San Francisco’s school board will begin weighing criteria for which of its 121 public schools to close, merge or co-locate in the face of a steady decline in enrollment.
The board of the San Francisco Unified School District will be presented with recommended metrics for their decisions at a June 25 meeting, the district said in a press release Saturday.
The district said its enrollment has decreased by more than 4,000 students since the 2017-18 school year, It expects to lose 4,600 additional students by 2032.
The district is also beset by staffing shortages. In 2022-23 and at the start of 2023-24, at least 15% of classrooms were staffed by substitute teachers or teachers on special assignment, the district said.
In May, Moody’s Investors Service, one of the major credit rating agencies, downgraded the district’s credit rating by one notch, from Aa3 to A1. The district is planning to ask voters to let it borrow $790 million for critical facilities improvements on the Nov. 5 ballot.
The downgrade followed a notice in May from the California Department of Education that revised its certification of the district’s March budget report from “Qualified” to “Negative,” citing the need for improved financial systems.
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