The group is now getting ready for round two. November\u2019s contest will pit its three picks against three rivals tapped by the San Francisco teachers union, and a separate slate from the San Francisco Parent Coalition that includes two of GrowSF\u2019s candidates. One other candidate is not part of any slate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The teachers union knows it\u2019s outspent: In its two political<\/a> committees<\/a>, it had about $191,000 in the bank as of the end of June. GrowSF, meanwhile, entered the election season with just over $1 million in the bank<\/a>, as of June 30, the latest date for which filings are available. (The group will spend on a variety of races, however, not just the school board.)<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes down to the slate that we are representing, the distinction is clear,\u201d Curiel said. She said the rallying cry \u201cteachers vs. billionaires\u201d has become the union\u2019s slogan this season. \u201cThese are regular everyday people, parents and community workers with a long history in our district.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t The union\u2019s slate is working closely together and campaigning jointly on the weekends. So are the Parents Coalition picks: Kim, Alida Fisher, and Autumn Brown Garibay have posed<\/a> together at events, and the Parents Coalition have posters featuring all three.<\/p>\n The GrowSF slate, less so \u2014 at least one candidate said she is not aligned \u201cwith a particular political slate,\u201d and there is no indication the group\u2019s picks have any joint messaging.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, the group will spend heavily to jointly promote its three picks, and the race is a priority. \u201cIt comes down to how important public education is for a healthy and prosperous and thriving society,\u201d said Steven Buss Bacio, the group\u2019s co-director. He told Mission Local that his group\u2019s outlay for November would be even more than the $220,000 it spent for June.\u00a0<\/p>\n GrowSF, a balanced budget and \u2018excellent\u2019 schools<\/p>\n GrowSF has endorsed three candidates from a pool of eight running this November:\u00a0<\/p>\n Phil Kim<\/a>, the incumbent school board president and a deputy director at the San Francisco Agency for Human Rights, who was appointed to the body in 2024 and won his first election<\/a> in June with the help of $239,000<\/a> from GrowSF and the San Francisco Parents Coalition;<\/p>\n Autumn Brown Garibay, a senior customer success manager at Sprout Social;<\/p>\n Tim Tung, a public finance and research analyst who is also the brother of Assistant District Attorney Nancy Tung, a former DA candidate and the chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party.\u00a0<\/p>\n The slate of candidates is also endorsed by Mayor Daniel Lurie<\/a>, who threw his support behind many of the candidates GrowSF is supporting in other races<\/a>, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bacio said the group\u2019s candidates reflect the organization\u2019s focus on getting the school district \u201cback on track\u201d \u2014 a balanced budget after years of deficits<\/a>, which have led to more than $100 million<\/a> in planned cuts<\/a>; supporting students learning to read and learning math; and \u201cexcellent\u201d public schools that can compete with private ones. About 30 percent<\/a> of San Francisco children go to private schools, the highest rate in the state and one of the highest in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve let too many kids fall behind because we\u2019ve taken our eye off the ball in the school district,\u201d Bacio said. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s where the board of education is so important.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n GrowSF has become the most active of several well-funded pressure groups<\/a> to emerge in post-pandemic San Francisco. It is involved in picking winners in races big and small across the city and benefits from large checks<\/a>.<\/p>\n The group cited<\/a> Kim\u2019s role in evaluating the superintendent on fiscal stability, Garibay helping San Francisco Unified School District parents navigate the enrollment system<\/a> and Tung\u2019s experience as an auditor, currently serving on the city\u2019s bond committee. The three together, Bacio said, were the most \u201cforward-thinking.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The eighth-grade algebra stance, in particular, became a lightning rod in school board politics \u2014 GrowSF and many others now use it as a litmus test. \u201cFor the last decade, it\u2019s been illegal at our public schools to teach kids algebra before ninth grade,\u201d Bacio said. \u201cIt, to me, borders on criminal negligence.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The group\u2019s voter guide<\/a> puts it succinctly: Kim, Garibay and Tung are \u201ca dream team: an educator who put algebra back in 8th grade, a parent who caught the district promising one thing and planning another, and an auditor who balanced city budgets through the 2008 crash.