The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUD) board passed a resolution on Oct. 13 to replace the current lottery-based admission policy with a neighborhood-based system for elementary schools.
Board members voted 5-2 to develop a policy under which every student would be assigned to a neighborhood school based on their home address, with a seat guaranteed even if applying late. Programs such as language immersion, K-8 schools, and special education remain open to citywide students to apply.
There were two options up for the vote: Option B and Option C.
Option B would guarantee a seat at a child’s neighborhood school for families who apply on time. Families could also apply to any other SFUSD school with available space, preserving broader citywide choice.
Option C would guarantee a neighborhood-school seat even for families who apply late. But families could apply elsewhere only to designated citywide programs, such as language immersion, K-8 schools, and special education programs.
SFUSD Superintendent Maria Su recommended option C, while the parents’ survey favored option B.
About 65 percent of families responding to the survey did not believe the district would fulfill promises made in option C, according to Su.
“Option C will actually not let the district off the hook. It will require the district to be very intentional with how we resource our schools; it puts the responsibility squarely on the district to make sure that every single neighborhood school is worth choosing,” Su told the board at the Oct. 13 meeting, promising that the schools have “safe, academically rigorous, and stable staffing by trusted adults.”
The new policy would take effect in October 2027, following the board’s approval on April 13, 2027, and would apply to the 2028-29 school year.
“Any district that goes through this type of turnover is at least going to take five to 10 years,” deputy superintendent John Davis told the board.
