San Francisco schools react to newly established stabilization team
SFUSD Superintendent Matt Wayne and School Board President Matt Alexander say they welcome help and input from the School Stabilization Team on how to tackle budget issues and school closures.
SAN FRANCISCO – It’s been a rocky start to the school year for students, parents and staff at the troubled San Francisco Unified School District. At a rally and school board meeting on Tuesday many had an opportunity to air their frustrations.
Tuesday’s meeting dealt with a major budget crisis and looming school closures. Groups and families in the district are asking for their voices to be heard going forward as the district looks to balance the budget and decide which schools to close or consolidate.
San Francisco schools are looking to close a $400 million budget shortfall by 2026 and make tough decisions on which schools in the district will be closed in the coming year.
On Monday, Mayor London Breed provided details about the school stabilization team, department leaders from throughout the San Francisco government lending their expertise to help the school district make and implement those difficult decisions. The mayor stressed that current school Superintendent Matt Wayne is still in charge.
Superintendent Wayne said he welcomes the support. “We have a lot of work to do between now and December,” said Wayne. “Both in terms of what we need to do in terms of school closures. But, just as importantly, the fiscal stabilization plan we need to present to the state to get back on track and make sure we maintain local control.”
The school board held a rare Sunday meeting aimed at kickstarting the budget tightening process and School Board President Matt Alexander said he asked the mayor for help. He says the school stabilization teams met on Tuesday and are already beginning to make progress. “We’re already working with specific ideas that the city folks may may help us with and I’m actually feeling in this moment hopeful. I think we have all these challenges, but it feels like this is our moment,” said Alexander
As of now, there is still no timeline about when the announcement will come about which schools may be closed or consolidated. That decision will likely come some time in the next month.
The school board will have to vote on that issue in December, so the clock is ticking.
KTVU is following the latest developments on this story. We will update this story with the latest information when it becomes available.
