2022 San Francisco Board of Education recall elections

In 2020-2021, the Board of Education came under national attention and criticism. The school district kept schools closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was slower to open than other major districts, even as case counts were lower. The Board of Education also came under criticism for renaming schools and ending merit-based admissions at Lowell High School.[4][5]

In March 2021, tweets from Commissioner Alison Collins came to light that offended the Asian American community, prompting condemnation and calls for Collins to resign from many in the political community.[6] The Board of Education approved a motion of no confidence on Collins 5-2, with Commissioners Collins and Gabriela Lopez in dissent, which removed Collins from her Vice President title and her committee positions. On March 31, 2021, Alison Collins filed a lawsuit against the school district and her fellow commissioners who voted for the motion of no confidence.[7] On August 16, 2021, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit for having no merit. The lawsuit cost the school district over $110,000.[8]

On February 21, 2021, a campaign committee was formed to recall Commissioners Alison Collins, Gabriela Lopez, and Faauuga Moliga from the Board of Education. (The remaining four commissioners were not eligible because they had not been in office for at least 6 months.)[9][10] By the petition submission deadline of September 7, 2021, recall campaign supporters submitted over 77,000 voter signatures to recall each of the three commissioners.[11] On October 18, 2021, city officials announced that each of the three recall petitions met the minimum qualifications of 51,325 valid voter signatures. City officials set the election date to be February 15, 2022.[2][3] It will be the first recall election of a San Francisco elected official since the 1983 recall election of then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein.[3]

A February 2021 poll found that 60% of registered voters supported the recall. In particular, 69% of voters who were public school parents supported it. A May 2021 poll found that 71% of voters gave the school board a negative rating, and 10% of voters a positive rating.[12]

Supporters of the recall accuse commissioners of negligence, expressing anger that public school remained closed in 2020-2021 while other districts and private schools opened in the Bay Area.[3] The recall supporters accuse commissioners of misplaced priorities focusing on school renaming and Lowell admissions as students were struggling with distance learning.[3] The recall supporters cite Collins's tweets about Asian Americans, and the subsequent lawsuit against the school district and her fellow commissioners, as additional reasons to remove her from office.[13]

Critics of the recall have called the recall a power grab because the Mayor would appoint a replacement for each commissioner who was successfully removed from office. Collins called the recall campaign "a move toward mayoral control and less local control … for parents who are immigrants who can vote".[14] Collins called the recall campaign "politically motivated" and Collins stated that “When I see certain people getting upset, I know I’m doing the right thing".[15] Recall critics call the election a waste of money and time when voters could vote on Collins's re-election nine months later in November 2022.[16]

On November 4, 2021, California State Senator Scott Wiener endorsed the recall campaign by stating that "Not only did these commissioners failed to do their jobs adequately, they engaged in abusive and disruptive behavior, interfered with the Superintendent’s ability to do his job, and caused the school district to deteriorate during the pandemic."[17] Wiener singled out Collins for her tweets against Asian Americans. On November 9, 2021, Mayor London Breed endorsed the recall as well, and stated that "Sadly, our school board’s priorities have often been severely misplaced".[18]