Autumn Brown Garibay

• Office: Board of Education
• Election Date: November 3, 2026
• Candidate: Autumn Brown Garibay
• Due Date: July 1, 2026
• Printable Version

Thank you for seeking GrowSF's endorsement for the November 3, 2026 election! GrowSF believes in a growing, beautiful, vibrant, healthy, safe, and prosperous city delivered via common sense solutions and effective government. Our work includes running public opinion polls to understand what voters want, advocating for those changes, and ensuring that the SF government represents the people.

The GrowSF endorsement committee will review all completed questionnaires and seek consensus on which candidates best align with our vision for San Francisco.

This questionnaire will be published on growsf.org, and so we hope that you use this opportunity to communicate with voters.

Please complete this questionnaire by July 1, 2026 so we have enough time to adequately review and discuss your answers.

Note: This questionnaire will use the initialism “SFUSD” when referring to the San Francisco Unified School District.

• Your Goals
• Executive Leadership
• The Issues
• Personal
• Thank you

Your Goals

We’d like to get some details about your high-level goals and how you intend to use your elected office to achieve them.

What do you believe is your most relevant experience, perspective(s), or idea(s) that makes you uniquely qualified to be an effective Board Member? How do you intend to use that experience to build a stronger district?

My most relevant experience is that I have spent years doing the work of helping families navigate SFUSD and raising kids in San Francisco.

I am a public school parent of three, a former PTA president (still serving on our executive team), and a longtime volunteer and advocate in my school community - and across the city. Through that work, I have seen how district decisions show up in real life for students, families, educators, and administrators. I have helped families understand our enrollment process, aftercare, special education, school communications, staffing changes, and fundraising gaps.

My perspective matters because the Board’s work is not only about setting policy. It is about making sure policies are clear, actionable, and connected to what students actually experience in schools. Families should not need insider knowledge to understand how the district works, and school communities should not be left guessing about budgets, staffing, programs, or expectations.

I also believe we have to be honest about the unevenness families experience across the district. In a city that believes in public education, families should not feel like only some schools are the “good” options. Every school should have the support, staffing, leadership, and instruction students need to thrive. That is the standard we should be working toward in every neighborhood.

My goal on the Board would be to help create the conditions where every child can thrive at their school, educators have the support and trust they need to do their jobs well, and families can believe that the district is working with them, not around them.

Will the power of the office of the Board of Education be enough to achieve these goals?

Yes, if the Board uses its power the right way.

The Board should not be running the day-to-day work of the district. That is the superintendent’s job. But the Board does have real power because it sets goals, approves the budget, adopts policy, hires and evaluates the superintendent, and asks whether the district is actually making progress for students.

To do that well, Board Members need to understand how SFUSD works beyond the meeting agenda. They need to know how decisions show up at school sites, where families get confused, where staff are stretched, and where district plans are not matching what schools actually need.

For me, accountability is not just calling something out after it goes wrong. It is asking better questions earlier. The district has said that literacy is a priority, where does that show up in the budget? In school site plans? In staffing? In professional development? In what families can actually see change for their children? How are educators getting the support they need to deliver on these plans?

I believe the office has enough power to move SFUSD in the right direction, but only if Board Members stay focused. The Board’s job is to set clear expectations, listen to the people closest to the work, and hold the superintendent accountable for follow-through.

What is an existing Board of Education policy you would like to reform?

I would like to look at Board Rule and Procedure 9323, which covers meeting conduct and public participation. The Board proposed revisions to this rule in September 2025, and I would want to continue that work with a focus on making public participation easier to understand and access.

Public comment matters. It is one of the few ways families, educators, students, and community members can speak directly to the Board. But I have also seen how hard it is for many people to participate. Not everyone can get to 555 Franklin on a Tuesday night, wait through a long meeting, or know exactly when and how to submit a speaker card.

I would like to make the process easier to understand and easier to access, while protecting the public’s right to speak. That could mean clearer instructions, stronger and more predictable language access, earlier outreach before big decisions, and more ways for families to share input if they cannot attend in person. We have to think differently about how the district hears from its largest stakeholders: families, students, and educators.

My goal here is simple: the Board should hear from more of the SFUSD community, not only from the people who already know how to show up.

What is an "out there" change that you would make to state/local government policy, if you could? For the purpose of this question, you are not constrained to the office of the Board of Education.

An “out there” change I would love to see is a California lifetime learning guarantee.

I do not think more education after high school should be treated like something you get one shot at when you are 18. People change careers. Parents return to work. Industries adapt. New technology changes what workers need to know how to do. But I have noticed that the cost of going back to school, earning a certificate, or getting job training keeps people stuck.

