SFUSD - SFist - San Francisco News, Restaurants, Events, & Sports

Outer Sunset Affordable Housing for Teachers Project Swamped With 900 Applications for Just 135 Units

The good news is that the highly anticipated affordable housing complex for SFUSD teachers is just a couple months from allowing its new tenants in. The bad news is that the vast majority of applicants won’t get a place, as applicants outnumber available units by about sixfold.

SFUSD May Lay Off 600 Teachers and Staff In the Next Two Years Under Budget Plan

As the San Francisco Unified School District submits to state oversight amid an ongoing budget crisis, we're now learning that the current plan to close a major deficit may include around 610 layoffs over the next two years.

SFUSD Will Ask Voters to Approve a Nearly $800 Million Bond Measure in November, Largest in City History

The financially troubled San Francisco Unified School District will come asking voters for a bond measure that’s in the neighborhood of nearly a billion dollars in November, the most expensive bond measure ever in SF.

State Monitors Take Partial Oversight of SFUSD Finances, as District Runs Risk of Going Broke

San Francisco Unified School District’s deficit has grown so large that outside state monitors have just been given veto power over the district's spending, which is not a full state takeover, but seems to be setting the stage for school closures.

NAACP Holds Meeting With Black Families About Alleged Racist Incidents at SF Public Schools

There was a meeting Sunday at Third Baptist Church in San Francisco at which several Black parents spoke about racist incidents their children had suffered at SF public schools.

Friday Morning Constitutional: Juul Settlement Money Going to SFUSD

The SF Unified School District is getting a bunch of money from that Juul settlement; an arrest was made in a Wednesday freeway shooting in the East Bay; and Biden's fundraiser with Clinton and Obama in NYC raised $25 million.

Some San Francisco Public Schools Face Closure as Enrollment Plummets

The school district of San Francisco, grappling with declining students and a looming budget deficit, is set to close or consolidate an unspecified number of schools by fall 2025, Superintendent Matt Wayne said.

SFUSD Finally Replacing Their Disastrous, $40 Million Payroll System That Failed to Actually Pay People

A two-year-long SF Unified School District payroll fiasco is still not resolved, so the district has decided to cut ties with the calamity of a payroll system called EMPower, and start over with a whole new vendor.

SF School Board Likely to Switch to Elections By District, Because a Lawsuit Is Forcing Them To

More political drama completely unrelated to education at the SF school board, as some out-of-town attorney had lodged a lawsuit to force school board members to be elected by geographic districts, and SFUSD may have no choice but to comply.

SFUSD Students Staged Walkout Friday Afternoon Over Multiple Gun Incidents, District’s Safety Response

There were three reported gun incidents in one day last month at SFUSD high schools, and today, some students staged a walkout over what they see as the district’s slow-footed response.

Both Oakland and SF School Districts Face Federal Investigations, Allegedly Over Antisemitism

While none of the reasons for the investigation have been made public, the U.S. Department of Education has opened investigations after receiving allegations of antisemitism in both the San Francisco and Oakland unified school districts.

SFUSD Looks Likely to Cut 900 Jobs as District's Deficit Explodes to More Than $400 Million

The good news is that SFUSD is scrapping its wildly ineffective EmPower payroll system. The bad news is that they're also likely to scrap 900 job positions too, but at least it means they probably won’t shut down any schools.

[Update] SF Unified School District Staves Off Strike By Tradespeople

A union representing around 65 district employees responsible for maintaining public school buildings across San Francisco was accusing the district of unfair labor practices and unpaid wages.

SF Teacher Strike Averted, After All-Night Bargaining Session Produces Significant Pay Raise

A San Francisco teacher strike looked likely when 97% of the union voted in favor of a strike just last week, but an all-night session at the bargaining table just produced a new deal with a substantial pay raise.

Hundreds of SF High School Students Stage Walkout In Protest of Israel's Bombing of Gaza

An unknown number of high school students in the San Francisco Unified School District are staging a walkout today in protest of the violence in the Middle East, and saying they demand a ceasefire.

Day Around the Bay: SF Teachers Overwhelmingly Vote in Favor of Going on Strike

Oakland’s oldest kosher bakery is for sale for $1, Haight Street’s counterculture costume shop Distractions is closing permanently, and SF schoolteachers voted to approve a strike by a 97% margin.

SFUSD Has a School In Chinatown With Only 11 Students Enrolled

It seems perhaps not the best use of resources for a district with declining enrollment and a looming financial crisis for the SF Unified School District to operate a school with only 11 students, but that’s the case at Chinatown’s Edwin and Anita Lee Newcomer School.

Drastic Teacher Shortage at Lincoln High as Students Return Today

There are shortages across the SF Unified School District as students return to classroom Wednesday, but few as pronounced as at Lincoln High School, where they're lacking teachers for five academic subjects.

SF Adds New Teacher Housing Projects, One of Which Will Convert Eyesore at 18th and Mission

There are two new housing developments for teachers in the SF housing pipeline, including the highly tagged, dilapidated abandoned property at 18th and Mission Streets.

New Data Shows SF Students Graduating Above State Levels — Which Just Hit Record High

San Francisco Unified School District had a 90% graduation rate this year despite pandemic-related learning challenges, but chronic absenteeism rates have doubled.

Lowell Teachers Pulled Mass Sickout Wednesday Over Still-Ongoing Payroll Fiasco

As many as 90% of Lowell High School teachers, and perhaps a third of the student body, staged a sickout Wednesday over the still-faulty payroll system that is ironically called “EMPower.”

Day Around the Bay: SF Unified Is Spending $2.8 Million on a Consultant to Fix Another Consultant's Error

SF Unified School District is spending $2.8 million on a no-bid contract with a firm trying to solve a major payroll snafu, the man who fell into a woodchipper on the Peninsula has been ID'd, and a new game space opens in Berkeley.

Rare Good News for SFUSD: Enrollment Is 1,000 Students Higher Than Predicted

The San Francisco Unified School District has 1,099 more students enrolled than projected this year, which is cause for celebration (and about $10 million more in state funding), though it’s still about 500 fewer students than they had last year.

With Stunning $97.5 Billion Surplus, Newsom Will Spend Big to Help Beleaguered Schools

Governor Gavin Newsom now has an astonishing amount of surplus money to throw around, and he’s throwing a big chunk to bail out California schools with declining enrollment and awash in red ink.

Everett Middle School Chaos Goes From Bad to Worse, Student Now Hospitalized With Life-Threatening Injuries

A new report details multiple injuries among middle-schoolers at an increasingly violent Everett Middle School, including a 13-year-old “with life-threatening injuries.”