SF Green Party School Board Endorsement Questionnaire 2024

Candidate Name: Matt Alexander
Phone Number: (415) 347-9268
Web site: mattalexandersf.org
E-mail: mattelxandersf@gmail.com
Name of Campaign Manager: Ashley Pocasangre
How much do you expect to spend in this contest: $45,000
Major Endorsements: United Educators of San Francisco
Incumbent whose votes are most similar to the way you would vote: myself
Incumbent who votes least similarly to the way you would vote: vast majority of votes are 7-0

1. What is your stance on pandemic safety in the schools? Under what
circumstances might you support instating a mask or vaccine
mandate, or canceling in-person classes? What would be the main
basis on which you make this decision? (e.g., would it be based on
your gut feelings, or whose advice would you listen to?)

Nobody knows what the next pandemic will look like, or if we will even be facing another airborne virus, but we need to be prepared for public health crises, just as we are prepared for earthquakes and fire safety. "Gut feelings" are not a way to protect our school communities; we need to follow the best scientific and medical advice. We also need to ensure the safety of disabled and medically compromised students, as well as of staff.

If we face another pandemic, SFUSD needs to do a much better job of responding in a way that keeps everyone safe, while ensuring that our kids can continue their education. The current school board has taken steps to begin addressing SFUSD's challenges, including a decade of fiscal and operational mismanagement and a bureaucratic culture that's often unresponsive to the needs of students, families, and school-based staff. The next time we're faced with a crisis, we'll be better positioned to respond effectively.

2. What is your stance on school closures?

The track record of school closures in some other cities has been awful, and SFUSD's own past school closures have been deeply flawed, with a disproportionate impact on the Black community and low-income students.

Because of this, I've been skeptical about school closuresâ€"but it's also true that in 1996, the year I started teaching in SFUSD, we had 64,000 students, and this year we have 49,000. Fewer students means less state funding, so we have to decide if we want to keep spreading our resources thinly across over 100 campuses, or if it makes more sense to have fewer schools which are each better resourced. For example, merging two tiny elementary schools can allow us to have one school with a full-time social worker, literacy coach, teacher collaboration teams, and better facilities. I've become convinced that we have to ensure fully staffed schools, which will offer better working conditions for educators and create better outcomes for students.

We should only move forward with mergers or closures if we can get the process right and avoid the negative impacts of past closures. The school board is holding the superintendent accountable to our Guardrails, as well as to Attorney General Bonta's guidance, both of which require an authentic community engagement process and an equity impact assessment. We've already heard from the SFUSD community that we should ensure historically marginalized students are not adversely impacted, and that we should protect options such as K-8s and small high schools for the students who need them.

I will continue to follow the lead of students, families, and educators as this process unfolds. I believe with community input and a genuine commitment to racial and economic equity, we can use our limited resources more effectively and create the schools our students deserve.

3. Do you have practical ideas on how SFUSD can be adequately funded?

I've brought in millions of dollars in new revenue to help address SFUSD's budget challenges. One of my most important accomplishments in my first term was collaborating with our Teachers' Union and the Board of Supervisors to write Prop G, the Student Success Fund, which passed in November 2022 with nearly 80% of the vote. This measure brings in significant new resources to SFUSD, with a minimum of $35 million and up to $60 million annually, for mental health services, academic support, and school safety support, using a research-based framework known as Community Schools. Working from an equity perspective, we wrote Prop G to prioritize schools serving high numbers of English language learners, low-income students, foster youth, homeless students, and other underserved student groups.

I've also led the fight to reduce our bloated central office, working with the Board of Supervisors to produce an independent report showing that SFUSD was spending 27% of our General Fund on the central office, compared to 18% in our peer districts. We've already reduced central office funding to below 20% this year, saving over $50 million a year and ensuring more of our limited resources are going to the classroom and other forms of direct student support.

It's important to note that the SFUSD budget crisis is the result of more than a decade of fiscal and operational mismanagement. While district staff have made progress in the past two years, we need to hold the superintendent accountable for faster resolution of these issues, so we can have effective financial systems and long-term balanced budgets.

4. How are you currently involved in the SFUSD -- or how were you
involved in the past?

I have two decades of experience as a SFUSD teacher and principal, and I now work as a bilingual community organizer. I'm running for re-election because we need school board members who value the voices of students, families, and educators. If I win, I'll be the only educator on the school board.

I do not see the School Board as a stepping-stone to other elected office, and will not run for other political positions. My only focus is SFUSD and our students, families, and educators.

