Two days after San Francisco public school teachers voted 99.34 percent to authorize a strike, and Mission Local reported that the district is considering deep cuts that could include layoffs, Superintendent Maria Su announced that the school district is on track to stabilize its budget, and return to local control over its finances.
But that’s only if the school district “continue[s] to make budget cuts for next school year and avoid any significant cost escalations,” Su said.
The district is seeking to make $102 million in cuts for the next school year to plug a $113 million deficit, Su said on Friday. Any cuts will need the approval of the board of education in June before they can be implemented.
The district’s finances have been overseen by the California Department of Education since May 2024 after the San Francisco Unified School District reported a projected $120 million deficit for the upcoming school year. The district has been under threat of a full state takeover of its operations and finances, which would likely lead to school closures and consolidations.
Last budget cycle, the district made millions of dollars in cuts — which, said Su, has paid off.
The district will submit its updated budget to the state this month. Su said that would reverse the status of its last budget from “negative” — meaning that the district will not meet its financial obligations and could face state takeover— to “qualified,” meaning it may meet its budget goals.
“This is the result of disciplined choices and strong financial management,” said Su. “Our fiscal stabilization efforts are working, and we must stay the course to maintain this progress. “
But there’s a looming problem for Su: The teacher’s union is set to strike, and demanding better health care, pay raises and a new model for special education teachers. The union says many of those demands are low-cost.
But the district says otherwise. On Friday morning, SFUSD school board vice president Jaime Huling, said that while the district “values all of our teachers and educators, we cannot give them money we don’t have.”
“This will require all of us to close the remainder of the budget,” Su said. “All of our staff need to come together.”
Frank Lara, Vice President of United Educators of San Francisco said that while the district is considering deep cuts to programming and staffing, the district has proposed that some management positions may receive a 13 percent raise.
“We fundamentally disagree that continued cuts to services to students and rejecting no cost and affordable proposals that will keep educators in SFUSD is sustainable or stabilizing.” The proposed cuts, said Lara, “does not serve our students or build the schools [they] deserve.”