Fund Schools First!

SFUSD Management & School Board

Last month, hundreds of SFUSD paraeducators, social workers, family liaisons, and community health outreach workers received potential layoff notices. Why are essential workers who are providing direct services to our students and connection with our families being cut while unrepresented management that doesn’t serve students is being protected? This isn’t balancing the budget in the interests of our students. This is balancing the budget on the backs of educators, students, and our school communities.

The District continues to balance its budget on the backs of educators providing direct services to students, many of which are the lowest-paid workers critical to our school communities – our paraeducators. At the same time, it has increased the number of administrators whose salaries by far exceed that of the staff who just received potential layoff notices. Year after year, we see direct support to our students and classrooms placed on the chopping block, and year after year, the District justifies preserving what they have dubbed “indirect administrative investments.”

Educators are the direct connection between families and the District. The stability of our school staff is paramount in providing a safe and stable learning environment for our students. Our paraeducators and everyone facing layoffs respond to students when they are in crisis. They are the linchpins between students, certificated staff, families, and the District. A reduction in those positions will have a devastating effect on our school communities.

We are calling on you to think about the direct impact on our students. During moments of crisis, students and school communities count on these educators to help our students and families feel safe and connected. To think that you can have a stable school without critical staff flies against everything we know about education and everything we have experienced all year.

We demand that no educator  be laid off at this time and that you fund schools first by right-sizing the top-heavy central office. Stop forcing students and school communities to bear the burden of your budget mistakes!


To: SFUSD Management & School Board
From: [Your Name]

Last month, hundreds of SFUSD paraeducators, social workers, family liaisons, and community health outreach workers received potential layoff notices. Why are essential workers who are providing direct mental health services to our students and connection with our families being cut while unrepresented management that doesn’t serve students is being protected? This isn’t balancing the budget in the interests of our students. This is balancing the budget on the backs of educators, students, and our school communities.

The District continues to balance its budget on the backs of educators providing direct services to students, many of which are the lowest-paid workers critical to our school communities – our paraeducators. At the same time, it has increased the number of administrators whose salaries by far exceed that of the staff who just received potential layoff notices. Year after year, we see direct support to our students and classrooms placed on the chopping block, and year after year, the District justifies preserving what they have dubbed “indirect administrative investments.”

Educators are the direct connection between families and the District. The stability of our school staff is paramount in providing a safe and stable learning environment for our students. Our paraeducators and everyone facing layoffs respond to students when they are in crisis. They are the linchpins between students, certificated staff, families, and the District. A reduction in those positions will have a devastating effect on our school communities.

Before any budget cuts are entertained, we are calling on you to think about the direct impact on our students. During moments of crisis, students and educators count on these educators to help our students and families feel safe and connected. To think that you can have a stable school without critical staff flies against everything we know about education and everything we have experienced all year. No educator should be laid off at this time. It's time to right-size our top-heavy central office and fund our schools first!