Earlier this year, two of San Francisco’s best-funded political action groups merged to become Blueprint for a Better San Francisco. The group has now revealed its first priority: Limiting and reforming ethnic studies in the city’s public schools.
Blueprint is the evolution of TogetherSF and Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, two political action groups that pumped millions into last year’s race to support “moderate” candidates and policies, notably Supervisor Mark Farrell in the mayoral race.
Now, Blueprint is pushing a petition calling on the superintendent of the SF Unified School District to repeal a graduation requirement of two semesters of ethnic studies education. In addition, the group argues SFUSD’s curriculum “replaces history with ideology, promoting activism over evidence-based learning.”
The ethnic studies program has received more scrutiny this year, in part due to the two-semester requirement for the 2024-2025 freshman class and also the content of past curricula. That curricula included (since-removed) lesson plans that discussed, among other subjects, “white male privilege” and the Red Guard communist student movement. Other observers have criticized SFUSD’s lack of a standardized ethnic studies curriculum, with teachers instead allowed to use a “district framework” to fit their class.
Blueprint’s petition pushes significant changes to SFUSD curricula. It criticizes the district for the $2 million cost of the ethnic studies program, claiming the money is needed for “reading intervention, mental health support, and teacher development.” Blueprint also suggests that ethnic studies “displaces vital electives like world languages, advanced science, and college prep classes.”
In its place, the group advocates for no graduation requirement, a “publicly vetted” curriculum, and a reduction of any elective course from two semesters to one — “preserving the ability of students to take academically rigorous courses required for college enrollment.”
Beyond that, Blueprint advocates for the long-term defunding of ethnic studies, calling the district to reallocate funds to other programs that “measurably improve student proficiency and outcomes.” This new attention is part of a nationwide shift that has come for programs supporting diversity following the reelection of Donald Trump.
Its campaign falls in line with the advocacy of national conservative organizations like Parents Defending Education, which works to fight ethnic studies requirements and “activists imposing harmful agendas.” In May, the group published a report lambasting SFUSD for including a discussion of gender neutrality in an ethnic studies class.
In San Francisco, the controversy among parents and school officials has largely focused on the role of equity as a metric, especially in admissions, school funding, and curricula.
The backlash against ethnic studies has angered a number of teachers who believe it is an increasingly vital element of high school education, especially in the current political climate, with Trump and the right waging war against anything related to “diversity, equity and inclusion.”
While Blueprint does not explicitly identify its political orientation, the group’s leaders have for years pushed the city rightward on matters of education, law-and-order policy, and governance.
Neighbors was overseen by longtime California political operative Jay Cheng; partner Kanishka Cheng directed TogetherSF. Both groups had financial backing from billionaires, including conservative donors like Bill Oberndorf, and focused aggressively on defeating progressives at every level of city governance. In particular, Neighbors was instrumental in the 2022 recalls of the school board and District Attorney Chesa Boudin.
While the Chengs are running Blueprint behind the scenes, its official director is Scotty Jacobs, who ran for supervisor in District 5 as a “moderate” against incumbent Supervisor Dean Preston. Although his bid failed, Jacobs was key in a ranked-choice voting alliance designed to oust Preston, alongside now-Supervisor Bilal Mahmood and candidate Autumn Looijen, who was an architect of the school board recall.
One of the more notable supporters of the merged groups is Y Combinator head Garry Tan, who has for years decried progressivism in SF through interviews and his social media feeds. He shared the ethnic studies petition on Twitter, calling supporters to “stop these insane efforts” and focus schools on “math and reading and real education.”
SFUSD Superintendent Maria Su and her staff are currently considering changes to the ethnic studies program, including canceling it for the fall in order to review and revise the curricula. They’ll have to do it fast: The first day of school is August 18.