Three goals have guided my current work on the school board and will continue to guide my work if I'm re-elected:

1. Prioritize academic excellence for all students. Some of my accomplishments include: Working with colleagues to adopt ambitious academic goals, along with guardrails reflecting our San Francisco values
Working with the Board of Supervisors to secure $8 million to expand a highly effective math program developed at John Muir Elementary, and share it with other schools
Connecting staff with resources based on my expertise as an educator; sharing Redesigning High Schools: 10 Features for Success, which I co-authored with State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond Encouraging the new SFUSD superintendent to adopt a much-needed new literacy curriculum for the first time in two decades
2. Ensure that SFUSD has fiscal stability and fully staffed schools. Some of my accomplishments include: Fighting to uncover past fiscal mismanagement and realign SFUSD's budget to prioritize schools and students over upper management
Working with colleagues to close a $125 million deficit while giving educators the largest raise in history, in order to attract and retain the best possible staff
Co-authoring Proposition G, the Student Success Fund, which passed with 78% of the vote and is now bringing in $35-60 million annually to support whole-child community schools

3. Improve transparency and accountability. Some of my accomplishments include: Working with the Board of Supervisors to get the City's Budget and Legislative Analyst to produce an independent report on SFUSD's excessive central office spending compared to peer districts
Working with immigrant parents to write SFUSD's first-ever policy on translation and interpretation
Collaborating with LGBTQ families and staff to develop the District's guide for gender-inclusive forms and communication
Rebuilding trust with families by securing $40 million in bond funds for the renovation of Buena Vista Horace Mann School, a promise that SFUSD made in 2016 but had never fulfilled

5. How do you feel about the current school assignment system
(including at Lowell)? Would you make changes, and if so, which
ones?

SFUSD spends millions of dollars a year on an enrollment system that offers an illusion of choice while actually creating high levels of anxiety for students and families. The system also creates unpredictable school enrollments, which makes it challenging for schools to do budgeting and for district staff to allocate resources effectively.

The Board of Education voted in 2018 to change the elementary assignment system and then in 2020 voted to move to a zone-based system. The new system still has not been implemented.

It's time to stop kicking the can down the road and actually fix our broken assignment system. I believe that our new system should include not only elementary, but also middle and high schools. Families deserve a predictable enrollment system that assigns students to schools reasonably close to where they live and offers alternative options for students who need them-with a minimum of anxiety and stress.

It's also worth considering the fiscal impacts. SFUSD has a department called the Educational Placement Center that manages our complex enrollment system and helps families navigate it. This department, which doesn't exist in most school districts, costs us over $3 million a year. It's not clear how that investment is leading to improved student outcomes.

Finally, the current system was originally adopted with the stated purpose of desegregating schools, which it has not accomplished. A simpler and more transparent system would be cheaper, less stressful, and more likely to produce the diverse schools San Franciscans want.

Regarding Lowell, I support maintaining Lowell as an academic magnet school, and building on its legacy of excellence. I also believe Lowell should reflect the diversity of San Francisco-something that most people in the Lowell and SFUSD communities support, although there is disagreement about how to get there. Although it was clear from the school board recall that many San Franciscans disagreed with the move from test-based admissions to using the same system as other schools ("lottery"), it's also true that this change dramatically increased access to Lowell for Black students, Latinx students, English learners, and students with IEPs.

But it should not be the case that our city only has one high school with a reputation for excellence like Lowell's. SFUSD should be focused on improving ALL of our high schools, and dealing with the looming financial crisis. If the issue of Lowell admissions were to come up again, my top priority will be ensuring that the process is inclusive and includes all concerned members of the Lowell and SFUSD communities, so any potential changes would represent a consensus view.

6. Some of our schools receive significant funding from parent fundraising. Are you concerned about the inequality in fundraising
between schools in rich and poor neighborhoods, and if so,
what ideas do you have to make things more equitable?

No parent should have to do fundraising to ensure that their child's public school is providing an excellent education, including wrap-around services, enrichment, and academic support.

In my first term, I helped address this challenge by collaborating with our Teachers' Union and the Board of Supervisors to write Prop G, the Student Success Fund, which passed in November 2022 with nearly 80% of the vote. This measure brings in significant new resources to SFUSD, with a minimum of $35 million and up to $60 million annually, for enrichment, mental health services, academic support, and school safety support, using a research-based framework known as Community Schools. Working from an equity perspective, we wrote Prop G to prioritize schools serving high numbers of English language learners, low-income students, foster youth, homeless students, and other underserved student groups.

On a larger level, cities and counties need to advocate to increase public school funding in California. Although there have been improvements in recent years, California still spends half of what New York spends per pupil on public schools.

7. Are you familiar with the case of Williams et al. v State of
California? Do you believe that all schools in the SFUSD are
currently in compliance with Williams?

I'm very familiar with the Williams case. Eli Williams, the lead plaintiff, was a Samoan student who attended Luther Burbank Middle School, and then Balboa High School when I was teaching at Balboa in the late 1990s/early 2000s. Some of the depositions in the Williams case were taken from Balboa students during the time I worked there; they spoke the truth about the old, torn-up textbooks and the rats that ran the hallways.

