The San Francisco Unified School District board on Tuesday is set to discuss its vision for the future, but teachers and the community say it first must look at how the district manages finances.
Campus closures are not on the formal discussion list for Tuesday's school board meeting, but there are a number of proposals related to declining enrollment. SFUSD Superintendent Matt Wayne is proposing the board allow him to take action to create a better staffing model and run schools and classrooms at full capacity; restructure district-wide services; find ways to leverage district properties; and create criteria for mergers, school co-locations and school closures based on current and projected enrollment.
A coalition of teachers, staff and parents says San Francisco Unified’s biggest problem how it manages its finances. They say the district is too heavy on administrators, and it paid too much money for a botched payroll system, from which some maintenance workers are still awaiting $1.1 million in backpay.
"And the insult to injury is our members are still owed money. Not for last month, not for last week, but from October of 2021," said Rudy Gonzalez of the San Francisco Building Trades Union.
Parents say their kids are caught in the middle.
"Because of the way the district has managed their schools, people don't want to send their kids there," parent Bernice Casey said.
Falling enrollment is one point in the superintendent’s 46-page presentation to the board, which will also cover projected deficits and staffing shortages of up to 15% in the classroom and 25% in nutrition services.
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The public session for Tuesday's meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. The school board's statement says the public will be included in the discussion along the way.
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