What's in store for SF schools amid budget crisis? Superintendent gives insight on district's future

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco public schools have been on a roller coaster ride this past year.

The question is what can parents expect come August, and will closing schools be once again part of the discussion? ABC7 News Reporter Lyanne Melendez sat down with the superintendent for an exclusive interview that.

Lyanne Melendez: "I suspect that while kids are on summer break, you will spend your summer preparing for what to come. Let's start with this headliner: the district will have a $114 million budget deficit. You already made drastic cuts what else is there to cut?"

Maria Su: "So, part of the budget reduction strategy was to offer our supplemental earning retirement plan. We received 345 people who took the early retirement incentive. And so, because of that, we are able to preserve teachers in every classroom. We are able to have social workers in our schools. We are able to have counselors and para educators in the classroom to support our students."

Melendez: "But a lot of those cuts or retirements came from the classroom, so how will that affect the classroom?"

MORE: SFUSD avoids teacher layoffs but other positions are in jeopardy as district tackles $114M deficit

Su: "That does mean that things might be slower, because it will take a long time to send the mail to our school sites. It take longer to process applications and forms. We also had to make reductions to things that are not key and essential to academic success for our students."

Last year, when it was announced that the board and the former Superintendent Matt Wayne were closing some schools, the district paused the closures, because of the lack of transparency in the process. Wayne resigned and Su was then appointed superintendent, yet she has said that the conversation of closing schools will have to eventually resume, because student enrollment is not expected to bounce back.

Melendez: "This year, we did not close schools, but are we going to see some schools, will the district have to close some schools?"

Su: "Eventually, we have to evaluate our school buildings and whether or not the schools that we have are meeting the needs of our students, and that is something that I will be doing in the coming years."

The school district also has to contend with threats of reduced funding coming from the federal government. About 5% of the school district's budget comes from Washington.

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Melendez: "If the Trump administration is successful at holding funds for your DEI policies. How bad could things get for the district?"

Su: "We're not going to get distracted by this. We're going to stay focused on making sure we deliver a balanced budget that will satisfy the state, so that we can get out of state oversight, so that we can become a solvent school district and stand on our own two feet."

Melendez: "What is the school district going to look like in two years?"

Su: "The one thing they have said over and over again, 'Can you please just make sure that we go back to the basics of educating our students, making sure that our teachers have the resources and the tools needed to be successful in the classroom?' Those are the things they have asked me to focus on and those are the things I will deliver in the next two years."

Watch the full interview in the player above.