This is personal to me. I am paying off my own educational debt, and I have watched my dad, who was the first in our family to go to college, continue paying student loans into his 70s. That should not be normal. Education should open doors, not follow families around as debt for decades.

This also matters for public schools. If we want strong schools, people need to be able to become teachers, paraeducators, counselors, social workers, nurses, and school leaders without being buried in debt before they even begin. Student debt makes it harder for people to choose public service careers, especially in a state as expensive as California.

Public education should not end at high school graduation. It should be something we can return to throughout our lives, so families can build stability, workers can keep up with change, and more people can afford to serve in the jobs our communities depend on.

Executive Leadership

Please describe your experience running or governing large organizations, managing teams (including hiring, firing, and performance management), driving cultural change and clear communication throughout all levels, effective financial management (budgets, reporting, audit, etc.), and any other relevant experience.

My professional background is in customer success and marketing technology. I work with large organizations to understand what they need, help them use complex platforms well, and make sure the work is delivering value.

Over the last decade, I have managed enterprise relationships, negotiated contracts, supported renewals and growth, improved reporting processes, mentored team members, and managed direct reports, including performance management and performance improvement plans. A lot of that work comes down to clear communication, good follow-through, and knowing how to work with people when priorities are complicated.

I have not run an organization the size of SFUSD, but I understand the Board’s role is governance, not day-to-day management. As a Board Member, I would bring experience asking practical questions, looking at data, understanding tradeoffs, and holding leadership accountable for whether decisions are improving outcomes for students.

One of the most critical roles for the Board of Education is to hire/fire, evaluate, and hold accountable the Superintendent of Schools. Please describe your experience working with an executive leader to hold them accountable.

Note: Please remember that this questionnaire will be public, so do not include any personally identifiable information.

In my professional work, I have often had to manage up to executive leaders to advocate for what customers need and what the business requires.

That means clearly explaining the issue, connecting it to business goals, using data or customer feedback to show the impact, and making a recommendation about what should happen next. In those conversations, I have had to be direct, prepared, and focused on outcomes, especially when the decision affected customer retention, revenue, or trust.

That experience is relevant to the Board’s role with the Superintendent. Holding an executive leader accountable requires clear expectations, honest information, and the ability to ask direct questions without making the work personal. It also means following up: if a goal is set, the Board needs to know whether progress is happening, what is getting in the way, and what needs to change.

As a Board Member, I would approach superintendent accountability with that same discipline: clear goals, clear evidence, direct communication, and a focus on whether the district is improving outcomes for students.

In general, how do you approach making difficult decisions that you deem necessary even if unpopular? Please share a relevant example, if applicable.

I try to make hard decisions by being honest about the tradeoffs and clear about why a decision is being made.

In one role, my team was being asked to take on more work than we could do well by the deadline. Instead of pretending we could do all of it, I stepped back and helped reprioritize the work. I recommended breaking the project into two phases, with a clear plan for what would happen first and what would follow.

That was not an easy message for me to deliver. The client was frustrated, and I had to explain the business case to my leadership. But being honest about the limits of time and capacity helped us build a better plan. We communicated clearly, delivered the first phase, and followed through on the rest of the work.

That experience shaped how I think about difficult decisions. You cannot always make everyone happy, but you can be honest, clear, and accountable for the decision you make.

The Issues

Next, we will cover the issues that voters tell us they care about. We hope to gain a better understanding of your policy positions, and we hope that you use this opportunity to communicate with voters.

SFUSD remains under fiscal oversight by the California Department of Education (CDE), and continues to experience an ongoing structural deficit. What do you believe is most critical in stabilizing the district’s financial and operational challenges in the short and long term?

SFUSD has made progress toward fiscal stability, but we still have a lot of work to do. The most important thing now is to stay focused and not return to the same habits that created the problem.

In the short term, that means strong budget controls, accurate staffing and position management, and clear communication to school-sites and families about tradeoffs. In the long term, SFUSD needs a budget that matches the size of the district we actually have, while still protecting classrooms and the students with the greatest needs.

As a Board Member, I would keep asking whether spending is sustainable, whether it is connected to improving student outcomes, and which students and school communities are most affected by those decisions.

SFUSD is off track in meeting student outcome goals. Our reading and math proficiency rates are among the lowest in California. What should our outcome goals be in the short and long term? What do you believe is required to ensure SFUSD improves student outcomes, and what would you do as Board Member to champion closing the achievement gap?

