San Francisco Unified School District recall, California (2021-2022)
| San Francisco Unified School District recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Alison Collins Faauuga Moliga |
| Recall status |
| Recall election date |
| February 15, 2022 |
| Signature requirement |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2022 Recalls in California California recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
On February 15, 2022, a majority of voters cast ballots in favor of recalling San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education members Gabriela López, Alison Collins, and Faauuga Moliga.[1][2] Moliga left office on February 16, 2022, and López and Collins were removed from office on March 11, 2022.[3][4] That same day, San Francisco Mayor London Breed appointed the following temporary replacements for the recalled board members: Lainie Motamedi, Lisa Weissman-Ward, and Ann Hsu. The appointed members served until the winners of the board's next election were sworn in. The next election was scheduled for November 8, 2022.[5][6]
Recall supporters said they were frustrated that schools in the district remained closed for nearly a year in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7] They also said they were upset that the board had spent time voting to rename 44 buildings in the district rather than focusing on opening schools.[8] López announced on February 21, 2021, that the board was putting the building renaming on hold in order to focus on re-opening schools.[9] At a board meeting on April 6, 2021, members unanimously voted to rescind the approval of the renaming process. At the same meeting, they voted to return students to full-time in-person instruction at the start of the 2021-2022 school year.[10]
All three board members named in the recall petitions were first elected to the board on November 6, 2018. They received the most votes in an at-large election, defeating 16 other candidates.[11] The other four members of the board were not eligible for recall at the same time as López, Collins, and Moliga as they had not served in their current terms for six months. They were elected or re-elected to the board on November 3, 2020.[8]
The last San Francisco official to face a recall election was then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein, in 1983. Feinstein survived the recall with 81% of the vote in her favor.[12]
To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here. To see 2021 and 2022 recall statistics, click here.
Recall vote
Gabriela Lopez recall, 2022
Gabriela Lopez lost the San Francisco Unified Board of Education recall election on February 15, 2022.
Recall Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✖ | Yes |
72.1
|
127,022 | ||
No |
27.9
|
49,257 | |||
Total Votes |
176,279 | ||||
|
|
Alison Collins recall, 2022
Alison Collins lost the San Francisco Unified Board of Education recall election on February 15, 2022.
Recall Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✖ | Yes |
76.3
|
134,871 | ||
No |
23.7
|
41,928 | |||
Total Votes |
176,799 | ||||
|
|
Faauuga Moliga recall, 2022
Faauuga Moliga lost the San Francisco Unified Board of Education recall election on February 15, 2022.
Recall Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✖ | Yes |
68.9
|
121,197 | ||
No |
31.1
|
54,785 | |||
Total Votes |
175,982 | ||||
|
|
Recall supporters
The notices of intent to recall were filed by Autumn Looijen and Siva Raj, who are parents of students in the district. “We are parents, not politicians, and intend to stay that way,” Raj said when they announced the recall effort. “We are determined to ensure San Francisco’s public schools provide a quality education for every kid in the city.”[8]
Recall supporters said they were frustrated that schools in the district remained closed for nearly a year in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. They also said they were upset that the board had spent time voting to rename 44 buildings in the district rather than focusing on opening schools.[8]
“From day one, the campaign was a campaign to get politics out of education,” Raj said. “What we saw consistently was a pattern where the school board leadership focused on a lot of political stunts and symbolic gestures like trying to rename schools, and doing that ultimately badly.”[13]
San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced her endorsement of the recall on November 9, 2021. “Sadly, our school board’s priorities have often been severely misplaced,” Breed said in a statement. “During such a difficult time, the decisions we make for our children will have long term impacts. Which is why it is so important to have leadership that will tackle these challenges head on. … Our kids must come first.”[14]
Recall opponents
In reaction to the recall effort, Moliga said he stood behind his record. “The recall effort shows there is a group of parents that are frustrated with the school board,” Moliga said. “I am the first Pacific Islander ever elected in office in San Francisco, giving my marginalized community a voice in local government for the first time.”[15]
At a Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club event in August 2021, both Collins and López spoke out against the recalls against them. “We can’t let people scare us,” Collins said. “When I see certain people getting upset, I know I’m doing the right thing. If it’s people that have power and don’t want to share it, there’s people who want to make decisions without being inclusive, of course they are going to get upset.”[13]
López characterized the recall against her as sexist, ageist, and racist. “The people who are behind this don’t know us, they don’t know our work, they don’t know what we’ve been doing, they don’t know what we are dedicated to,” Lopez said. “They hear what’s out there and they recognize this is an opportunity to bring down someone who is me.”[13]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in California
Recall supporters filed official paperwork to start the recall effort on February 19, 2021. The San Francisco Elections Department cleared the recall petitions for circulation in March 2021. To get the recall on the ballot, recall supporters had 160 days to collect signatures from 10% of registered voters in the city. The total number of signatures needed was 51,325 per board member, and the deadline to submit them was September 7, 2021.[8][15][16] Recall supporters announced they submitted signatures on September 7, 2021.[17]
The signatures were certified in October 2021, and the city scheduled the recall elections for February 15, 2022.[7]
The mayor of San Francisco appointed replacements.[6]
About the district
The San Francisco Unified School District is located in the consolidated city-county of San Francisco in west-central California. It was home to 881,549 residents in 2019, according to the United States Census Bureau.[18]
Demographics
San Francisco outperformed California as a whole in terms of higher education from 2015 to 2019. The United States Census Bureau found that 58.1% of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 33.9% of state residents. The median household income for San Francisco was $112,449, compared to $75,235 for the entire state. The percentage of people in poverty in San Francisco was 9.5, and it was 11.8% statewide.[18]
| Racial Demographics, 2015[18] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race | San Francisco County (%) | California (%) | |
| White | 52.8 | 71.9 | |
| Black or African American | 5.6 | 6.5 | |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8 | 1.6 | |
| Asian | 36.0 | 15.5 | |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 0.5 | 0.5 | |
| Two or more races | 4.5 | 4.0 | |
| Hispanic or Latino | 15.2 | 39.4 | |
Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Ballotpedia covered 35 coronavirus-related recall efforts against 94 officials in 2022, accounting for 13% of recalls that year. This is a decrease from both 2020 and 2021. COVID-related recalls accounted for 37% of all recall efforts in both 2020 and 2021. In 2020, there were 87 COVID-related recalls against 89 officials, and in 2021, there were 131 against 214 officials.
