More than a dozen schools in San Francisco meet the criteria for closing or merging, the San Francisco Unified School District announced Tuesday.
The announcement comes as the district tries to manage a $400 million budget deficit.
SFUSD, which has 121 schools, is facing scrutiny from the state and the city for budget trouble that's only partly related to declining enrollment. The district said it is mired in a budget deficit and is projected to run out of money by 2025.
Below is a list of the 13 schools meeting the criteria for closing or merging, according to the district. Three would close, eight would merge with another school and two would become a welcoming school for a closed school.
SCHOOL | PROPOSED PLAN FOR 2025-26 |
El Dorado | Merge with Visitacion Valley and students move to the Visitacion Valley campus |
Harvey Milk | Merge with Sanchez Elementary and the campus is potentially repurposed as an Early Education Center |
Jean Parker | Students attend Gordon J. Lau (Cantonese Biliteracy) or John Yehall Chin (General Education) |
Malcolm X | Merge with Carver Elementary and students move to the Carver campus |
Redding | Welcoming school for Yick Wo students (General Education and Special Day Class Program) |
SF Community Alternative TK-8 | Merge with Paul Revere TK-8 School |
SF Public Montessori | Merge with Rosa Parks |
Spring Valley | Merge with John Muir |
Sutro | Students attend Lafayette or Alamo (General Education) and CIS @ DeAvila (Cantonese Biliteracy) and the campus is potentially repurposed as an Early Education Center |
Visitacion Valley | Merge with El Dorado on the Visitacion Valley campus |
Yick Wo | Students attend Redding Elementary (General and Special Day Class Program) and Sherman Elementary (General Education) |
June Jordan School for Social Justice | Merge with John O’Connell High School and move to the O’Connell campus |
The Academy | Merge with Raoul Wallenberg High School and move to the Wallenberg campus |
SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne announced the campuses up for consideration in a post on the district website called "Difficult Decisions for a Brighter Future in SFUSD."
"I have to be honest about the tough decisions that are on the horizon to balance our budget. There will be significant staff reductions, which will impact all of our schools," Wayne said. "We are particularly mindful of the impacts of these staff reductions on schools already experiencing the greatest resource challenges because of their enrollment patterns and other factors. In some circumstances, we must explore whether we can best meet student needs by consolidating schools."
Wayne also announced the district starting on Thursday will launch a series of meetings with the community and schools to discuss the closures and mergers.
The district is expected to submit recommendations for school closures and mergers to trustees at a Nov. 12 Board of Education meeting. The school board may take action on school closures at a Dec. 10 meeting.
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Visit sfusd.edu for more information.