SF Transit Board Says No to Cutting School Crossing Guards to Save Money

San Francisco transportation officials in search of ways to cut their budget have abandoned one idea that appears to be universally unpopular: eliminating the city’s school crossing-guard program.

That proposal was floated Tuesday as part of a menu of options to help the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency deal with a $50 million budget shortfall in the next fiscal year. The agency’s financial staff has identified $35 million in cuts so far.

Doing away with the crossing-guard program would save about $3 million, but it was obvious at the SFMTA board’s Tuesday meeting that the idea wouldn’t fly with the public.

The board heard emotional pleas from students, parents, crossing guards and residents of school neighborhoods who all agreed that the notion of pulling guards from the streets is unthinkable, especially as the city continues to grapple with a high number of pedestrian deaths and injuries in traffic crashes.

“Traffic is dangerous to children like me, and public safety is essential,” said a sixth-grader at Creative Arts Charter School who identified herself as Mimi.

“My crossing guard at my school, Sean, is so nice and does his job so well every day,” she said, breaking down in tears.

Elizabeth Travelslight, the mother of a sixth-grader at Creative Arts, praised the same crossing guard for managing the chaotic crossing at Turk and Pierce streets in the city’s Western Addition neighborhood.

“The skill Sean brings to his work is extraordinary,” Travelslight said. “At considerable personal risk, armed only with a stop sign, crossing guards like Sean protect and serve thousands of our city’s children. Every day, rain or shine. It’s not an exaggeration to say crossing guards are heroes, and they save lives.”

After hearing from the public and SFMTA staff, the board made it clear that cutting the crossing-guard program is off the table. And as they did earlier this month, several members said they’d resist cuts in transit service.

Board member Steve Heminger said he’s open to some of the other proposed cuts that the staff offered, which included trimming some maintenance programs and ending subsidies for lower-income residents who have their cars towed.

“I can live with the non-transit cuts, except for the crossing guards,” Heminger said. “I think everyone who came today said, ‘Except for the crossing guards.’ I was one of them in the 1960s, and I loved it. I’m still loyal to the crossing guards.”

The board’s discussion centered largely on what steps it can take to avoid cuts in Muni transit service. Heminger has advocated tapping the SFMTA’s $140 million operating reserve to make up the $15 million the agency needs to balance its budget next year.

“I think our first priority is to protect the service and honor the promises we’ve made to the public and the voters about what they’ll get for their tax money,” Heminger said.

However, other members of the board said that with much larger deficits expected beginning in 2026, the agency should combine some of the cuts proposed Tuesday with a limited withdrawal from the reserve fund.

The next round of the budget-cutting discussion is due for the board’s meeting on March 4, with a final decision on a plan expected on March 18. The fiscal year begins July 1.