SFUSD’s student outcome goals are already clearly defined: improving 3rd grade literacy, 8th grade math, and college and career readiness. I believe those are the right areas of focus.

The challenge is making sure those goals are connected to what is actually happening at school sites. In my preliminary review of school site plans, I am not seeing a clear line of sight between SFUSD’s district-wide goals and the SPSAs schools are being asked to develop. That concerns me because if the Board sets goals, those goals need to show up in school site plans, budgets, staffing, professional development, curriculum decisions, and classroom practice.

This is not about blaming individual schools. It is about making sure the district has built a system where schools are supported and resourced to move in the same direction. If we looked across all of our SPSAs, they should add up to the progress SFUSD says it wants to make. If they do not, the Board should be asking why.

Closing the achievement gap will require strong core instruction, targeted support for students who are behind, stable staffing, better use of data, and real support for educators. It also requires honesty about what is working and what is not.

As a Board Member, I would keep student outcomes at the center of budget and policy decisions, ask clear questions about implementation, and push for stronger alignment between district goals, school site plans, and what students experience in classrooms.

Safety and violence prevention remains a top priority for families. As a Board Member, what do you believe is necessary to improve school safety so students are ready to learn?

Every family deserves to know their child is safe, cared for, and able to learn during the school day. When families raise safety concerns, the district needs to take them seriously and respond clearly.

Improving school safety means clear expectations for behavior, consistent follow-through when harm happens or classrooms are disrupted, and making sure the adults already assigned to a school have the training and support to respond effectively.

It also means investing in prevention where we can, including counselors, social workers, restorative practices, and wellness supports that help address problems before they escalate.

As a Board Member, my role would be to make sure the superintendent has a clear, practical plan for school safety, that families understand how concerns are handled, and that the district is tracking whether its approach is working or contributing to meaningful improvements.

SFUSD continues to face a teacher shortage, especially in special education, STEM, and bilingual programs. What concrete steps do you recommend the Superintendent, with support from the Board, take to recruit and retain great educators?

We’re not going to solve the educator shortage with one big idea. It’s a set of very practical problems that SFUSD has to get right, consistently.

First, we have to stop losing people because of things we can control. That means paying educators correctly and on time, making hiring faster and easier to navigate for candidates, and giving schools clear, early information about staffing so principals aren’t scrambling at the last minute. Those sound basic, but when the workplace is not working for educators, people leave.

Second, we need to be more intentional about how we fill the hardest-to-staff roles. We know this is especially true in special education, STEM, and bilingual education. SFUSD already has several pathways, like the paraeducator pathway. The question is whether they’re actually helping people move into these shortage areas, and whether candidates have the support they need to finish their credentials.

Third, retention has to be treated as seriously as recruitment. Pay matters, especially in San Francisco, but so do working conditions. Educators need stable leadership, manageable workloads, useful professional development, and real time to plan and collaborate with their peers. If those aren’t in place, talented educators will move on to places where they can find the support that they need to grow in their careers.

As a Board Member, I would focus on making sure we’re tracking the right things: vacancies, hiring timelines, and turnover. Using this information to hold the system accountable for improving year over year will help us to make meaningful progress.

One reason for the budget deficit is declining enrollment. Approximately 30% of children attend private schools, and that percentage is growing. Each student not in SFUSD takes away nearly $15,000 in State funding. What are the top 3 things you believe SFUSD leadership must do to make SFUSD more attractive to prospective students and parents? In your role as Board Member, how will you advocate for these things?

SFUSD has to make it easier for families to say yes to public school.

1. Strong schools families can count on.
Families want to know their child will be safe, supported, and challenged. That means strong principals, stable staffing, good communication, and classrooms where kids are learning. Families should not feel like they have to research for months or get lucky in the lottery to find a good school.

SFUSD also needs to do a better job telling the story of what is already working in our schools. There are incredible programs across the district that many families do not even know about. We should be clearer about what makes those programs strong, why they matter for students, and how families can access them.

2. A district that is easier to navigate.
Enrollment, aftercare, special education, and middle school transitions are too hard to understand. Families should not need insider knowledge or an online parent group to explain how basic systems work. Families end up at a school and then don't know whether aftercare or the supports their kid needs will be there.

3. Real follow-through.
Families can handle honesty, but trust breaks down when plans keep changing, communication is unclear, or district goals do not seem connected to what is happening at school sites. If reading and math are priorities, families should be able to see what is changing in classrooms, staffing, budgets, and school site plans. Families should be able to see how their own child's growth connects to what the school is trying to accomplish for every student.

