Affluent technology industry players like former PayPal executive David Sacks and other wealthy donors, including charter school proponent and billionaire investor Arthur Rock, have opened their wallets to buoy the effort.Ī San Francisco teachers union and labor allies backing the school board members have not kept pace, with opponents outraising them ten-to-one.īoard members abandoned their drive to strip schools, including Abraham Lincoln High School and Dianne Feinstein Elementary, of their names after the effort drew national ridicule, and a judge recently ruled the board had violated the law in rushing to end merit-based admissions for the selective Lowell High School.
Some San Franciscans grew angry enough to launch a recall drive that gained the support of deep-pocketed allies and prominent Democratic officials, vastly outraising the school board’s defenders.
Then board member Alison Collins, one of the recall targets, sued the cash-strapped district for $87 million, claiming the district violated her free-speech rights when she was reprimanded for old tweets accusing Asian-Americans of “using white supremacist thinking to get ahead.” A federal judge tossed the case. Incredulous parents watched last year as the seven-member board spent hours worked to rename schools and discard merit-based admissions policies at a storied high school, citing equity concerns, as classrooms sat empty of students. The school board’s actions crystallized for many residents a failure of governance in an unswervingly Democratic city, tapping into broader angst about its quality of life.
But this revolt from within is different - a stark warning that public officials can veer too far left even for proudly progressive voters to tolerate. San Francisco’s high cost of living and chronic struggles with homelessness and crime have long made it an easy target for conservatives everywhere.
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