San Francisco (June 28, 2024) - The San Francisco Board of Education adopted its 2024-27 Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) and $1.3 billion total operating budget for the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) for the 2024-25 school year on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. County offices of education, school districts and charter schools are required to adopt a three-year LCAP and update this plan annually. In addition, SFUSD must send its approved budget to the state by July 1.
SFUSD remains committed to implementing budget balancing solutions that eliminate deficit spending and create sustainable financial practices. At the June 25 Board of Education regular meeting, SFUSD presented an updated Fiscal Stabilization Plan, which details how the district will identify and implement solutions to resolve the ongoing deficit in 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27.
“We are putting SFUSD on the path to long-term fiscal solvency and positioning ourselves to create the best possible learning environments for students,” SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne said. “It is critical that we implement budget-balancing solutions that eliminate deficit spending and create sustainable financial practices.”
The majority of SFUSD’s total operating budget consists of the Unrestricted General Fund, most of which funds school-based supports. School site budgets comprise the largest portion of expenditures in the Unrestricted General Fund, including employee salary and benefit costs. SFUSD expects to receive $631 million from the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), California’s primary source of state education dollars. The next largest component of the budget, the Restricted General Fund, amounts to 41% of the overall budget. The Restricted General Fund includes local voter-approved funding such as the Public Education Enrichment Fund (PEEF) and parcel tax revenues.
The Public Education Enrichment Fund (PEEF) Expenditure Plan included in the adopted budget amounts to $94.3 million, an additional $4 million than the previous year. The spending plan for these voter-approved funds support many programs in the City’s public schools, including sports, libraries, arts, and music programs.
Additionally, the budget includes $104.3 million in revenues from two parcel taxes: the Quality Teacher and Education Act (QTEA), as approved by San Francisco voters in 2008, and the Fair Wages for Educators Act (FWEA), as approved by San Francisco voters in 2020. Both measures contribute to making San Francisco teacher salaries competitive with those in surrounding school districts; provide financial incentives for teachers to work at schools with historically high turnover and teach in hard-to-fill subject areas such as high school math; increase teacher support while raising teacher accountability; improve academic innovation through research and development; and upgrade school technologies.
About the Local Control Funding Formula
California’s LCFF, enacted in 2013–14, replaced the previous kindergarten through 12th grade (K–12) revenue limit funding methodology, and gave school districts serving high-needs students more funds in the form of supplemental and concentration grants, based on the number and percentages of high-needs students they serve. School districts are also required to adopt Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs), which are plans to show how districts will spend the supplemental funds to support their high-needs students. Each year, parents, students, labor partners, and community members are given the opportunity to provide feedback and help shape SFUSD’s LCAP.
About SFUSD’s Budget Stabilization Efforts
On April 26, 2024, California’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) published SFUSD’s second Fiscal Health Risk Analysis report. On May 3, 2024, because SFUSD is still in the process of implementing its plan to resolve deficit spending, SFUSD received notice from the CDE that it revised the certification of SFUSD’s March budget report from “Qualified” to “Negative.” According to the CDE, “While additional steps are needed to improve SFUSD’s financial systems, we acknowledge progress is being made that will lead to improved decision-making and the long-term fiscal sustainability of the SFUSD.” In 2021, CDE appointed two state fiscal experts to support the district in fiscal stabilization. With this updated certification, the fiscal experts move to fiscal advisor status and can directly engage in any district operation deemed counter to fiscal stability. SFUSD continues to work diligently to address ongoing fiscal challenges, which includes the creation of a Fiscal Emergency Team and the establishment of a Board of Education Ad Hoc Committee on Fiscal and Operational Health.
Learn more about the SFUSD Budget and LCAP.
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