San Francisco schools chief says federal cuts would ‘devastate’ district

Su was appointed last fall to lead SFUSD in the midst of a crisis: an impending state takeover, a botched rollout of campus closures, an intractable payroll fiasco, and a staffing shortfall. Just a few months into her tenure, DOGE began hacking away at the federal government, threatening to make a bad situation worse for San Francisco’s struggling K-12 schools.

Some lawmakers worry that President Donald Trump will dissolve the Education Department entirely, as laid out in Project 2025. Under the right-wing blueprint, the Department of Health and Human Services would take over administration of federal education funds, and programs for low-income students would be phased out over 10 years.

This phasing out would mean a complete halt of federal cash for San Francisco public education, crippling Title I schools, which receive the funding because at least 40% of their students come from low-income families. There are 17 Title I schools across the city, many concentrated around the Tenderloin, Mid-Market, and Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhoods, where lower-income families are more likely to live.