Let’s create beautiful views of the future for all of San Francisco’s children.

San Francisco is known throughout the world as a beacon for dreamers and doers. Our past is steeped in tales of fortune-seekers and visionaries who arrived here with audacious goals and forged new paths that changed the world. The City’s infectious energy drew me here. On my visit, clanging cable cars carried me up steep hills where, at the crest of each rise, I was rewarded with sweeping vistas of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge, a sparkling gateway to the vast Pacific beyond. The City’s promise and my future seemed unlimited. I’ve never regretted building my life and raising children in a diverse milieu where success requires stretching the limits of one’s intellect, courage, and empathy. Unfortunately, I am not confident that the City will be the best place for my future grandchildren. Today it is incredibly challenging for most San Francisco families to access learning opportunities that are inspiring, challenging, and supportive. Our public schools are, at best, mediocre, and the tuition at private schools is exorbitant. If we want San Francisco to continue to be a city where the visions of tomorrow are forged in the crucible of today’s challenges and opportunities, we must do better. It is time to build an ecosystem for learning that is accessible to every family.

For decades, San Francisco has enjoyed a tremendous influx of technology’s brightest minds and an explosion of wealth. But sometimes, it feels as though we are sinking under the weight of our success. Once a melting pot of diverse communities, our streets now bear witness to a stark juxtaposition of wealth and poverty. Nowhere is the disparity in opportunity and achievement more evident than in the education landscape. The status quo is alarming.

1. Over half, 54.4%, of SFUSD students fail to meet proficiency standards in math, and 45.5% fall short of proficiency in ELA. (English language arts) (Data compiled by Paul Gardiner writing https://sfeducation.substack.com/p/sbac-results)
2. There are wide performance gaps among ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Approximately 82% of Black students in SFUSD are not proficient in ELA, and 91% are not proficient in math. 71% of Latino or Hispanic students are not proficient in ELA, and 82% are not proficient in math. (Data reported by The San Francisco Standard https://sfstandard.com/education/test-scores-dipped-in-sf-schools-after-pandemic-disruptions/)
3. Socioeconomic status does not account for SFUSD’s poor performance. Black and Latino students, both those who meet the criteria for “socioeconomically disadvantaged” and those who do not, do worse than their counterparts elsewhere in the state. For example, out of 200 districts in California, San Francisco ranks 187th for the performance of socio-economically disadvantaged Latino students.
4. During the 2020–21 school year, spending on central office administrators accounted for 25% of SFUSD’s $978 million operating budget. Peer districts spent a median of 18% on administration. (City and County Office of SF Budget and Legislative Analyst, Jan. 10, 2023)
5. Last Fall, the SFUSD board promised to spend at least 50% of its time on student outcomes. As of this writing, they have never achieved that goal, and sometimes, there is no discussion of student outcomes in board meetings.
6. Recently SFUSD Superintendent Matt Wayne said that the board has “not done its job in ensuring that parents and community members feel that they’re authentically engaged…. We don’t currently have a system for that.”
7. Over 30% of K-12 students in San Francisco attend independent, parochial, or for-profit schools. Nationally the number is 10%. SFUSD loses 15% of students in grade 6.
8. SFUSD’s per pupil expenditure, combining federal, state, and local dollars, is approximately $22,500.
9. The average tuition for San Francisco’s independent schools (not parochial or for-profit) ranges from 30,000 to 44,000 for K-8 and nearly 60,000 for high schools.

San Francisco has many excellent educators, and there are public schools doing outstanding work, but our achievement rates are unacceptable, and the disparity between groups is egregious. Too many San Franciscans have opted out of public education. Public school parents are often confused about how to navigate the system and anxious that the district is not preparing children for the future. Citizens are frustrated by contentious politics. A complex web of politics and bureaucracy continues to be a formidable barrier to addressing student needs. Successful districts have always navigated the competing interests of local, state, and federal policymakers, unions, and parents, but the SFUSD board, administrative staff, and teacher’s union are mired in partisan gridlock. Tweaking the current system of education will not work. It’s time to focus on children and outcomes. A new educational ecosystem will increase learning opportunities for all our children and youth.

Often solutions to complex problems are described as buzzwords or lofty ideas. In future essays, I will describe essential elements of a learning ecosystem with examples of existing practices and potential strategies. Let’s start with the basics:

WHO: A new ecosystem for learning will include and connect public, private, parochial, for-profit, and publicly funded schools of all sizes, from comprehensive high schools to storefront micro-schools. Incubators for start-ups have a proven history of fostering successful innovation and building leaders. San Francisco needs an education incubator with educators, innovators, entrepreneurs, parents, policymakers, service organizations, and funders working together to make San Francisco a world leader in education innovation.

WHAT: The San Francisco Learning Ecosystem will embrace learning delivered to individuals, small groups, and large classes. Learning will occur in person, online, using a hybrid model, or in gaming scenarios. Learners will acquire academic skills, the ability to think critically, and the agency to drive their learning. They will have rich exposure to the arts, nature, athletics, and tinkering. Individual learning plans will address their needs, talents, and interests. Multiple metrics will assess achievement, engagement, satisfaction, and growth.

HOW: A vibrant, iterative, child-centered, outcomes-focused ecosystem for learning can only exist with substantial changes to funding streams and government policies. But we don’t have to wait for those changes to give today’s families more opportunities for learning. Philanthropic giving and provider discounts already play an essential role in helping families gain access to schools, tutoring, camps, sports, and other enriching experiences. Donations and discounts will always be required for a healthy ecosystem to thrive, but San Francisco must look to other states for examples of how public and private dollars are working together to increase options for learning.

When the pandemic threatened the survival of restaurants and bars, San Francisco responded quickly with parklets, outdoor dining areas built in the streets. Most remain, reducing parking availability, but even when I struggle to find a parking place, I marvel at how quickly city officials and restauranteurs responded to a crisis. Since OpenAI, a small San Francisco company, released ChatGPT, there has been an explosion of innovation and imagination as developers, investors, and entrepreneurs rush to incorporate it into a wide variety of applications and services. These adaptations & innovations prove the City is still where visionaries can change the world. If we don’t improve access to learning opportunities, too many San Francisco children will be unprepared to thrive in the world being built today. We must unite and forge new paths to lead to a bright future for all San Francisco children.