Vote Ann Hsu for Board of Education

Ann Hsu’s time on the Board of Education has been focused on service. Her insistence on process and accountability have been critical to getting the Board of Education to focus on actual student outcomes rather than performative adult politics.

As commissioner, Ann has already shown flexibility and creativity in finding solutions to budget problems, such as the potential defunding of JROTC. She was able to find new budget sources for JROTC and broker a compromise to maintain this valuable program. Before being appointed to the Board of Education, during 2021-20211, Ann was chair of the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee, which oversees the $745 million SFUSD bond program. As chair, she developed the committee’s set of recommendations to improve the bond program’s reporting. Ann’s budget expertise will be much needed given SFUSD’s budget challenges.

Ann is the only Chinese immigrant serving on the Board of Education, providing desperately needed representation for this very large and often neglected group of families within SFUSD. At the same time, Ann is committed to student achievement and academic excellence for all students, and she understands that the way to achieve equity is through results.

Like most people, we were disappointed by comments Ann made back in July. In an effort to understand why the academic performance of Black and brown students on average lags behind, and being aware that Black and brown students suffer from elevated levels of chronic absenteeism, she wrongly suggested that lack of parental emphasis on education may be a cause. To her credit, she immediately apologized and even voted for her own admonition by the Board of Education. Since her comments, she has reached out to listen and learn from the affected communities. While we condemn her mistake, we applaud her repentance; her response is a welcome change from how the Board of Education behaved before the recall.

Ann Hsu brings a unique and valuable set of skills to the Board of Education. She is absolutely committed to improving outcomes for all students, and she has shown the capacity to own her errors and make amends. Families for San Francisco enthusiastically endorses Ann Hsu for the Board of Education.