Yes on Proposition J
Student Success Fund accountability
What is it?
Proposition J will ensure that the many millions of dollars the city already spends on children and youth services is spent in a coordinated way.
Currently, funds that affect children in San Francisco are managed by a complex network of city departments, including:
- SF Department of Early Childhood
- SF Department of Children, Youth, and their Families (SF DCYF)
- SF Unified School District
- SF Our Children, Our Families Council
- SF Children and Family Recovery Plan Task Force
- SF Child Care Planning and Advisory Council
- SF Human Services Agency
Prop J wil centralize that to a single entity who will conduct a single, centralized, needs assessment to remove duplicate spending and ensure all money spent on children is on programs that have been identified in the needs assessment.
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Click to show fiscal impacts and more detailsCollapse details
Fiscal impacts
It's hard to concretely pin down the fiscal impacts of Prop J. The Controller's report is limited in its analysis because it can only look at current budgeting when factoring in the impacts of Prop J. The Controller's report doesn't take into account the elimination of duplicate and ineffective spending which Prop J would fix.
When considering the full picture of budgeting and potential savings, Prop J will range from saving several tens-of-millions of dollars to costing a few hundreds of thousands.
These savings will come from centralizing the assessment, budgeting, and appropriation of funding for children and youth services. Not only will this prevent duplicate spending by different departments (for example, both SFUSD and the Parks spending for after-school programs), but it will also ensure that the money is spent on programs that have been identified as necessary.
So, despite the Controller estimating $30 to $80 million in extra spending, the real number when factoring in what's likely to happen in future budgeting cycles will result in a savings.
Why is this on the ballot?
This is a City Charter amendment introduced by the Board of Supervisors. Since the Board of Supervisors cannot directly amend the Charter, if they want to change the Charter they must go to the voters. A vote of six or more Supervisors is required to place a Charter Amendment on the ballot, and voters must approve it by a 50% + 1 majority.
- Sponsor: Supervisor Myrna Melgar
- Co-Sponsors: Supervisors Hillary Ronen, Shamann Walton, Catherine Stefani, Ahsha Safai, Matt Dorsey, Joel Engardio, Dean Preston, and Rafael Mandelman
- Placed on ballot by: Unanimously by all Supervisors
Why vote Yes?
Proposition J is a solid, good governance ballot measure that will increase efficiency while improving outcomes for children.
- Streamlines Funding Decisions to a Single Council: Currently, the city has a complex patchwork of departments that manage Children and Youth spending. There are many duplicate programs and wasted funds. Proposition J puts an end to this by creating a council that will run a single needs assessment and create a shared budget.
- Makes funding actually accountable: The Council, in partnership with the Mayor and Board of Supervisors will have the authority to revoke funding if it is not spent as intended.
- Doesn't add new spending, instead it increases oversight on the hundreds of millions currently spent.
The City and the School District spend a lot of money. What would it look like if they actually deployed those resources in an aligned, coherent way? Children and families would be served a lot better.
Phil HalperinCo-Founder, California Education Partners
