As immigrant families and educators, leaders with Faith in Action Bay Area need your help. Immigrants are under attack in Minneapolis and beyond, and now we’re devastated to learn that here in our Sanctuary City, the San Francisco Unified School District is slashing budgets for programs serving immigrant students, without any consultation with families or educators.

Please join us at a community meeting this Thursday at 5:30 pm to call for a pause of at least one year on any cuts to programs serving immigrant students, and a commitment from SFUSD leaders to work with families and educators if changes to programs are needed. The meeting is hosted by SF International High School, a public school with college access rates for immigrant students nearly double the San Francisco average--and one of the programs that could be slashed if the proposed cuts happen.

School district leaders say they are predicting that immigrant enrollment will drop precipitously next school year. They have not provided clear evidence to back up their claims--and even if it’s true that there is an enrollment decline, the dramatic cuts they are proposing will cause serious harm for the immigrant students who remain. Moreover, our high-quality programs for immigrant students have taken decades to build, and if we dessimate them overnight, it will negatively impact immigrant students for years to come.

As immigrant parents and students, and as educators serving immigrant families, we are ready to be part of the solution--but no one has asked us. We are calling for an immediate pause on all cuts to programs serving immigrant students, for at least a year, so we can review the data and conditions on the ground, and make a thoughtful plan. And we are calling for SFUSD to allow us, who are the experts in educating immigrant students, to take a leadership role in crafting the plan.
Please join us Thursday at 5:30 pm to make sure our voices are heard!