As a Board Member, I would keep pushing SFUSD to focus on the basics: strong schools, clear systems, and follow-through families can see. That is what will make more families choose SFUSD and stay.

How can SFUSD improve data transparency and performance reporting, particularly around student achievement, attendance, and spending?

SFUSD needs to make its data easier for regular people to understand and use.

Families should not have to read a 90-page report or know district vocabulary to understand how students are doing. We should be able to see, in plain language, whether students are learning and making progress, whether students are showing up to school, and whether money is being spent in ways that match the district’s stated priorities.

I would also like to see information shared at a more granular level, so families can understand how their own school is doing over time, while still seeing the bigger picture across the district. School communities should be able to see what is improving, where students need more support, and how their school compares to district-wide goals.

That does not mean watering the information down. Some people want the spreadsheet. Some people want to see the school-by-school numbers, student group data, funding sources, and trends over time. That level of detail should be available.

But most families also need a clear summary: what changed, why it matters, what the district is doing about it, and how we will know if it is working.

These issues are complicated, but that is exactly why SFUSD has to communicate better. Clear, consistent reporting would help families, educators, and the public understand the work, ask better questions, and rebuild trust in the district.

What examples of effective leadership from SF, or other California school districts, would you emulate in SFUSD? Please be specific with your examples of their leadership and impact.

I am curious about what other large California districts are trying, especially when they are further along in work that SFUSD is also trying to do.

Long Beach Unified stands out to me because of its focus on Student Outcomes Focused Governance. SFUSD has already started this work through our Goals and Guardrails, and I want to see us keep making it real.

The Board should not be managing staff or directing day-to-day work. But if these are the goals we say matter most, then we should be able to see how they are guiding the work of the district and whether that work is leading to real progress for kids.

San Diego Unified is another district I am watching. Recent performance data showed San Diego leading other large urban districts in California in areas like English language arts, graduation rate, and college and career readiness. I am interested in what we can learn from their focus on academics, student support, and community schools, while also being honest that no district has everything figured out.

I am also looking for districts doing meaningful work for multilingual learners, especially students who enter our schools not yet proficient in English. This is a group of students I care deeply about, and I want SFUSD to prioritize them more clearly. Reclassification matters, but it is not the whole story. We should also be asking whether students are learning English, accessing grade-level work, staying connected to their classmates, and getting the instruction and support they need to thrive.

San Francisco has its own strengths and challenges, so the goal is not to copy another district. But we should be curious about what is working elsewhere, learn from it, and adapt strong ideas for our students and schools.

Personal

Tell us a bit about yourself!

Do/Did you have children in SFUSD? If so, what have you learned about SFUSD that other parents would benefit from? If not, why not?

Yes. I have three children in SFUSD. My youngest is starting TK to join my middle child at Flynn Elementary, and my oldest is entering middle school at James Lick.

What I have learned is that SFUSD has extraordinary people and programs, but families often need too much insider knowledge to navigate the system. I have seen how much strong principals, educators, school staff, and family communities can do for students. I have also seen how confusing it can be for parents to understand enrollment, special education, aftercare, school budgets, staffing changes, and what supports are actually available at their school.

The biggest lesson I would share with other parents is that you should not have to figure it all out alone. Ask questions. Talk to other families. Get involved at your school in whatever way is realistic for your life. And when something does not make sense, it is okay to ask why.

That lesson also shapes how I would serve on the Board. A strong district should not depend on parents having the time, stronger language access, or personal connections to understand how things work. SFUSD needs to be more transparent, more consistent, and easier for families to navigate, while still supporting the unique needs of each school community.

As a parent, I know how much families want to believe in their public schools. As a Board Member, I would work to make sure SFUSD earns that trust through clear communication, reliable systems, and decisions that are connected to what students need.

Did you attend SFUSD or public primary schools in other cities? How do our schools differ from when you were a student?

I did not attend SFUSD, but I grew up in both Southern and Northern California and attended both private and public schools. That experience shaped a lot of how I think about education, access, and whether schools are truly meeting students where they are.

My younger brother had ADHD, and growing up, I watched him get pushed out of private schools that did not understand him or have the supports in place to help him succeed. Too often, the response was to treat him (and others like him) as the problem instead of asking what the adults and the system needed to do differently. That experience has stayed with me. No one in our public schools even offered additional supports, even knowing his diagnosis. It is part of why I care so deeply about helping families advocate for children who need IEPs, specialized supports, and school communities that see their strengths instead of only their challenges.

