Three Rival Slates Are Competing for San Francisco’s School Board This November

Three competing slates of candidates are running for three open seats on the San Francisco Board of Education in the November 2026 election, splitting even the city’s usual pro-reform and union coalitions.

The Slates

Board president Phil Kim and Autumn Brown Garibay are each cross-endorsed by two rival groups. The GrowSF-backed slate pairs Kim and Garibay with Tim Tung and is backed by tech executives and Mayor Daniel Lurie. A separate slate from SF Parents Action, a parent advocacy group formed during the pandemic, pairs Kim and Garibay with incumbent Alida Fisher. The United Educators of San Francisco, the teachers union, backs its own slate of Virginia Cheung, Ryan Hazelton, and Reina Tello. Laurance Lee is running independently, backed by state Senator Scott Wiener.

The Money

As of June 30, 2026, GrowSF-aligned committees had raised more than $1 million, teachers union committees had raised about $191,000, and the SF Parents Action PAC had raised about $24,000, according to Mission Local’s review of campaign filings.

What Each Side Says

GrowSF co-director Steven Buss Bacio said the race comes down to “how important public education is.” Teachers union president Cassondra Curiel framed the union’s campaign as “teachers vs. billionaires,” saying its candidates “walked the talk” during the 2026 teachers’ strike. SF Parents Action head Meredith Dodson described her group as “one of the smallest fish in a pretty big pond.” Union candidate Reina Tello said the amount of outside money in the race “discourages grassroots candidates.”

What’s Next

San Francisco voters fill the three seats in the November 2026 election.

Sources: Mission Local, The San Francisco Standard.

Photo: Ciphers, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.