Supervisors hold hearing on ‘family flight,’ cite housing, schools and services as drivers

Supervisor Mark Farrell opened the March 8 Government Audit and Oversight Committee hearing seeking explanations for what he called a steady loss of school‑age children in San Francisco after the 2010 Census. Farrell cited the headline statistic presented to the committee: “just 13.4% of San Francisco’s residents are younger than age 18,” and said the board must gather data and explore policies to retain families.

The hearing brought together city departments, advocates and residents to lay out data and possible responses. Adrienne Pond of the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs introduced Danielle Lam’s baseline study showing that while births have increased and the under‑5 population held steady or rose slightly, the 5–17 cohort fell, a net loss of roughly 5,000 children between the 2000 and 2010 counts. Lam and other presenters stressed the need for district‑level analysis and more precise surveys to quantify drivers.

Speakers from city departments described existing programs and the limits of current resources. A First 5 San Francisco official said the city’s Preschool for All program operates in about 130 sites and that roughly 83% of incoming kindergartners had attended preschool, a rise First 5…