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Board approves JROTC policy change but rejects lifting central-funding ban
Summary
After hours of public testimony and board debate, the San Francisco Board of Education adopted revisions to JROTC policy allowing qualifying JROTC coursework to meet PE requirements if it satisfies specified minutes and credential standards, but the board removed language that would lift a long-standing ban on central-district funding for JROTC.
After extensive public testimony from JROTC students, instructors, veterans, and community members, the San Francisco Board of Education on Tuesday adopted a resolution adjusting board policy for Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps programs but declined to restore central-district funding.
The resolution (165.24) approved criteria for awarding PE credit to JROTC courses if they meet specified state-minute requirements and curricular objectives. The board set conditions that JROTC must provide at least 400 minutes of physical education per 10 school days at the secondary level, include a range of physical-activity content aligned with Education Code requirements, administer the state physical fitness test, and that instructors hold appropriate authorizations (such as a designated-subject credential) and a bachelor's degree where specified.
The measure originally included language to remove a previous prohibition on using central-district general funds to pay JROTC instructors. Commissioners and public speakers sharply debated that clause: JROTC advocates said the prohibition was unfair and hampered program equity and staffing; opponents warned lifting it would divert scarce central funds from students with the greatest academic need.
Commissioners ultimately amended the proposal to remove the paragraph lifting the funding restriction and then approved the resolution as amended. Roll-call votes in the public record show the final adoption passed 4 to 3 (Ayes: Marazzi, Norton, Winns, Haney; Noes: Feuer, Mendoza McDonald, Walton). The board also asked staff to produce a curriculum validation and an analysis of how PE-minute requirements would be verified across sites.
Board members and district staff emphasized that any awarding of PE credit requires staff review to confirm that JROTC coursework meets the minutes and content standards specified by state law. The district's curriculum office said it will begin work on the validation and report back within four to eight weeks after the school year resumes.
