SF mayor's office steps in to help as school district faces $400M budget deficit, closures

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco's Unified School District is in crisis. With a $400 million budget deficit over a three-year period, the state is threatening to take over. Now, San Francisco's mayor is stepping in.

"The school district is facing some serious financial challenges, and our plan is to go in and to make sure that by the end of this year that we help them with a balance budget. That we help them make the right decisions based on facts," said San Francisco Mayor London Breed.

Despite Mayor Breed not having direct control over the school district, her office announced the creation of a team of top city leaders to help advise the district on ways to tackle the crisis. She's calling it the school stabilization team.

"They will be taking a lot of guidance from our stabilization team, and we will be making a number of recommendations that we expect them to implement. I will say to those parents that we need a little bit more patience," said Mayor Breed.

The seven-member team includes the executive director of the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families.

MORE: Frustration and anxiety brewing as SFUSD delays release of school closure list

"We are walking into a very critical situation at the school district, and we want to bring our experts in the city to provide support to our school district," said Maria Su, executive director of the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Their Families.

This announcement follows an emergency Sunday meeting where the SFUSD Board of Education spoke about terminating Superintendent Matt Wayne. Instead, they reached out to the mayor's office for help.

"We are committed to working with superintendent Dr. Wayne as a governments team to really tackle the significant challenges facing the district," said Matt Alexander, SFUSD School Board vice president.

Last week, Superintendent Wayne was set to announce a list of SFUSD school closures, but that announcement was postponed adding to the uncertainty many feel, including SFUSD teacher and parent Heidi Seretan.

"No one's school is safe and with the lack of transparency it's nerve racking," said Seretan.

MORE: SF school board president resigns amid looming closures, citing health and personal reasons

The creation of school stabilization team is giving her hope.

"I'm not always for creations of task force but I think we could use any of the help we can get. I feel confident that there is representation from the department of rec and park and the department of children and youth and family services. Two organizations that we collaborate with, and I have very strong respect for. So, I think that anything and any expertise we will take to avoid a state takeover," said Seretan.

The school district has to provide a clear plan and a balanced budget to the state by the end of the year that the city's team will focus on.

We asked Mayor Breed about the list of schools that are facing a closure. She said they are still evaluating this and it's not ready yet.

The city of San Francisco is also deploying an additional financial support to SFUSD of $8.4 million of unallocated Student Success Funds.