The upcoming election on whether to recall three San Francisco school board members is an undemocratic subterfuge to get mayoral control of our schools. This is a terrible idea, whether or not you agree with the job that Gabriela López, Faauuga Moliga and Alison Collins have done while serving on school board. And crucially, in cities that have experienced mayoral control, there has been a similar and stubborn fact—no improvement in a wide achievement gap between white, higher-income students and black and brown students. That’s extremely troubling.
The San Francisco school board members were democratically elected by the public. They have the right to stay in their posts until the next election in November. If they are recalled, voters will lose their right to decide who succeeds them and who runs our schools. Instead, Mayor London Breed would choose who sits on the school board in place of the recalled members. This is a backdoor effort to enact mayoral control over the city’s schools, and it is not in the best interest of students and families as experience has shown.
Mayoral control isn’t magical fairy dust that fixes whatever might be broken. It has not worked in favor of students where it has been used. There simply is no positive track record of mayoral control helping to improve student achievement, which should be the primary goal.
A 2013 study by the Economic Policy Institute focused on three cities that were under mayor control—Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago. In all three cities, the study found academic gains were seen only by white and high-income students. The widening the racial achievement gap; test-based accountability created teacher churn mostly by experienced teachers; and a focus on market-oriented policies all diverted attention from the need to address socio-economic factors impeding learning.
An official of the Urban Institute, a Washington-based economic and social policy think tank, testified before a D.C. City Council hearing in 2007, when the D.C. City Council was deliberating the mayoral control bill, that cities that had previously undergone mayoral control of their school districts—Boston in 1992, Chicago in 1995, Detroit in 1999, Philadelphia in 2001 and New York in 2002—had shown that “there is little about governance reforms, per se, that lead to greater student achievement” and that the connections between governance structure and student achievement is “simply spurious.”
Washington, D.C., has now been under mayoral control since 2007. During this time, District of Columbia Public Schools have been plagued by a wide racial achievement gap with white, higher-income students doing far better than black and brown, low-income students. And without important checks and balances, many highly publicized scandals came to light, including cheating scandals related to the district’s testing and data obsession and demand for teachers to show higher test scores.
Illinois recently reversed course and passed a law to reinstate an elected school board for Chicago public schools by 2025. Chicago has been the only school district in the state under mayoral control. Supporters hailed the state law returning the school board to the people after 25 years, saying a democratically elected board will give students, families and educators a voice in children’s education.
Parents and voters deserve a school board that answers to them, not to unelected appointees who answer to City Hall. School boards need to be insulated and independent from interference by City Hall, whomever is in that seat of power. Elections should decide who wins or loses. We may not agree with every decision that our elected school board members make. But that’s what elections are for.
As San Francisco schools face steep budget cuts, an independent school board will be crucial in determining what programs will be saved or lost, how many educators get laid off, and how the decisions will affect students and their education. Public voice is essential for these consequential choices.
Board members should be permitted to serve out their term and stand before the public for re-election on their record. Parents and voters should have the democratic right to choose who sits on the Board of Education that makes decisions about our communities’ schools and students.
Cassondra Curiel is the president of the United Educators of San Francisco.