The chart below compares coronavirus-related recalls to recalls for all other reasons in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
2022 recall efforts
- See also: School board recalls
Ballotpedia tracked 54 school board recall efforts against 123 board members in 2022. Recall elections against school board members were held on January 11, 2022, January 18, 2022, January 24, 2022, February 15, 2022, March 29, 2022, April 4, 2022, and November 8, 2022. The school board recall success rate was 7.3%.
The chart below details the status of 2022 recall efforts by individual school board member.
2021 recall efforts
- See also: School board recalls
Ballotpedia tracked 92 school board recall efforts against 237 board members in 2021. Recall elections against 17 board members were held in 2021. The school board recall success rate was 0.42%.
The chart below details the status of 2021 recall efforts by individual school board member.
2022 battleground elections
- See also: Battlegrounds
This election was a battleground race. Other 2022 battleground elections included:
- Indiana's 1st Congressional District election, 2022
- North Carolina's 13th Congressional District election, 2022
- Ohio Secretary of State election, 2022 (May 3 Republican primary)
- Pennsylvania gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2022
- United States House of Representatives election in Alaska, 2022
See also
- San Francisco Unified School District, California
- San Francisco Unified School District, California, elections (2020)
- San Francisco Unified School District elections (2018)
- Recall campaigns in California
- Political recall efforts, 2022
- Political recall efforts, 2021
- School board recalls
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- San Francisco Unified School District
- San Francisco Department of Elections
- Recall the SF School Board website
Footnotes
- ↑ The New York Times, "In Landslide, San Francisco Forces Out 3 Board of Education Members," February 16, 2022
- ↑ San Francisco Examiner, "Voters give San Francisco school board members the boot," February 15, 2022
- ↑ CBS Local San Francisco, "UPDATE: Embattled San Francisco School Board Approves Contentious Teacher Layoff Plans," March 2, 2022
- ↑ San Francisco Examiner, "School Board Vice President Faauuga Moliga resigns in wake of recall," February 17, 2022
- ↑ The Washington Post, "The Trailer: San Francisco’s school board recalls are tearing Democrats apart," January 11, 2022
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 San Francisco Office of the Mayor, "News Releases: Mayor London Breed Swears in Three New Members to the San Francisco School Board," March 11, 2022
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 San Francisco CBS Local, "San Francisco School Board Recall Petitions Certified; Collins, Lopez, Moliga Face Vote In February," October 18, 2021
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 San Francisco Chronicle, "San Francisco school board members are facing a recall effort. What's the chance it'll work?" February 24, 2021
- ↑ San Francisco CBS Local, "Much-Criticized San Francisco School Renaming Effort Paused; Board to Focus on Reopening," February 21, 2021
- ↑ San Francisco Examiner, "School board votes to rescind renaming resolution," April 7, 2021
- ↑ San Francisco Department of Elections, "November 6, 2018 Election Results - Summary," accessed March 2, 2021
- ↑ KQED, "‘It's a Question of Competence’: San Francisco to Hold Recall Election of 3 School Board Members," October 18, 2021
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 San Francisco Examiner, "SF school board members break silence as recalls ramp up," August 20, 2021
- ↑ San Francisco Chronicle, "Mayor Breed backs recall of three San Francisco school board members: 'Our kids must come first,'" November 9, 2021
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 San Francisco Examiner, "School board recall effort begins gathering signatures," April 1, 2021
- ↑ San Francisco Chronicle, "S.F. school board recall effort takes a step forward: 'We really want a boring school board again,'" April 1, 2021
- ↑ Twitter, "Recall SF School Board tweet on September 7, 2021
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 United States Census Bureau, "QuickFacts: San Francisco County, California; California," accessed March 2, 2021
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