SFUSD School Closures NOT a Money Saver
SFUSD in recent years has had a decline in public school attendance and thus suffering budget cuts from the state. This has ultimately led them to propose the closure of several of its public schools in an effort to increase the quality of education and “make do with what they have.” They have called the closures and merges as Resource Alignment Initiative to provide better education while also saving money. In the most recent District Advisory Council meeting, it was revealed, “The monetary savings are not projected to be significant, especially in the short-term, and this is not the driving motivation for this move; there is presently no estimate or goal of how much monetary savings will be derived from closures/mergers/consolidation.”
The school board forgot to mention the one statistic that may matter the most: “About 38 percent of city residents are white, but only 13.7 percent of public school children are.” The kids who end up suffering the most are not just the low-income students that can’t afford to be taken to a private school or drive to farther locations, instead it’s the Black and Brown kids that end up in higher education and wonder why they feel like imposters. This is yet another consequence of Prop 13, this time it’s the state putting pressure on districts to reduce costs on the already suffering public schools.
Photographer: Annika Hom
Will SF public school closures save money? Not much. And not quickly.
By Joe Eskenazi | Mission Local | July 22, 2024