The Facts

SFUSD announced that an anonymous benefactor will fund a new K--8 Mandarin immersion school opening in fall 2027, according to Jill Tucker and Ko Lyn Cheang at The Chronicle. SFUSD will partner with San Francisco State University to build a certified Mandarin and Cantonese teacher pipeline, and has tapped Liana Szeto---founding principal of Alice Fong Yu Alternative School---as special adviser to the project.

The Context

Currently, only three district campuses offer Mandarin immersion and there's a long waitlist. Just 66 kindergarten seats are available at Starr King and José Ortega elementary schools, with two-thirds reserved for proficient speakers, despite 22 percent of SF residents with Chinese heritage. The district also runs Cantonese immersion at four elementary sites and dual-language programs in Spanish and Korean.

This announcement arrives just weeks before a school board vote on Dragon Gate Academy, a parent-led K--8 Mandarin immersion charter school backed by nearly 200 families frustrated by limited district capacity. Amid ongoing budget pressures that have prompted talks of layoffs and school closures, both district-run and charter efforts underscore the urgency to expand high-quality, multilingual public education in San Francisco.