SFUSD review finds nearly 350 teachers without active teaching credentials
San Francisco Unified School District officials said Friday that they have discovered about 350 teachers in the district who do not have active teaching credentials.
The district said the discovery of the uncredentialed teachers was "a symptom of the ongoing challenges" related to the payroll system EMPowerSF implemented in 2022 that has been riddled with problems since then, with many teachers and district employees reporting receiving inaccurate paychecks or nothing at all.
SFUSD is moving to a new system to replace EMPowerSF and reviewed over 7,000 credentials issued by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. The district began sending letters earlier this month to teachers who may not have an active credential on file with the commission.
"SFUSD cannot allow teachers whose credentials are not in compliance to remain in the classroom," Superintendent Matt Wayne said in a statement. "We are doing everything possible to support our employees in securing some type of credential or permit for an employee to remain in their assignment."
The district said it has a "robust pool of substitutes" on hand to cover classes that may be impacted by the problem.
The issue is not a new one for SFUSD and was the topic of a report last year by a civil grand jury—a panel convened in each county around the state annually to investigate and report on local government operations.
The June 2023 report titled "Not Making the Grade: San Francisco's Shortage of Credentialed Teachers" said that recruitment and retention of credentialed teachers may be harmed by starting salaries the civil grand jury found were lower than most in the Bay Area as well as the payroll system problems that led to a "sleep-in" by educators at district offices.
The civil grand jury also reported that district administrators were frequently non-responsive during their investigation, which led to delays and required repeated intervention from the office of the San Francisco city attorney.
SFUSD's statement Friday said the credential issue is part of "systemic operational issues that have existed for years" but that the district is under new Human Resources leadership that is "taking immediate steps to identify and mitigate critical, long-standing issues."
Last weekend, Mayor London Breed announced a School Stabilization Team made up of managers from other city departments to address issues in the district, which is also considering the closures of various schools amid a decrease of enrollment by more than 4,000 students since the 2017-18 school year.
The team will be able to use $8.4 million in unallocated funds to help the district and its schools, Breed's office said.
""With so many questions around SFUSD's fiscal situation, potential school closures, and outlook for families, I'm deploying top city leaders and expert staff to help the School Board and District leadership navigate the coming months," Breed said in a statement.