union has not typically endorsed moderates running for the seats.

Parents at smaller, under-enrolled schools are worried about the closures. Though the algorithm being used to determine which schools will close is apparently weighing equity heavily, there is anxiety for parents who fear their children’s campus might be shuttered.

“It’s so unfair, and it breaks my heart,” Cece Roberts, another seventh-grade parent at Marina Middle, said.

Despite worries about the future, Meredith Dodson, the executive director of the San Francisco Parents Coalition, told KQED that the first day still feels joyful.

“When you go back to the student level, the classroom level, it’s just positive and warm, loving, caring teachers welcoming students back,” she said.

KQED’s Gilare Zada contributed to this report.