ICE Raids, Muni Cuts, & the Budget Make Back to School Hella Stressful
Kids are back to school amidst massive changes. How are things like ICE raids, Muni service cuts, and SFUSD changes impacting city life?
The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. It’s a saying I grew up hearing, but this year it keeps repeating in my head as I navigate preparing our household for Back to School Season.
I’m the PTA president this year, but in this piece I’m writing as an editor with BrokeAssStuart.com. The views are my own, but what I’m observing is something anyone can see.
Parent support groups are full of angst. Reader, I must admit… I was kicked out of the main SF Parents Facebook group after being critical of the dark money ties and ineptitude last year. But I’m in a few others!
In one, a teacher shares that more of her students unexpectedly don’t have WiFi at home this year. She asks if there’s any way to address it. Parents and teachers chime in that there’s a program called HotSpots, but instructions vary by school site. Usually you can fill out the form and turn it into the school librarian.
Really? No Wi-Fi? It’s 2025. But the truth is, when parents are facing everything from food insecurity to eviction, internet access is low on the utilities list. When I was a kid, I remember watching my mom decide whether to prioritize keeping the lights on or having heat – it’s a terrible position to be in.
Another issue we’re seeing? The buses are so full that some stops are getting skipped in the mornings. The Mayor’s billionaire budget cut services significantly this summer. That means commenters on Mayor Lurie’s Instagram, like @mari_sf_415, are getting left in the dust. The user says, “This past week, my daughter and I had to let 3 49 buses pass us due to the limited space. We left one hour early to get to school, just to be 15 minutes late!”
And it’s impacting everyone, not just parents. User @tamivolker says, “It’s really hard getting on or off at stops in between SOTA [Ruth Asawa School of the Arts] and Lincoln High Schools. This morning my bus had to drive past 2 stops and leave kids there because the bus was too full. And I had to yell so I could worm my way out of the bus at my stop in West Portal… I feel bad for the kids who are late because the bus is too full to stop for them.”
Could Waymo be a fix? After all, they just tripled the size of their fleet and were handed Market Street privileges. Might parents order them for individual or carpool rides? In Phoenix they’re letting 14 year olds ride without an adult. Could you imagine what trouble could happen in a private vehicle? At least on Muni there’s help if a fight breaks out, like what happened Wednesday afternoon when adults were able to intervene.
The trouble with the Mayor’s plan to replace social services like buses with private corporations like Waymo is that there’s very little oversight (and it’s fucking insane to expect people to pay private corporations to send their kids to school safely and on time). Plus people fuck in Waymos. There’s nobody stopping that kind of behavior. “But don’t they have surveillance and monitoring?” you might ask. Well, I don’t want that for my kids either!
Walking it is. Except the streets are more crowded now, too. Not only is school back in session, but the Mayor ordered his last 8000 to return to the office 4 days a week. All the extra (vehicular) activity is supposed to be a boon to the economy, but it’s coming at a time when SFMTA’s slashed budget means fewer crossing guards to keep kids safe.
Downtown Dan’s budget is also prioritizing outsized salaries and overtime for the police (who have very little accountability and keep getting our city sued) over things like food. At my school (and please remember, these views are my own), the citywide budget cuts and the Mayor’s choice to pause all Dreamkeeper funding mean we don’t have our normal daytime classroom snacks. We’re hoping the nonprofit partner is still able to provide it when the pause is over. Do you know what hungry fifth graders are like? I mean, don’t tell them I said this but they’re kinda scary on a good day!
Hangry jokes aside, food insecurity is on the rise. Many families rely on the fact that SFUSD provides free breakfast and lunch. At least their kids will get steady nutrition for two meals a day with school back in session.
And another bright spot: according to SFUSD, the staffing crisis is mostly solved. Except for places like this school that primarily serves Spanish-speaking immigrants. And while there’s been a bit of comfort from Dr. Su about the terrifying impacts of ICE raids, the Mayor showed up last week on the first day of school and didn’t have a single thing to say about any of that. Kinda concerning if you ask me.
The Surgeon General warned in February that parental stress is on the rise and hurting everyone. There are resources out there, but those are drying up thanks to the People in Charge. There have been so many cuts across the board that everyone’s forced to do more with less, from principals to parents. Some are turning to ChatGPT for therapy. I don’t even want to get into that horrific case where the AI coached a kid into not telling his parents he was planning to kill himself.
I used to love Back to School. The freshness, the pep, the return to a routine of comfort and learning. It’s still there, but everything’s so much heavier now. I visualize a future where we tax the shit out of billionaires and protect our kids. A mom can dream…
Howdy! My name is Katy Atchison and I'm an Associate Editor for Broke-Ass Stuart.
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