My own school experience also taught me something important about access. When I was a sophomore in high school, I realized that some of my friends in public school were learning things that were not being offered in my classes. I felt like I was being left behind, so I asked my parents to support me in transferring to public school for the rest of high school so I could be better prepared for college.

What feels different now is that families have more language for learning differences, inclusion, and student supports, but too many families are still fighting to get what their children need. Many of us know more than we did when I was a student, but knowledge alone is not enough. Schools need the staffing, training, systems, and accountability to turn that knowledge into real support for students.

That is one of the reasons I am running. Every child deserves access to strong instruction, real support, and adults who believe they can succeed. Families should not have to fight to get what they deserve for their children.

How long have you lived in San Francisco? What brought you here and what keeps you here?

I have lived in San Francisco for 15 years. My husband and I moved here because it was a long-held dream. We wanted to build our life in a city that felt connected, walkable, and full of history and culture.

As a kid I dreamed of living in a San Francisco Victorian. And when I visited Chico in middle school and saw people walking and biking to work and school, I realized that was the kind of community I wanted to live in someday.

San Francisco became that place. I love living in the Mission. I love being able to walk, bike, and take public transit to get around. I love knowing my neighbors and running into families from school. Raising kids here has made me love this city even more. My children are growing up somewhere they can walk to school, take incredible field trips, and learn alongside kids from many different backgrounds. When I ask them what they love about living here, they talk about their community and the sense that their neighbors know them and look out for them.

San Francisco feels more like a small town than the small town I grew up in. What keeps me here is that sense of connection: to my neighbors, to our schools, and to the belief that this is a city worth investing in for the families growing up here now.

What do you love most about San Francisco?

I love how different each neighborhood feels, and how deeply people are connected to the places they call home. The Mission, the Sunset, Bayview, Chinatown, the Richmond, Excelsior, Bernal, Visitacion Valley, Noe Valley, and so many others each have their own history, culture, rhythms, and community pride.

I love that people here do not just live in San Francisco generally. They belong to neighborhoods. They know their corner stores, parks, schools, bus lines, murals, restaurants, block parties, and neighbors. There is a sense of place here that feels really special.

What do you dislike the most about San Francisco?

What I dislike most about San Francisco is how hard it has become for families to afford to stay here.

I love raising my children in this city, but I also know how difficult it is for many families to make it work. Rents are high, homeownership feels out of reach for too many people, childcare is expensive, and the overall cost of raising kids here can be overwhelming.

That affects our schools, too. When families leave San Francisco because they cannot afford to stay, our school communities lose students, relationships, volunteers, educators, and long-term stability. Affordability is not just a housing issue. It is also a public school issue and a family issue.

What I dislike is that so many families who love this city are forced to ask whether they can build a future here. I want San Francisco to be a place where working families, educators, and children can stay and thrive.

Tell us about your current involvement in the community (e.g., volunteer groups, neighborhood associations, civic and professional organizations, etc.).

My community involvement is centered on public schools, family engagement, and helping families navigate the systems that affect their children.

At Flynn Elementary, I have served as PTA President and now serve as Executive Vice President. In those roles, I have supported school tours, family events, fundraising, volunteer coordination, teacher appreciation, and school communications. I have also helped families navigate enrollment, aftercare, special education questions, school transitions, and district processes.

My work at Flynn also led me to working closely with SF Parents, an organization that formed when schools were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. I was able to learn from other parent advocates, served on the Parent Leadership Council, and also participated in their Board of Education Bootcamp.

I also lead Main Street Mamas, a large San Francisco parent support community online. That role gives me a broader view of what families across the city are trying to understand and solve, including childcare, school enrollment, neighborhood safety, special education, and the cost of raising kids in San Francisco.

I have also been involved in neighborhood advocacy around safe routes to school and pedestrian safety near Flynn and Precita Park.

Across these roles, my work is practical and relationship-based: helping families find information, encouraging people to participate, and making sure parents know they have a voice in decisions that affect their children.

Why do you want to run for public office?

I am running because I believe in SFUSD and I believe our district can work better for all kids and families.

As a public school parent, I have seen what is possible when a school feels stable, supported, and connected to its community. I have also seen how hard it can be for families when communication is unclear, systems are confusing, or support depends too much on knowing who to ask.

I want to help build a district that families can count on: one where students are learning, educators are supported, and decisions are clear and connected to what kids need.

The kids in our schools right now cannot wait. I am running because I want to help SFUSD become the reliable, transparent, student-focused district our families need it to be.

I want to be part of the group that finally holds SFUSD to its own promises.

Thank you

Thank you for giving us your time and answering our questionnaire. We look forward to reading your answers and considering your candidacy!