Analysis
Key findings and insights from our data work.
Key Findings
Our analysis reveals a clear picture: public schools deliver exceptional outcomes, and every family that enrolls strengthens the system.
SFUSD graduates outperform local private school graduates in UC acceptance rates
Compared to 13% in SFUSD — private schools are dramatically less diverse
Annual operating budget each enrolled student brings, with fixed costs unchanged
Families who rank their attendance-area school receive it
The Enrollment Equity Gap
Who opts out — and why it matters
In San Francisco, 30% of school-age children are White, but only 13% of SFUSD students are White. Meanwhile, local private schools are approximately 60% White. This opt-out pattern disproportionately drains public school funding and reduces the diversity that benefits all students.
Each student who leaves the public system takes over $10,000 in annual operating budget with them — while the fixed costs of running schools remain the same. This creates a negative spiral: fewer students means less funding means fewer resources means more families opting out.
The lottery works better than you think
One of the most common concerns we hear is about the school assignment lottery. The data tells a different story: 69% of families receive their first-choice school, 85% get one of their top three, and 94% who rank their attendance-area school are placed there.
The new waitlist policy further improves outcomes by automatically placing families on the waitlist for their top 5 unassigned schools.
Academic excellence in SFUSD
SFUSD graduates achieve a 76.5% UC acceptance rate — 15 percentage points higher than graduates of local non-public schools. This finding challenges the pervasive narrative that private schools provide superior academic preparation and underscores the quality of education available in our public school system.