San Francisco parents and school staff are sounding the alarm over new budget proposals from the San Francisco Unified School District, warning they could trigger wide-ranging job losses and even school closures as soon as next year. The district is finalizing a Fiscal Stabilization Plan to plug a multi-year shortfall, and the process has packed recent Board of Education meetings with anxious public comment. Families and educators say that cutting counselors, social workers and bus routes would fall hardest on students who rely on those services the most.
Parents have voiced growing fears that the district’s plan will ultimately lean on layoffs and school consolidations, according to KTVU. In a live segment posted early Wednesday, the station summed up the worries aired at recent board meetings and noted that district leaders say they are working to shrink a sizable budget gap.
Which Jobs And Programs Are On The Chopping Block
The district’s staffing proposal would eliminate 45 of its 99 school-site social workers and carry out layoffs at both campuses and central offices, according to The San Francisco Standard. The outlet reports that the same plan outlines cuts that could remove 56 classroom teachers, 51 security guards, 18 assistant principals and 15 counselors, with those layoffs projected to save about $25.6 million toward an estimated $103 million shortfall. The proposal also calls for shrinking bus routes, cutting back central-office operations and changing the school-day schedule, the report notes.
District Seeks To Restore Local Control
District officials say the cuts are part of a longer-running effort to stabilize SFUSD’s finances and exit state oversight. They plan to submit a “qualified” budget while they work toward a positive certification. In its First Interim report, the district projects an unrestricted general-fund shortfall of $51 million in 2025-26, $32 million in 2026-27 and $19 million in 2027-28 if no further adjustments are made, according to SFUSD. “This is the result of disciplined choices and strong financial management,” Superintendent Dr. Maria Su said in the district’s statement.
Parents And Staff Push Back
Dozens of parents, teachers, and social workers have urged the board at recent meetings to slow down and rethink the plan, arguing that the cuts would strip schools of critical bilingual and trauma-informed supports, according to The San Francisco Standard. Social workers described their daily work providing crisis intervention and warned that losing so many positions would undercut students’ well-being. Community groups also cautioned the board that school consolidations could reopen old wounds from an earlier round of closures that plunged the district into turmoil.
What's Next
SFUSD has already presented interim budget updates and an updated Fiscal Stabilization Plan at board meetings this month and says it will keep refining its multi-year approach ahead of final adoption in June. Earlier this year, the district detailed steps to reduce $114 million through central-office cuts and early-retirement offers, according to ABC7. Schools are set to receive their budget allocations in January as planning continues, per SFUSD.
Families leaving recent meetings have demanded clearer answers about what exactly will be cut and where, and told district leaders they plan to stay engaged through public comment and advocacy, as KTVU reported. With budget deadlines and labor bargaining still ahead, the next few months will determine how deep the cuts go and whether any San Francisco schools end up consolidated.
