Originally posted on Mission Local.
Meet the Candidates: SFUSD school board contenders on balancing the budget
Welcome back to the “Meet the Candidates” series for the school board, where we ask each candidate one question every two weeks. They must answer the question in 100 words or fewer. We will link to longer answers.
Twelve candidates are vying for four seats on the city’s seven-person school board. The election will take place on Nov. 5. Non-citizen parents of children living in the city are permitted to vote in school board elections and can find information on doing so here.
This week, we asked the candidates:
How will you balance budgetary constraints with improving the educational experience to keep families from leaving SFUSD?
Candidates’ ideas range from cutting administrative and contractor spending to funding special-education and language programs.
Min Chang
- Job: CEO at healthcare organization Homebridge
- Age: 58
- Residency: San Francisco
- Educational background: Ph.D. in international affairs and master’s degree in International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University; master’s degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan; bachelor’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania
- SFUSD experience: Doing outreach in SFUSD and attending school board meetings.
- Languages: English, Chinese, French
Near-term and longer-term actions are needed at SFUSD. The fiscal challenge can be solved by relooking at sources of funds (revenues) and uses of funds (costs). We need to maximize funding from federal, state and local sources including grants, bonds and fundraising. The SFUSD budget is >$1 billion, but the funding is not getting to our schools; it needs to move from the administration to schools where it is needed. By streamlining the administration, implementing position control as well as indirect spend management, savings can be redirected to schools to support curriculum building, maintenance and repairs, training of educators, and supplies.
Endorsed by: The San Francisco Republican Party, San Francisco Young Republicans, The Republican Club of San Francisco, San Francisco Briones Society … read more here