A proposal to cut funding for sports, libraries, arts, and music in the San Francisco Unified School District is working its way through the city bureaucracy, and it must be stopped in its tracks.
When I first read this proposal, I was astonished. Are you kidding me? You want to eliminate the funding guarantee for programs the community overwhelmingly voted to support?
This proposal is unintended consequences on steroids.
Let me explain:
The city funds the school district through the voter-approved Public Education Enrichment Fund (PEEF). The fund pays for three things:
– One-third goes to the City of San Francisco’s Office of Early Care and Education for preschool support.
– One-third pays for Sports, Libraries, Arts, and Music (SLAM).
– One third goes for Other General Uses (OGU) programs that promote general education purposes.
The portion of the money SFUSD gets for SLAM must be used for this specific purpose. “Must” means “Must.”
What’s proposed: San Francisco Charter Reform Working Group for Education wants to erase “must” and provide “flexibility” so that this money can essentially be used for practically anything.
What’s the result: Duh. Cut funding for sports, libraries, arts, and music.
We’ve been here before. When my children were in elementary school, parents had to reach deep into their pockets to pay for arts, music, librarians, and sports.
Education budgets were tight. The first things cut from school budgets were these precise programs. It was unfair and inequitable. All schools must provide these. It should not depend on whether the students’ families have enough money to pay for them.
Parents know that these services are essential, not frills to be abandoned in tough economic times.
Working with several city supervisors, specifically Tom Ammiano and Mable Tang, I helped write the provision in PEEF that guarantees funding for arts, music, librarians, and sports. We were very intentional. The money must be used for those specified purposes.
That PEEF guarantee solved the problem. Arts, music, librarians, and sports are funded in schools throughout San Francisco.
This funding guarantee gives San Francisco a competitive advantage. Throughout the state, there is a shortage of teachers qualified to teach these programs. Teachers want a commitment that there will be funding each year. SFUSD currently can make that promise. Most other school districts can’t.
San Francisco is yet again going through tough economic times.. Through the wisdom of the voters, children are guaranteed to have arts, music, librarians, and sports.
Let’s keep that promise. Let’s not turn our backs on children.
Take action
– Send public comments sent to CharterReform@sfgov.org . They will be shared with the Controller’s Office, the Mayor’s Office, and Supervisor Mandelman’s Office.
The message is simple:
Continue to guarantee funding for arts, music, libraries, and sports in SFUSD. Attach a link to this article.
– Call your supervisor with the same message.
– Call the board of education with the same message.
Upcoming calendar
March 4, 2026 Charter Reform Working Group Meeting
Wednesday, March 4, 2026, 3 p.m.
How to participate in-person:
City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
Room 201
San Francisco 94102