Schooled: With enrollment falling, San Francisco schools facing multi-million dollar deficits

The San Francisco Unified School District is projecting general fund deficits ranging from $25.3 million to $37.6 million over the next three years while facing a significant decline in enrollment.

That's according to documents the school board received in its Aug. 29 meeting. The district general fund expenditures are $744 million in the 2023-24 school year. The deficits run from 2023-24 through 2025-26.

"Additional investments, including salary increases, will not be feasible within the District’s financial means," the report stated.

The district is facing a staffing shortage in many different departments, the report stated.

In 2022-23, 15% of classrooms were staffed by substitute teachers or teachers on special assignment. This was also the case for the start of the 2023-24 school year.

Custodial Services and Student Nutritional Services departments had a 25% staffing shortage. The Buildings & Grounds department had a 50% staffing shortage in its heating and ventilation shop.

According to the report, the increase in vacant positions in classrooms is primarily due to the compensation schedule and insufficient incentives for long-term teacher retention.

The current average starting salary for a teacher is $64,000. The average teacher salary increases to $90,000 in mid-career, with the highest reported salary being $110,000.

Enrollment fell by over 4,000 students over the past decade, from 52,989 students in 2012-13 to 48,907 in 2022-23.

The district is also expecting an additional loss of 4,600 students by 2032.

The district did not respond to a request seeking comment.