How good is government education in San Fran? The Grand Jury found that 25% of the teachers were not qualified—I imagine the real number is much higher.
“The San Francisco civil grand jury investigated San Francisco Unified School District’s teacher shortage and released a report on Thursday that found nearly a quarter of its teachers are not qualified to teach in their respective positions.
The reasons for the district’s low number of credentialed teachers, according to the report, are low starting salaries and pay, payroll issues, lack of competitive pensions and benefits, and SFUSD’s absence of data on how many interested educators decline job offers and how many teachers leave the district. This, according to the report, “impairs (the district’s) ability to understand and remediate its shortage of credentialed teachers.”
Add to this the use of class time to groom students to become sexual, the racism taught and the lack of discipline, San Fran schools are like the city, they have collapsed as educational facilities.
Grand jury finds nearly one quarter of SFUSD teachers not credentialed
By Allyson Aleksey, SF Examiner, 6/15/23 https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/education/quarter-of-sfusd-teachers-not-credentialed-grand-jury-finds/article_f6a850f2-0bae-11ee-ab87-2b45f42243dd.html
The San Francisco civil grand jury investigated San Francisco Unified School District’s teacher shortage and released a report on Thursday that found nearly a quarter of its teachers are not qualified to teach in their respective positions.
The reasons for the district’s low number of credentialed teachers, according to the report, are low starting salaries and pay, payroll issues, lack of competitive pensions and benefits, and SFUSD’s absence of data on how many interested educators decline job offers and how many teachers leave the district. This, according to the report, “impairs (the district’s) ability to understand and remediate its shortage of credentialed teachers.”
The starting salary for teachers in San Francisco public schools is $54,289, which is lower than the starting salary of neighboring districts in the Bay Area — a fact that union members have brought up several times throughout their negotiations with the district.
United Educators of San Francisco, the union representing the district’s teachers, teacher aides and substitute teachers, began preparations for a fall strike.
Ongoing payroll issues with the district’s payroll system, EmPowerSF, have left teachers underpaid or unpaid for weeks to months on end — a problem that has become an even bigger headache for many during the 2023 tax season.
Despite this, the district and board of education have elected to pour millions into the faulty system to correct its technological issues and to hire payroll professionals.
SFUSD Human Resources department does not maintain or provide data on candidates who decline job offers or on teachers who decide to leave the district or profession; personnel issues are often not released to the public.// TOP STORIES
In an email to The Examiner last month, District communications manager Hong Mei Pang said, “SFUSD historically has started the school year with 99% positions filled, but like many districts, is facing staffing challenges after the pandemic.”
The civil grand jury noted that the Santa Clara, Marin, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Mateo and Sonoma County school districts all had a higher number of credentialed teachers than SFUSD, and that SFUSD falls below the state average in the number of credentialed teachers it employs.
The report also stated that SFUSD administrators were reluctant to cooperate with the investigation, which slowed the jury’s ability to thoroughly examine the shortage of credentialed teachers.
“The Jury experienced reluctance on the part of SFUSD administrators to cooperate with our inquiries. Our requests for interviews and information frequently went unacknowledged, and multiple interview subjects either did not make themselves available or refused to participate outright,” the report said.
Mayor London Breed and Superintendent Matt Wayne must respond to the report within 60 days; Board of Education commissioners must respond within 90 days.
“Transparency is a vital component in addressing a problem as urgent as the shortage of credentialed teachers, with nothing less than the effective education of San Francisco’s students on the line,” the report said.
