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Board postpones final vote on PEAF spending plan after hours of debate over language pathways and priorities
Summary
Board heard a detailed second‑reading PEAF spending plan that increases funding for PE, restorative practices, STEM and multilingual pathways but deferred final approval until April 14 after commissioners raised questions about Tagalog/Filipino funding, translation costs and process transparency.
After a lengthy public hearing and staff presentation, the San Francisco Board of Education on March 17 deferred final action on the Public Education Enrichment Fund (PEAF) spending plan and directed the superintendent to transmit the board’s Version 2 proposal to the city to meet the April 1 deadline. The board will return for a final vote April 14.
Kathy Fleming, supervisor for the PEAF, presented Version 2 of the proposed spending plan, which the staff put at $59.1 million. Fleming said an updated estimate from the city controller freed roughly $840,000 that allowed the district to add line items: $420,000 for PE/VAPA (including funding for PE teachers and arts sequencing), $250,000 for restorative practices (including a behaviorist and Saturday alternatives to suspension), $535,000 for STEM (three FTEs to reduce 8th‑grade math class size and middle‑school STEM stipends), and $210,000 for multilingual pathways (support for Japanese, Tagalog and Korean and an elementary world‑language pilot). She also said custodial and human capital support will be funded from other sources rather than PEAF and that the reserve and bargaining contingencies had been reduced.
Public comment focused heavily on multilingual pathways, especially Filipino/Tagalog programming. Parents and community advocates argued that the $13,000 allocation for Filipino/Tagalog pathways was insufficient and urged the district to fund at least 1 full‑time equivalent (FTE) to create a K–12 pathway. Christina Canaveral of Coleman Advocates called the revised PEAF “one of the most well‑written budgets” but warned that central‑office allocations risked losing school‑site services.
Commissioners probed staff about how multilingual FTEs were calculated and whether small FTE amounts (0.2 FTE) would be sufficient to build sustainable programs. Christina Wong, special assistant to the superintendent for multilingual pathways, said 0.2 FTE was designed as seed planning capacity and suggested 0.4 FTE as an option for Tagalog/Filipino support; she noted program‑placement work and facility and fiscal analysis would be required before scaling. Commissioners also pressed on AVID site selection, summer credit recovery eligibility, and translation/IEP contracting costs.
President Morazzi proposed an amendment from the dais to shift 0.2 FTE from an elementary world‑language development line to raise Tagalog support from 0.2 to 0.4 FTE; the proposal prompted debate about process and whether to take action that night. Several commissioners said they wanted more time; a motion to postpone final board approval until April 14 passed on roll call (6 ayes, 1 no). The superintendent will transmit Version 2 to the mayor and Board of Supervisors to meet the April 1 deadline, noting the board’s intent to adopt a final plan in April.
Board members and staff agreed there will be further work to clarify program placement criteria, per‑student comparisons across pathways, and an analysis of translation costs and IEP processes before the final vote.
