A few weeks ago, Ruth Bernstein, President of EMC Research, released the results of several recent polls of San Francisco voters on the San Francisco Board of Education (SFBoE). Over 60% of voters gave the SFBoE an unfavorable rating in February 2021 and May 2021, a large jump from a 33% unfavorable rating just months earlier in September 2020. When asked about a recall of members of the Board of Education, 60% of respondents supported it (Figure 1), and 69% of San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) parents supported it.
Figure 1. Results of May poll question of San Francisco voters if members of the Board of Education should be recalled. Source: EMC Research
Deeper analysis of the polling data reveals just how abysmal is the picture for the current Board of Education. For the May 2021 poll, just 10% gave the BoE a positive Job Performance rating (Figure 2), which some can interpret as a proxy for job approval rating. Comparing polls may be a blunt tool, but has been used to good effect. Recent polls of Governor Gavin Newsom reveal a 52% job approval rating, Senator Dianne Feinstein at 35% approval and her fellow Senator Alex Padilla at 47%. A more direct comparison is the 34% favorable rating of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from a March 2020 poll by the same EMC Research group. Some may find job approval ratings in the 30s to be worthwhile addressing. A positive job perfomance rating just above single digits is a chasm below that level.
Figure 2. Results of February 2021 and May 2021 polls for a question of the SF BoE Job Performance. Source: EMC Research
How did such Job Performance ratings change so much so quickly? Causality is tricky but many BoE votes and actions did get news coverage. February was the period of attempts to rename schools, the rejection of a gay dad parent for not being diverse enough for a parent advisory committee and the change of Lowell high school admissions to a permanent lottery. March was marked by the stripping of then BoE Vice President Alison Collins of her title and committee roles, which engendered an $87 million lawsuit response. April was when some SFUSD students finally went back to campus, but to many it was Zoom in a room without a teacher present.
Recall attempts and public emails and comments may sometimes engender some sort of course correction by those politicians under scrutiny. Indeed, recently elected Board Vice President Faauuga Moliga texted to the San Francisco Chronicle that he is working hard with his colleagues. There was a glimmer of positive action with the unanimous vote for the Resolution to commit to reopen schools five full days in the fall. Yet these tigers do not change stripes.
Board President Gabriela López and Vice President Moliga touted the opportunity for high school seniors to celebrate together. What really was going on was seniors had one day at certain schools with no teaching, in an attempt to qualify for additional state funds. Then, in order to save the District $3 million, new school start times were announced after parents chose schools for their students, raising outcries from many parents that the news was a surprise and the family logistic adjustments were just too much.
But the common theme of those last two items was money. With a looming $120 million plus structural deficit for the 2022 and subsequent school years, how did the Board handle the recent budget planning? Long time volunteer advisory committee parents repeatedly sought more input and more transparency in how money was spent. The Board gave reassuring words to do better next time but unanimously passed the District budget proposal without edits.
So here we are now in July with the SFBoE meetings on hiatus. Fall classes are to start in less than a month. The teacher union contract or any other union contracts are not yet agreed upon. Window opening work and ventilation of rooms are still in progress. The same people are still in charge. For those 10% of San Francisco voters who did give the BoE a positive job rating, if they have not changed their minds, it is a good thing. For the rest, well…