The Facts

SFUSD’s Board of Education approved a revised math policy on March 24, 2026, by a 4-3 vote, restoring Algebra I to all middle and K-8 schools starting in the coming school year. Students can elect to take just Algebra 1 or both standard 8th grade math and Algebra 1 at the same time. Alice Fong Yu and Hoover will pilot an accelerated pathway that compresses 6th, 7th, and 8th grade math into just 6th and 7th grades.

After a 12-year hiatus, the board finally returned SFUSD to sanity.

The Context

SFUSD removed Algebra I from middle school in 2014 as part of a misguided effort that sought to achieve equity by slowing everyone down to the same pathway. A Stanford study later found AP math participation immediately dropped 15%, and large racial gaps in advanced math course-taking remained. By all accounts, this "equity-driven" experiment achieved the very opposite of its goals.

San Franciscans were clear about wanting a reset: 81.75% of voters backed Proposition G in March 2024, urging the district to restore eighth-grade algebra.

The GrowSF Take

Restoring Algebra is the right call, but the 4-3 margin is a reminder that this progress is still politically fragile.

And it could get fragile again fast. Board President Phil Kim is on the June 2, 2026 ballot, and if he loses, a future board could easily backslide on algebra, acceleration, and academic standards. Families should treat this as progress worth defending, not a fight that is over.