SFUSD to Announce 2025-26 School Closures, Mergers, or Co-locations on Sept. 18, 2024
On Wednesday, Sept. 18, SFUSD will announce the schools recommended for closure, merger, or co-location for the 2025-26 school year. The recommendation will not be final until the Board of Education votes at its Dec. 10 regular meeting. We understand that this news is deeply personal and challenging, and we are committed to ensuring the highest level of care and transparency throughout this process.
For Families and Staff at Affected Schools
Families and staff at the affected schools will be notified through email, phone calls, and text messages in our seven main languages (English, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Tagalog, Samoan, and Vietnamese) on the afternoon of Sept. 18. Along with this notification, we will provide resources for parents and guardians on how to discuss these changes with their children, as well as guidance for teachers and staff on engaging with students in processing this news. A detailed transition plan tailored to support students, families, and staff at these schools will also be shared on the same day.
For the Broader SFUSD Community and Public
SFUSD will publish the list of schools on SFUSD.edu and will email all SFUSD families and staff in our seven main languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Tagalog, Samoan, and Vietnamese.
Make sure your contact information is correct! ParentVUE is the best way for families to update their contact information to ensure they receive district and school notifications. Families may visit www.sfusd.edu/parentvue for more resources. Questions? Visit the Family Portal Activation Toolkit. As a reminder, school administration and clerical staff can also update family contact information in Synergy.
Learn More About School Closures, Mergers, and Co-Locations
Focus Area 5 of the Resource Alignment Initiative will establish a new portfolio of schools. This includes necessary but challenging steps such as school closures, mergers, and co-locations, all aimed at creating strong and supportive learning environments for every student, every day.
Updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about school closures, mergers, and co-locations
How will the new portfolio of schools be right for our current reality and our reality over the next decade?
Right now, SFUSD has 14,000 more seats than the number of students we serve.
We aim to minimize that gap while leaving enough room for additional students if the projections for continued enrollment decline don’t happen.
How is SFUSD centering equity in its portfolio design process?
SFUSD designed an equitable process that would lead to equitable outcomes.
This includes robust community engagement, regular proactive and transparent communication, adhering to guidance from the state, including two equity checks, and committing to avoid concentrating closures and mergers in one or two communities. Learn more about the community feedback process.
If mergers and closures won’t save SFUSD money, why are we doing it?
Closing schools will save some money. SFUSD needs to cut over $130 million to balance its budget. Each school closed is expected to save SFUSD about $1 million yearly.
But the goal of school mergers and closures is to use our resources more effectively in order to create stronger and more supportive learning environments for students and teachers.
How much money will the district save from the amount of schools that are closing?
We will know how much money we can save from school closures when the district shares its plans with the public on Sept. 18.
How will SFUSD close its structural deficit?
SFUSD is implementing an aggressive budget stabilization plan to balance its budget.
We have reduced the number of Central Office staff, we are eliminating vacant positions, we are staffing to the teachers’ union contract, and we are reducing costs for materials and supplies, contractors, and conferences, among other actions.
Are there changes to the enrollment process this year?
Yes. SFUSD simplified the enrollment process for families enrolling students for the 2025-26 school year. Changes include:
Eliminating the multiple application rounds and only have one main round application deadline, after which applicants get automatically placed onto waitlists for their top choice schools without re-applying.
Allowing applicants to wait on several schools’ waitlists rather than having to pick just one waitlist choice.
What happens if I enroll my child in a school which is then slated for closure?
If you enroll your child in a school that is then selected for closure, you will have an opportunity to reenroll your child in a new school.
If my child currently attends a school that will close, which school will they attend?
Students who attend a school that is slated for closure will be assigned to a nearby welcoming school. If that assignment is satisfactory, no action is required.
If you would like your child to attend a different school, you will enter the lottery with the advantage of a special tiebreaker, which, if approved by the Board of Education on August 27, will increase your student’s chances of being assigned to the school of your choice.
I thought SFUSD was implementing a new elementary student assignment policy.
We have made the strategic decision to base elementary zones on the new portfolio, where changes will be made in the number of schools and language pathways.
For us to be able to create zones, the school portfolio must be complete; our ability to guarantee students a placement in a zone depends on the schools that will be in that zone.
The development of a new elementary school student assignment system will begin once a new portfolio of schools is finalized in December 2024.
For School Year 2025-26:
We will use the current assignment system with modified attendance areas for elementary schools and continue to develop the elementary school student assignment system.
For School Year 2026-27:
We will switch to the new assignment system for elementary schools, though this will only apply to grades K-5. We do not plan to change TK, MS, or HS assignments.
What is the Resource Alignment Initiative?
The District’s resources are simply stretched too thin, and this is impacting the ability to achieve SFUSD’s ambitious five-year student outcome goals.
The Resource Alignment Initiative is our roadmap for the critical work we must do as a school district to move us toward a future where every student attends a strong school, our educators have the resources and support to excel, and our community grows stronger.
The initiative has five focus areas to address our challenges in multiple ways. None of them alone will help us achieve our goals. Learn more about each focus area below. Under the direction of Superintendent Wayne, the Resource Alignment Initiative is underway and will continue through school year 2025-26.
Watch this short video to learn more about the Resource Alignment Initiative.
Learn more about the five focus areas
Go to Focus Area 5
Guiding Principles
Guiding Principles
Superintendent Wayne has laid out four guiding principles for the RAI recommendations that will be developed this year.:
- Money will follow students. Schools should have predictable services that all students receive based on student enrollment.
- SFUSD will plan to operate at scale based on student enrollment. Schools and classrooms will operate at full capacity to provide the best instruction and learning experience.
- SFUSD will allocate resources to programs aligned with positive student outcomes. Improving student outcomes requires strategic abandonment.
- SFUSD will approach the development of any proposed school portfolio changes with an equity lens to explicitly evaluate disproportionate racial equity impacts. This approach will be consistent with state statutes, best practices, and with an understanding of San Francisco’s history of racial segregation.
(See here for Dr. Wayne’s August 2023 letter to the community, District staff’s RAI presentation, and a video recording of the discussion)
This page was last updated on September 4, 2024