A proposal planned for the ballot in June next year to reform city services for families and children was announced by San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Monday. The same proposal will also give oversight for the San Francisco Board of Education, KPIX reported.
The Children First ballot measure, approved on the ballot, will make “groundbreaking reform and accountability measures”, the mayor’s office said.
Under the said measure, the Children’s Agency that would restructure funding and services for youth and families will be created.
Apart from this, the measure will also assure reform on the school board’s operation for transparency purposes. Breed’s office said that the board, specifically, must satisfy particular criteria on strategy, separation of duties, fiscal oversight, and governance standards, among others.
The mayor’s office said that the city could deny funding of up to millions of dollars if the school board fails to meet what is required for it.
“This pandemic has really impacted our kids, but we have to be honest that we’ve been struggling to efficiently and effectively provide quality services to young people and their families for years,” the mayor said in a statement. “By streamlining how we deliver services, by bringing more collaboration and transparency to our programs, and by creating real accountability for city departments and the school board, we can make a transformative difference for our young people.”
The measure is being planned to be unveiled by the mayor at a meeting of the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. It needs to be approved by the supervisors by February for it to make it to the ballot.
The mayor was supported by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman along with many parents from the San Francisco Unified School District as she made the plans public.
Criticisms have surrounded the school board over the last year. The board was accused by critics of allegedly being focused on political concerns as many of the public schools in the city stay shut amid the health crisis.
A group Recall SF School Board made an announcement in October that it secured sufficient signatures to conduct a recall election for board Commissioner Alison Collins, Board President Gabriela Lopez and Board Vice President Faauuga Moliga.
