Review note: SF Parents Action may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.
- sf.gov (opens in a new tab)SF Department of Elections — Candidates, November 3, 2026 General Election
- sfelections.org (opens in a new tab)SF Department of Elections — Certified results, June 2, 2026 election
- sfstandard.com (opens in a new tab)The San Francisco Standard — GrowSF plans to spend big in SF school board race (Aug 16, 2026)
- sfstandard.com (opens in a new tab)The San Francisco Standard — Teachers union endorses Virginia Cheung (Mar 16, 2026)
- sfparentaction.org (opens in a new tab)SF Parents Action — November 2026 Board of Education candidate pages
- sfusd.edu (opens in a new tab)SFUSD — Board of Education, current commissioners
- sf.gov (opens in a new tab)SF.gov — Laurance Lee, official candidate statement (November 2024 election)
- campaign.sfethics.org (opens in a new tab)SF Ethics Commission — campaign-finance dashboard and public-financing dataset
Last updated September 21, 2026.
School District
San Francisco Board of Education
These people would sit on San Francisco Unified's seven-member school board. The board sets district policy and the budget. It also hires the superintendent.
Eight candidates are competing for three seats on the San Francisco Unified board. You may vote for up to three, and the three highest totals win. Two sitting commissioners are running, board president Phil Kim and Alida Fisher. Kim won June's special election. The race has drawn organized money and slates. GrowSF is spending six figures to back Kim, Autumn Brown Garibay and Tim Tung. The teachers' union backed Virginia Cheung in June. Organizer Reina Tello is running a grassroots campaign.
Board members govern SFUSD on a seven-member body (per SFUSD): they hire and oversee the superintendent, set district policy, and own the budget of the city's public school system. Three of the seven seats are on this ballot, for four-year terms.
The organized division is real — a moderate slate backed by independent spending against union- and grassroots-backed candidates — but several candidates run outside both operations, and the vote-for-three ballot means you are choosing a working majority's worth of the board, not one champion. The district's finances and enrollment are the through-line every campaign addresses (per the SF Standard and the candidates' own materials).
Phil Kim
Phil Kim is the board's president and a sitting commissioner. He is a former 7th-grade science teacher. Candidate materials call him the board's only credentialed teacher. He won June's special election over Virginia Cheung and a third candidate. GrowSF is backing him for November.
Alida Fisher
Alida Fisher is a sitting commissioner and a career special education advocate. She is a parent of one current SFUSD student and three graduates. She is also a former advisory committee chair.
Virginia Cheung
Virginia Cheung is a former nonprofit fundraiser. She was an early education consultant at Kai Ming Head Start. Before that, she was development director at Wu Yee Children's Services. She is a parent at Alice Fong Yu. The teachers' union endorsed her in June after she picketed with striking educators. She lost that special election to Kim and is running again.
Autumn Brown Garibay
Autumn Brown Garibay is an SFUSD parent and PTA leader at Flynn and James Lick. She is a member of the SF Parents Leadership Council and works in account management. She regularly attends board meetings. GrowSF is backing her.
Tim Tung
Tim Tung is a public finance professional who has worked at S&P Global and Allspring. He chairs the city's Citizens' General Obligation Bond Oversight Committee. He chairs his school's Site Council and represents it on the district's LCAP advisory committee. GrowSF is backing him. News coverage noted that he filed late.
Reina Tello
Reina Tello is a community organizer with PODER. She is an SFUSD alumna and a current district parent at James Lick and June Jordan. She runs a grassroots campaign. She has criticized independent spending in the race as corrupting.
Ryan Hazelton
Ryan Hazelton is executive director of Mariposa Kids, an after school program for SFUSD students. They have a career in early childhood and out of school programming. They have past nonprofit and school board service, including at Thomas Edison Charter Academy. They are not themselves a district parent.
Laurance Lee
Laurance Lee is a San Francisco native and an SFUSD K-12 graduate. He owns a small business. His 2024 statement says he served as vice chair of the citizens' bond oversight committee. This is his second run for the board. He wants clearer public information on district spending and enrollment growth.
Financial info
- Small donors
- Individuals
- PACs & committees
- Self-funding
Ryan Hazelton
$11,519 raised
- Small donors$1,17010%
- Individuals$9,95086%
- Self-funding$3993%
Phil Kim
$6,600 raised
- Individuals$1,60024%
- PACs & committees$4,50068%
- Self-funding$5008%
Laurance Lee
$7,303 raised
- Small donors$2157%
- Individuals$3,08893%
Autumn Brown Garibay
$8,526 raised
- Small donors$1,07613%
- Individuals$6,80080%
- PACs & committees$5006%
- Self-funding$1502%
Reina Tello
$5,938 raised
- Small donors$1,11319%
- Individuals$4,82581%
1Alida Fisher has a registered committee but no financial disclosure on file with the SF Ethics Commission yet.
2Virginia Cheung has no campaign committee on file with the SF Ethics Commission for this race.
3Tim Tung has no campaign committee on file with the SF Ethics Commission for this race.
4Separately, independent committees — not the candidate's campaign — reported $33,569 in spending supporting Tim Tung: GrowSF Voter Guide (per Form 496 filings).
5Separately, independent committees — not the candidate's campaign — reported $19,705 in spending supporting Autumn Brown Garibay: GrowSF Voter Guide and 1 other committee(s) (per Form 496 filings).
6Separately, independent committees — not the candidate's campaign — reported $14,848 in spending supporting Reina Tello: United Educators of San Francisco Candidate PAC (per Form 496 filings).
7Separately, independent committees — not the candidate's campaign — reported $14,848 in spending supporting Virginia Cheung: United Educators of San Francisco Candidate PAC (per Form 496 filings).
8Separately, independent committees — not the candidate's campaign — reported $14,848 in spending supporting Ryan Hazelton: United Educators of San Francisco Candidate PAC (per Form 496 filings).
9Public matching funds are city money earned through small-donor support; totals combine reported contributions with approved public funds. Figures are CA Form 460 filings through 2026-06-30, per the SF Ethics Commission's e-filed transaction exports and campaign-finance dashboard, retrieved 2026-09-21.
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A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.