SF parents want a Mandarin charter school. They have to get past the unions first

When it came time for Brian Hollinger to send his kids to school, he knew exactly where they’d go.

Hollinger and his wife, Yunita Tjhai, who is of Indonesian and Chinese descent, wanted their three sons to grow up fluent in Mandarin. They enrolled the eldest two in a Mandarin-immersion program at Starr King Elementary School in Potrero Hill, available to only a handful of students in the San Francisco Unified School District. 

The immersion program has paid off. 

“My boys are off the charts,” Hollinger said. “People think Chinese is their mother tongue. It’s my proudest accomplishment as a parent.”

Hollinger knows his kids are lucky. Starr King is one of only two elementary schools and one middle school in the San Francisco Unified School District that provide Mandarin-immersion courses. 

Hollinger sees an opportunity to change that. In recent months, he and a group of parents and educators organized a petition to open a K-8 public Mandarin-immersion school in a city where more than 180,000 residents identify as Chinese and private Mandarin schools have grown in popularity. More than 200 parents and 10 teachers signed the petition, according to the coalition. 

But Hollinger chose a politically challenging path. 

The coalition wants to open Dragon Gate Academy as a charter school — a controversial idea in union-friendly San Francisco. 

SFUSD oversees 13 charter schools, few compared with public school districts in other major California cities. The Board of Education hasn’t approved a new charter school in more than a decade, while the state Legislature has in recent years passed laws that make it increasingly difficult for charters to open and operate in California. 

Dragon Gate Academy would receive both state and local funding as a public charter school, though it’s unclear how much it would cost to open. Hollinger said it’s likely the new academy would pay rent to the district by using an existing school site with available space. The coalition leading the campaign has a website that identifies at least four possible sites across the city. 

SFUSD officials have hinted at their opposition to Dragon Gate Academy amid concerns from labor groups representing educators. 

But Hollinger is undeterred. The coalition on Monday filed a formal proposal with the district to open Dragon Gate Academy, kicking off a 60-day review period. The board will hold public hearings on the proposal before voting on it. 

The group behind Dragon Gate Academy wants to open the school by August 2026, according to their website. If the application is denied, the coalition said, it would appeal the decision to the state Board of Education. 

“To the doubters, we say, ‘Yes we can,’” Hollinger said during a press conference Tuesday at the district’s downtown headquarters. “We’re moving forward with unstoppable urgency.”

San Francisco has several private schools that provide full Mandarin-immersion instruction. Those schools are popular among affluent families that see Mandarin instruction as a valuable opportunity in an increasingly globalized world.

In contrast, thousands of SFUSD students have to compete for only dozens of slots in Mandarin programs.

Starr King Elementary offers a Mandarin-immersion program to 26 native speakers in each grade. Another 18 seats are reserved in each grade for non-native speakers, according to district data.

Jose Ortega Elementary School in Ingleside provides a similar immersion program to 13 native speakers and nine non-native speakers in every grade, with dozens more on waiting lists. 

Aptos Middle School, also in the Ingleside area, offers a combined 66 seats for programs at each grade level that serve both native and non-native speakers. 

Jose Ortega’s Mandarin programs rank among the top five most competitive of SFUSD’s 108 kindergarten programs, according to an analysis by The Standard.

The district also runs one Cantonese immersion school, which teaches the Chinese language that is preferred by many immigrants in San Francisco but not spoken as widely as Mandarin.

Those who support Dragon Gate Academy see it as a way to fill the gaps and ensure more kids have access to Mandarin education.

“Too many students have been denied access to Mandarin immersion education because SFUSD has not prioritized its expansion,” Susan Fong Wong, a member of the Dragon Gate coalition, said in a statement. “This new school will offer that exceptional education many seek.”

The debate around charter schools in California revolves largely around funding and employment. Charter schools receive public money but generally operate independently from the district. They typically employ nonunion teachers, a major issue in San Francisco, with its powerful teachers union.

Board President Phil Kim, a former charter school educator, and Superintendent Maria Su are working on a separate plan to open a district-run Mandarin immersion school by 2027 — what many see as a thinly veiled attempt to persuade Hollinger to abandon his plans for Dragon Gate Academy.

“SFUSD has an opportunity to expand its offerings for language immersion programs to attract and retain students and families, but also to provide robust instructional offerings that support our student outcome goals,” Kim said in a statement. “Our focus is on SFUSD. And we welcome anyone who wants to partner with us in service of kids and student outcomes.”

But with SFUSD facing a dire financial crisis that could force layoffs and school closures, it’s unclear when any new district-run immersion school would open. 

Josh Davidson, a representative of Service Employees International Union 1021 and a chef for SFUSD Student Nutrition Services, said his union is firmly against the expansion of charter schools.

“At a time when leaders at the SFUSD are starting again to raise the possibility of public school closures, we are deeply concerned that these closures may pave the way for the privatization of public spaces through charter conversions,” Davidson said in a statement.

The United Educators of San Francisco has similarly come out against the new charter. 

“It is understandable that families are demanding quality language programs from SFUSD,” the union said in a statement. “UESF is happy to work with families to expand the services our public schools offer. This also means the union will advocate to keep all the resources for our public schools.”

Margaret Lee, a retired educator and a member of UESF who supports the Dragon Gate proposal, disputes the idea that the charter school’s proponents are anti-union. She said she and others in the Dragon Gate coalition are committed to providing union-level protections for teachers at their school.

“For the employees who work for our Dragon Gate Academy, they will have the same rights and benefits,” Lee said. 

Hollinger is resolute, despite the mounting opposition to his proposed school. 

“We’re undaunted,” he said. “Parents and children in the district are saying this is something that we want.”