San Francisco families will now be guaranteed a spot at neighborhood public elementary schools following a historic vote to scrap its unpredictable, lottery-based system that drove parents crazy — even driving some away from the district entirely.
The San Francisco Board of Education voted 5-2 Tuesday to begin the process of reinstating neighborhood-based admissions by Fall 2028, scrapping a system that sometimes forced kids into far-flung schools in the name of equity.
“Families should not have to roll the dice and try their luck in our system,” Superintendent Maria Su said in supportof the change. “Families should not have to leave where they live to secure their child’s future. The school down the street should be a good option and a certain one.”
The current lottery system, which assigns students to elementary schools in a lottery that is based on ranked preferences, has been in place since 2011.
But the system has been frequently blasted as chaotic, stressful and not particularly fair — forcing some children to undergo brutal commutes.
It’s been blamed as one factor driving steep enrollment losses at SFUSD, which has declined from more than 60,000 students to fewer than 50,000 in the last school year, according to district data.
“I don’t know what more to say around the time we have been given to improve ourselves with the current system, and it’s not happening,” said Board of Education President Phil Kim, citing reports that the lottery system failed to reduce racial segregation in schools.
Board members agreed that that system has to go.
Under the lottery, some schools can see hundreds of applications while others get little interest. Parents try to get their children into schools with higher test scores or better funding, which has only exacerbated disparities between schools, critics have argued.
“Our current system creates that” disparity, board member Matt Alexander said.
However, Su acknowledged that there are “lots of fears and concerns” from parents regarding the new neighborhood-based system. The board considered two options to reworking the lottery system: One option, called Option B, would offer a neighborhood school guarantee but allow families to apply to other schools district-wide. Another, called Option C, would offer neighborhood school access plus designated citywide school options. At the board meeting, audience members carried signs that read, “Listen to parents: Choose Option B,” which would have guarantee placement in a neighborhood school but let families apply to any other school, Mission Local reported.
SF Parents, a parents advocacy group that conducted a survey about families’ preferences, was dismayed by the district’s preference for Option C, which they said would limit choices for parents. “Superintendent Su recommended Option C despite family feedback favoring other options, and five commissioners backed her recommendation,” the group wrote in a blog post. “Even more concerning? SFUSD admits it could take 5–10 years to improve neighborhood schools. That means children entering kindergarten under the new system in 2028 could finish elementary school before those improvements are fully in place.”
Board member Alida Fisher, who voted against the change, said she feared returning to the reason why the lottery system was introduced in the first place — to reduce racial and socioeconomic segregation.
“I, both as a parent and as a commissioner, struggle to see a buy-in,” she said, adding that “neighborhood schools by definition will be segregated schools.”
But Su pushed back on even Option B, saying leaving in any parental choice “will keep the status quo.” The change will put the onus on the district to make every school worth choosing, she added.
Su said the new policy is still a work in progress.
“I want to again remind our community that we will be talking to communities about key pieces of this work,” she said.
Three more public study sessions are planned ahead of the final April 2027 board vote to formally adopt the new policy.
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