At Tuesday night’s school board meeting, San Francisco Superintendent of Schools Maria Su is seeking approval of a $90,000 contract with a global lawyer search firm to start the process to find a new general counsel. San Francisco taxpayers, the school district, and the board members themselves would be well served if the school district looked to City Hall instead.
Exploring with City Attorney David Chiu the possibility of his office taking over legal representation of the school district for a fee would provide the school district known and trusted legal counsel and strengthen the ties between City Hall and school district headquarters. Two years ago, when the school district faced a crisis regarding then-Superintendent Matt Wayne’s school closure and consolidation plan, the Mayor’s office sent Maria Su, at the time a top City Hall administrator, to the district, removing Wayne.
Rethinking how the school district receives legal advice and carries it out may reduce court appearances and increase public trust. Before entering into a contract for a legal head hunter, the school district should thoroughly explore the City Attorney’s availability.
The City Attorney’s office and the school district general counsel’s office have long enjoyed a close and interdependent relationship. Twenty five years ago, city attorney Louise Renne and her team were instrumental in helping Superintendent Arlene Ackerman ferret out corruption in the school district’s building department. After leaving office, Renne became special counsel to the school district. In the early 2000s, David Campos, still active today as California Democratic Party vice-chair and a former city supervisor, was a deputy city attorney handling the implementation of the school district’s integration plan and subsequently served as district general counsel from 2004-2007.
The need for close collaboration between City Hall and the school district is greater today than at almost any time previously. Mayor Daniel Lurie has recognized the growing role that a stable and well functioning school district has on his priorities to attract families and businesses to San Francisco and retain them. Popular with San Francisco voters, City Attorney Chiu was elected to a second term in 2024 with 83% of the vote. His team already provides critical strategic and legal services to the school district including helping Superintendent Su prepare testimony and answer questions at a Congressional hearing in June as well as represent the school district in court challenging Trump Administration actions that would deprive the school district of certain federal funding.
In recent years, the school district has faced myriad successful lawsuits based on its failure to comply with the Brown Act, California’s 70-year old open meeting law. Whether the District, under numerous general counsels, has received poor legal advice or whether the school board has failed to follow sound legal advice is difficult to determine. In 2021, a San Francisco Superior Court judge invalidated the school board’s changes to the Lowell High School admissions policy because of the school district’s failure to properly notify the public. In July, the same prevailing party as in 2021 sued the school district on the same public notice grounds, this time over its adoption of an ethnic studies curriculum. In August, the school district was sued by numerous community leaders and organizations over alleged failure to abide by state law protections of the independence of the citizens oversight committee that reviews up to $1.5 billion in school district bonds. In the past year, the school district general counsel has advised the board it could disregard its own rules in order to hold a meeting or conduct a vote.
With a current budget exceeding $1.36 billion, the school district’s legal needs and interests are far more than any individual general counsel can handle. The school district’s Legal Division includes its Office of Equity, Employee Relations, Compliance & Risk, public records requests, and senior deputy general counsels for student matters, special education, and business and facilities. It also employs outside legal counsel for collective bargaining, real estate, litigation and other matters. In June, the school board approved contracts for seven outside law firms that could provide up to $1.1 million in legal services this year. It has a million dollar multiyear contract with another law firm for real estate matters. Some of the firms will charge the school district $500 to $710 per hour.
The school district could take all the money it spends on outside counsel – and even some of its internal existing costs – and receive all or most of these necessary legal services under the auspices of the City Attorney, potentially at a lower price. The model of the school district paying for city employees was used at the beginning of Maria Su’s tenure as superintendent.
Even without any cost savings, having legal services provided by the City Attorney will enhance consistency of work product and supervision. The deputy city attorneys also have an expertise in California public agency laws that also is important to the school district.
Superintendent Su has overseen major overhauls in the budget, key leadership positions, math and other curriculum, and, currently, enrollment and school consolidation. Rethinking how the school district receives legal advice and carries it out may reduce court appearances and increase public trust. Before entering into a contract for a legal head hunter, the school district should thoroughly explore the City Attorney’s availability.
John Trasviña, a native San Franciscan, has served in three presidential administrations and is a former dean at the University of San Francisco School of Law.
