The Facts

SFUSD will ask the Board of Education to approve 42 preliminary layoff notices (“pink slips”) for educators and other staff, according to Jill Tucker at the San Francisco Chronicle. State law effectively forces districts to make these decisions early: certificated layoff notices are tied to a March 15 deadline.

The Context

The layoffs land one week after SFUSD and the teachers union announced a tentative contract deal that includes raises and zero-employee-cost dependent health benefits.

SFUSD’s budget is already constrained by enrollment declines (state funding follows attendance) and ongoing state intervention: the district has been under heightened fiscal oversight since it was moved to “negative” certification in May 2024, per SFUSD’s own fiscal update.

The GrowSF Take

We predicted this outcome: it was inevitable after the district agreed to the teacher's union demands that couldn't be paid for without further cuts like layoffs.

Given declining enrollment, it's entirely reasonable that the district would consolidate schools and lay off staff in order to fund raises for the remaining staff. We just wish all parties involved had agreed to this reality instead of putting 50,000 kids out of school for a week.