SFUSD Shares Update on Process to Close, Merge, or Co-Locate Schools for 2025-26 School Year

San Francisco (August 27, 2024) - At the SF Board of Education workshop meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 27, San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne will share an update on the district’s process for developing a new school portfolio for the 2025-26 school year. No school closures, mergers, or co-locations will be announced at the Aug. 27 meeting. A public announcement of the new portfolio of schools, including closures, mergers, and co-locations, is scheduled for Sept. 18. The Board of Education will vote on the portfolio recommendation in December 2024, with changes taking effect in the school year 2025-26.

At the Aug. 27 workshop meeting, Superintendent Wayne will:

1. Revisit Board questions from the June 25, 2024 meeting,
2. Provide a broad overview of the portfolio design process, 
3. Provide a timeline of the announcement and support for schools, and 
4. Engage in discussion and answer questions related to the process for closures, mergers, and co-locations.

Go here for the full reading slidedeck for the Aug. 27 workshop meeting.

Portfolio Planning Process

Using a composite score for each school as a starting point, SFUSD created multiple draft scenarios for a new portfolio of schools. The composite scores were calculated based on three criteria for each school (50% equity, 25% excellence, and 25% effective use of resources) developed from community input. SFUSD has partnered with Dr. Alvin Pearman, the state’s leading researcher on equitable school closures, to provide an independent, objective analysis of the draft scenarios to evaluate the equity of school closures, mergers, or co-locations. SFUSD is using the equity results to achieve a new portfolio that considers historical inequities and mitigates disproportionate negative impacts on any community or group. Based on the equity and environmental evaluation results, a single scenario will be finalized and shared in September. 

“We are putting the highest level of care and sensitivity into this process, and SFUSD is one of the only school districts in the country to name equity as a key factor when changing its school portfolio,” Superintendent Wayne said. “We know this process will be difficult, but we need to stay focused on creating a district set up for long-term stability where all schools are fully enrolled, fully resourced, and provide every student with a strong and supportive learning environment.”

As one element of support for families whose schools are closing, the Enrollment Center plans to provide a tiebreaker in the student assignment system to families displaced by closures to other schools of their choice. This step is aligned with the California Attorney General’s guidance on closing schools. At the Aug. 27 Board meeting, the Board of Education will hold a first reading of a Resolution providing a tiebreaker for students whose schools will be closed or merged. 

• The tiebreaker will rank after siblings for all grade levels and programs.
• This tiebreaker will apply for assignments in the 25-26 school year only since a new enrollment policy is scheduled to take effect for the 26-27 school year.

Best Practices

SFUSD’s process of creating a new portfolio of schools draws from research and lessons from districts around the country. SFUSD interviewed leaders in other districts who have had similar challenges to learn from their successes and failures. SFUSD also consulted existing research and legal guidance from the California Department of Education, the California Attorney General, and Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) to ensure the Resource Alignment Initiative uses best practices and satisfies legal requirements. Additionally, SFUSD has engaged in its most extensive community engagement campaign in recent memory as part of its guardrail around effective decision-making to ensure meaningful consultation from those who will be affected by major decisions. 

Background Information

The Aug. 27 meeting is the next public update to the Board of Education of SFUSD’s plans for school closures, mergers, or co-locations since June 25. At the June 25 Board meeting, SFUSD presented highlights of community engagement from March through May 2024; reviewed the school portfolio design process and timeline; and shared the criteria that identified a starting point for portfolio development and metrics for the third-party Equity Audit. These all will inform the recommendation for a new school portfolio that will be shared in September. 

Creating a new portfolio of schools is one focus area of the district’s Resource Alignment Initiative, which was launched in August 2023 and includes five components: 1) creating a new school staffing model, 2) reorganizing the central office, 3) exploring generating revenue from properties, 4) investing in priority district-wide programs, and 5) creating a new portfolio of schools. In part, the initiative aims to address the following persistent challenges that prevent SFUSD from providing equitable student experiences at every school:

• SFUSD has experienced a steady decline in enrollment since 1999. Since the 2017-18 school year, SFUSD enrollment has decreased by over 4,000 students. Demographic trends, such as declining birth rates, indicate that SFUSD could lose 4,600 additional students by 2032. This decline has occurred without reducing the number of schools in the district, spreading resources thin across school sites. With the current number of schools, SFUSD has the capacity to serve at least 14,000 more students than it has.
• Staffing shortages significantly affect the day-to-day operations of schools. In 2022-23 and at the start of 2023-24, at least 15% of classrooms were staffed by substitute teachers or teachers on special assignment, which is also expected to be the case on the first day of the 2024-25 school year on Aug. 19. As a result, instructional coaches are regularly reassigned to fill teacher vacancies instead of providing crucial guidance and support. Some vacancies are never filled. When SFUSD has fewer classrooms, the district will have a much better chance of ensuring every classroom has a qualified teacher, and every elementary school has an instructional coach. Instructional coaches can then support classroom educators to deliver high-quality, grade-level curricula.
• Teacher collaboration is critical for quality instruction, yet nearly half of SFUSD’s K-5 and K-8 schools have only one teacher per grade level. Thirty-two elementary and K-8 schools have only one teacher per grade or combination classes, while just 39 elementary and K-8 schools have at least two classrooms per grade level. With fully enrolled schools, more teachers will have grade-level peers to plan, collaborate, and learn with.

Visit the RAI website for more information.

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