No, all SFUSD schools are not in compliance. The Williams inspections and complaint procedure initially resulted in some improvements in facilities conditions, better access to materials, and fewer teacher vacancies-but over the years fewer and fewer people seemed aware of the Williams case, and inspections became a bureaucratic routine. In 2021, the outside contractor the district hired to do Williams facilities inspections gave Buena Vista Horace Mann School an "Exemplary" facilities designation-despite many serious facilities issues at the school, including lead problems and holes in the ceilings.

Due to the insufficiency of the Williams process, I worked with the BVHM school community and the Board of Supervisors to get an independent facilities inspection which clearly documented BVHM's facilities challenges and has resulted in improvements.

8. What is your position on JROTC in the public schools?

There are legitimate concerns about JROTC on our campuses, but it's also true that this leadership development program is valued by many students and families. As of now, JROTC is being supported by a generous grant, and as with all specialized programs, one key question moving forward will be whether we can afford to fund JROTC with General Fund dollars, and whether that should be a priority. As with other issues where there are differing points of view, my top priority will be ensuring that the process is inclusive and includes all concerned members of the SFUSD community, so any potential changes would represent a consensus view that's aligned with our common San Francisco values.

9. Would you support district elections for school board members?

As a sitting school board member, I don't want to comment on the issue of citywide or district elections, as there is potential litigation against SFUSD on this issue under the California Voting Rights Act.

10. Did you support the 2016 Proposition A school bond? Do you think funds were spent wisely? Are you supporting the current bond?

I supported the 2016 Prop A bond-but before I joined the school board, there were serious problems with oversight of the bond program. When I joined the board in 2021, I learned that Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 school, which serves largely immigrant students, had been promised a renovation in the 2016 bond but had been mysteriously dropped off the bond list, with no explanation from district officials. I worked to rebuild trust with BVHM families by getting my colleagues to agree to reallocate $40 million in 2016 bond funds for the renovation of the school. My colleagues and I also insisted that district staff restart the legally required bond oversight committee.

SFUSD still needs major infrastructure improvements, and it's critical that we support the $790 million SFUSD facilities bond on the November ballot. Then we need to hold district staff accountable to spending those funds effectively within 4 years, and return to the voters in 2028 for another bond. In the meantime, we also need to increase investments for ongoing repairs, so that even if a school can't be fully modernized right away, we can respond to immediate needs and ensure that all students and staff are in safe and functioning facilities.

11. What is your stance on allowing noncitizen parents, guardians and
caretakers of students to vote in school board elections? Did you take a public position on previous ballot initiatives on the
subject?

I'm an enthusiastic supporter of noncitizen voting in school board elections; I think it's critical for all SFUSD parents to have a voice in determining who governs the schools their children attend. My volunteer campaign team includes many non-citizen leaders, and I'm currently working to register non-citizens to vote in the school board election. With the real threat of increased anti-immigrant policies, we need to redouble our efforts to protect undocumented students and their families, and to fight to ensure that every member of our community has the right to participate fully in public life.

12. What are your thoughts on the various non-profit organizations
that partner and/or contract with SFUSD?

San Francisco has many fantastic nonprofit organizations that provide excellent services to SFUSD students and families. I'm proud that in 2022, I co-authored the Student Success Fund which is now bringing in at least $35 million a year to SFUSD schools through a "Community Schools" model, which often involves partnership with community-based nonprofits to provide supports ranging from enrichment to mental health services to academic support and beyond.

We need accountability for the nonprofits working with SFUSD. My colleagues and I on the school board wrote a "guardrail" (part of the superintendent's evaluation) about improving collaboration with community-based organizations to advance our goals and values. We need to continue to hold the superintendent and SFUSD staff accountable to ensure that partnerships with nonprofits are effective and collaborative, so we can meet the needs of our students and families.

13. How do you see the role of the School Board in comparison to the
role of the superintendent:

In 2022, my colleagues and I on the school board adopted a new governance approach guided by the Council of Great City Schools. We created ambitious academic goals, along with values-based guardrails, which are the basis for the superintendent's evaluation. Rather than micromanaging the superintendent, we hold him accountable through regular public monitoring workshops tied to the goals and guardrails. In January 2024, my colleagues unanimously elected me as school board Vice President, where I collaborate with President Lainie Motamedi to supervise and support SFUSD Superintendent Matt Wayne.

14. Do you think that SFUSD currently serves the transportation needs
of its students: Would you make changes to the current system?

