Federal funding cuts would decimate San Francisco public schools, the city’s K-12 superintendent warned families last week.
Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency is reportedly shredding the U.S. Department of Education. In San Francisco, this unprecedented federal action is producing a familiar result: an existential crisis for the school district.
“It would devastate this district,” San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Maria Su said at a board meeting Feb. 11. “There is just no way we will be able to sustain that.”
Su was appointed last fall to lead SFUSD in the midst of a crisis: an impending state takeover, a botched rollout of campus closures, an intractable payroll fiasco, and a staffing shortfall. Just a few months into her tenure, DOGE began hacking away at the federal government, threatening to make a bad situation worse for San Francisco’s struggling K-12 schools.
Some lawmakers worry that President Donald Trump will dissolve the Education Department entirely, as laid out in Project 2025. Under the right-wing blueprint, the Department of Health and Human Services would take over administration of federal education funds, and programs for low-income students would be phased out over 10 years.
This phasing out would mean a complete halt of federal cash for San Francisco public education, crippling Title I schools, which receive the funding because at least 40% of their students come from low-income families. There are 17 Title I schools across the city, many concentrated around the Tenderloin, Mid-Market, and Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhoods, where lower-income families are more likely to live.
“We are essentially creating an underclass population of citizens,” said Weadé James, senior director of K-12 education policy at the Center for American Progress. “If we’re saying we’re not going to adequately, equitably fund impoverished schools, that means that we are not preparing and equipping these students with education they need to be successful in the economy.”
James added that this would lead to more crime as uneducated people search for ways to support themselves outside of the formal economy.
“If Trump and Musk are successful in destroying the Department of Education, the consequences for California and San Francisco could be disastrous,” state Sen. Scott Wiener told The Standard. “We could lose billions. We need to stop them from going down this destructive path.”
SFUSD receives more than $50 million from the federal government each year, much of which goes toward special education and Title I programs.
Now, the perennial question: Can Trump actually do this? Can he eliminate Title I and/or the Department of Education?
“It comes down to whether this administration wants to do things legally,” James said.
Legally, the answer is no. Title I is statutory, established by an act of Congress, and only Congress can dissolve it. James and another expert said this is unlikely to happen; Title I is a popular program, and every state gets a piece. But Trump may attempt to illegally withhold funds from schools, James said.
In San Francisco, this would affect low-income students across the district, not just in the most impoverished schools.
“Title I funding follows students,” said a district source who asked to remain anonymous, explaining that Title I dollars pay for social workers and counselors in schools with wealthier populations as well. These employees will likely face layoffs if the district loses federal funding, the source said.
The school board laid out an austere vision for the district’s future at a recent meeting. “You only need a principal, teachers, and students to run a school,” the source said. “Everything else is ancillary.”
The district is already preparing for the worst. “We’re being very mindful in our planning, knowing that there’s a threat,” SFUSD spokesperson Hong Mei Pang said. “The impact of these policies is going to land on our students with the highest needs.”
Pang stressed that there has been no funding loss yet, and the district is hopeful that if federal monies do dry up, the state could help fill the gap.
“We continue to closely monitor developments at the federal level,” another SFUSD spokesperson, Laura Dudnick, said via email. “Our focus remains on operating schools and supporting students, and we will be sure to let our communities know of any changes that may impact them.”
Principals of Title I schools in San Francisco declined to be interviewed.