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But at least one candidate eschews the slate structure. Garibay\u2019s campaign spokesperson said she is running for a host of reasons, but \u201cnot because she was recruited into or aligned herself with a particular political slate.\u201d<\/p>\n The three do not appear to be coordinating messaging or running a joint campaign, despite the joint financial backing.<\/p>\n Parent Coalition overlaps mostly, but not fully, with GrowSF<\/p>\n SF Parents Action, the advocacy arm of the Parent Coalition, first announced its endorsements in June and shares most with GrowSF: Both groups back Kim and Garibay.<\/p>\n But the advocacy group, which was formed during the pandemic and played an active role in the 2022 school board recalls, opted for Alida Fisher over Tung. Fisher, the executive director at the Community Alliance for Special Education, sits on the school board now and is seeking re-election.\u00a0<\/p>\n The group said that it \u201cdid not endorse Alida [Fisher] in 2022, and we have not always agreed on every issue. But over the last four years, Commissioner Fisher has consistently demonstrated a commitment to putting students first.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It is unclear how much money the advocacy group will put into the November race, but its PAC had about $24,000 on hand<\/a> as of June 30. During the June race, the group backed Kim with some $14,000. <\/p>\n Meredith Dodson, the head of SF Parents Action, said it is getting creative \u2014 knocking doors, writing postcards and talking to other parents at soccer games.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re one of the smallest fish in a pretty big pond of political players in San Francisco, and we try to do as much as we can with limited resources,\u201d Dodson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Teacher\u2019s union, student equity and not wasting a cent<\/p>\n The United Educators of San Francisco has endorsed a completely different slate:\u00a0<\/p>\n Virginia Cheung, the chief advancement officer of Open Door Legal<\/a> and a public school parent who finished with almost 76,000 fewer votes than Kim in the June school board race;<\/p>\n Ryan Hazelton, the executive director of Mariposa Kids, a nonprofit for play-based programs for young kids;<\/p>\n Reina Tello, a grassroots organizer at PODER<\/a>, whose main focuses are environmental and economic justice\u00a0<\/p>\n The union knows it can\u2019t match GrowSF\u2019s spending. The union spent $109,000<\/a> on Cheung during the June race, only to see her get the No. 2 spot with 27 percent<\/a>. Curiel did not say how much money the union would spend this time around.<\/p>\n It has already paid out $45,000<\/a> to print mailers for its candidates, and in a recent newsletter<\/a>, asked members to chip in \u2014 between $5 and $25 \u2014 to its political fund. Its political cash comes entirely from member dues, but Curiel said the union will coordinate with other labor unions, including the state and national teachers\u2019 unions, to raise more money.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hazelton, for his part, said the lack of significant funding is causing the union\u2019s slate to work closely together. Saturdays are full of merchant walks, putting up the slate\u2019s signs on storefronts, and the three are knocking on doors together to spread the word, alongside several dozen volunteers.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the spending is daunting. \u201cThis really discourages grassroots candidates,\u201d said Tello, who said she is not wasting a cent. \u201cIt deters me from running. You know, I\u2019m a grassroots candidate. I\u2019m a low-income working mom.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In making its choices, the teachers strike<\/a> \u2014 the city\u2019s first since 1979 \u2014 was top of mind: Curiel said the union endorsed candidates who supported its members during the walkout.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hazelton, she said, defended the strike against claims that it was driving the district to crisis; Cheung worked with families at school sites and walked the picket line; and Tello said she had met with the union almost a year before through her job and then started preparing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAll three of them really did put their money where their mouth was, or maybe it\u2019s better to say they walked the talk,\u201d Curiel said. She said that Kim did not support the teachers during the strike in a way the union wanted.<\/p>\n Nor, Curiel said, did Fisher: Though the union endorsed her in 2022, when she first ran,<\/a> Fisher did not publicly support the strike and Curiel said that cost her the union\u2019s pick this time around.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Grid](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/schoolboard-desktop-2.jpg\"\/)
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