In 2021, SFUSD adopted a new transportation contractor, which has improved the district's ability to serve the transportation needs of students with disabilitiesâ€"the primary purpose of the SFUSD transportation program. There are also still some buses that are linked to our student assignment system, which is badly in need of an overhaul (see question 5 above); those routes should be changed or eliminated for cost savings once the new assignment system is in place.

15. Would you ensure that all San Francisco students have access to a
public pre-K program? If so, how?

I support free, quality pre-K for all. The main obstacle to ensuring that all San Francisco students have access to public pre-k is a lack of adequate funding. I have experience securing new revenue for SFUSD (I co-authored the Student Success Fund ballot measure in 2022) and will seek similar opportunities around pre-k.

16. Have you read Diane Ravitch's book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System? What lessons should the District
take from this work? Whether or not you've read the book, what role do you see for charter schools in the public education
system?

Yes, it's an excellent book. One of my mentors is Deborah Meier, the founder of Central Park East Secondary School, whom Diane Ravitch credits as one of the key people who convinced Ravitch to renounce her former beliefs in high-stakes testing and market-driven approaches to public schooling.

On the school board, to ensure that the education we offer is grounded in human development, I successfully proposed a "guardrail" (elements of the superintendent's evaluation) requiring that SFUSD staff take approaches "that support the cognitive and academic development, social and emotional development, identity development, physical and mental well-being, and ethical and moral development of students."

I am opposed to new charter schools in San Francisco. The original intent of charter school laws when they were passed 35 years ago was to provide a space for grassroots innovation, led by teachers, which would then benefit the public school system. Many of the charters in San Francisco do fit this description-and educators at some of these schools have unionized. But charter laws generally have been co-opted by corporate entities intent on undermining public education<: What happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina shows how charter schools on a large scale can destroy a public school system. Especially in this moment when San Francisco is facing a declining population of children, and SFUSD's enrollment is declining, we don't need any new charters.

17. What do you think of the current requirements that students take the SBAC test, and what are your thoughts on standardized testing
in general?

Standardized tests have been overused and misused in U.S. public education for decades. The appropriate use for standardized assessments is to provide high-level trend data about large numbers of students. Standardized tests should not be used to make decisions about individual students or individual teachers. Many standardized tests, including the SAT, ACT, and also the SBAC, have been shown to produce racially biased results, which is why the UC system now has test-free admissions.

When the Board of Education adopted academic goals for SFUSD in 2022, I and others were concerned about the use of SBAC data as the measure, both due to bias concerns and because we don't want to create a "teach to the test" culture. We don't have many other options for measures at the district level so we did adopt SBAC as our measure for 3rd grade literacy and 8th grade math, but we also agreed that SFUSD would use the "Street Data" framework created by former UESF member Shane Safir and Jamila Dugan to ensure that SBAC scores are only used at the "satellite" level to consider broad trends.

18. How can the public schools better address the needs of Special
Education students and ESL students?

In my two decades as a SFUSD teacher and principal, I worked closely with both Special Education students and English Language Learners, who've often been under-served. In my time on the board, I worked with immigrant parents of students with disabilities to write SFUSD's first-ever policy on translation and interpretation. This policy is now a model for a state bill to require timely translation of special education documents for students with disabilities.

In 2022 the school board established ambitious academic goals in 3rd grade literacy, 8th grade math, and college and career readiness. These goals were written to apply to all SFUSD students but do not mention specific student groups. The most important thing the Board can do to improve outcomes for ELL students and students with IEPs (as well as other marginalized groups) is to hold the superintendent accountable to meeting the goals for these specific groups as well as the overall student population.

Although it's the not the school board's job to micro-manage how the superintendent does this, here are some suggestions based on my years of experience as a SFUSD educator:

We can improve outcomes for ELL students by integrating EL programs into the rest of the school, so students do not feel socially isolated; providing adequate resources for EL services, including funding and skilled teachers; and using existing examples of high-quality EL programs, such as the one at SF International High School, as a model for other schools.

We can improve outcomes for students with IEPs by fully funding our special education program with adequate staffing levels of paraprofessionals and teachers; providing prep time for paraprofessionals and prep time for co-teachers to plan together; retraining all SFUSD staff in inclusive practices; and providing support for low-income parents and others so they know their rights in the IEP process and can effectively advocate for their children's needs.

If we create schools that work for marginalized student groups, they'll work better for all students. Here are some key elements of schools that serve all students well: Safe, inclusive school climate where students can build positive relationships with peers and adults
A high-level curriculum, culturally responsive teaching, authentic assessments, and robust academic support systems
Well-prepared and well-supported teachers
Authentic family engagement, community connections, and shared decision-making

For more of my views on how these elements look in a secondary school setting, please see Redesigning High Schools: 10 Features for Success, which I co-authored with State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond. (https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/redesigning-high-schools-10-features-for-success-report)