The 83,916-to-16,105 March 5 tally, according to from the San Francisco Department of Elections, reflects public frustration with the district’s decision to delay the course for all students until the 9th grade. Not only did it deny advanced learners an opportunity to challenge themselves with rigorous coursework — and put them on track for high school calculus  — opponents said, but it also did little to boost Black and Hispanic student achievement in the subject. 

There are in San Francisco. Turnout was roughly 21% on this Super Tuesday, which also included the presidential primary and the primary to fill the U.S. Senate seat of Bay Area Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

The algebra ballot measure is not binding and the school board had already to return the course to the middle school. But the results did drive home a lesson to a board that has for failing to perform to residents’ satisfaction. 

“The voters have made it very clear they want our public schools to teach as many kids as much as possible,” said Patrick Wolff, who had children in the district from 2010 to 2022. “The people of San Francisco understand that true equity and justice in our public schools never requires compromising academic excellence.”

Wolff, cofounder of Families for San Francisco, which was later absorbed into TogetherSF, said he wants the board’s vote — and the public’s — to bring lasting change. 

“I hope that our elected officials and public school administrators have heard the people’s message,” he said. “The only way to keep public school reform on track is for the people to keep being informed, engaged and involved.”

SFUSD’s struggle with algebra reflects a nationwide battle over when to introduce the topic. Student participation varies across the country. While some school systems, including Dallas, have crafted policies that have greatly increased students’ chance to take the course in middle schools, others use highly selective enrollment processes, which often leads to the exclusion of Black, Hispanic and low-income children. 

Rex Ridgeway, who, along with several others, regarding algebra last year, expected strong voter response. 

“This was the first time that the public was able to speak out publicly about Algebra 1 after 10 years of damage to our kids,” he said. “I was not surprised by how passionate people are on Algebra 1.”

The answer can’t be that the district simply returns to an earlier, failed approach, said one expert whose organization promotes math policies that support equity in college readiness and success.

“So, the prior tracking policy didn’t lead to equitable outcomes,” Melodie Baker, national policy director at Just Equations, told ����Ӱ�� before this week’s vote. “Detracking didn’t lead to equitable outcomes either. So it makes sense that they’re not sticking with it, but they’ll need to find new ways to implement eighth-grade algebra that ensure better outcomes for Black and Latinx students. Not just revert to what they were doing before.”

Meredith Dodson, executive director of SF Parents, said Wednesday that the public’s work to improve SFUSD is not over.

“In addition to finally bringing algebra back to middle school, our district also needs to figure out how to better prepare kids so more of them can access algebra in middle school and higher level math beyond that,” she said. “We know we still have a long road ahead to make sure that every student has the academic support they need coming from our district — and that starts early.”

The public will vote on the issue , though the effort is now largely symbolic: The school board, facing consistent pressure to reinstate the course, . 

“After 10 years of damage, the district did the right thing,” said Rex Ridgeway, who, along with several others, on the matter last year, casting doubt on the by removing the course from middle school. 

San Francisco is just one of many school systems nationwide that has grappled with when to offer algebra in a battle that has pitted equity against rigor. An earlier survey by ����Ӱ�� of the country’s largest school districts showed varied participation rates in the course at the middle school level with white and wealthier students often having greater access.  

Some education experts called algebra an unnecessary barrier to student success while others were trying to increase the number of children who can take it.

Dallas made advanced coursework at the middle school level, including mathematics, opt-out rather than opt-in, dramatically increasing participation rates among traditionally marginalized students — without seeing a drop in scores. , which nixed middle school algebra years ago, recently reversed itself after parents . 

While some groups, including the , praised San Francisco for its earlier decision to remove the course, parents quickly mobilized against it. They feared the plan would hinder students’ ability to take calculus in 12th grade. The impact, they reasoned, could follow them to college, jeopardizing their chance to enter lucrative STEM fields. 

Ridgeway, a retired stockbroker, tutored his granddaughter, Joselyn Marroquin, from first to ninth grade, plugging in what he described as gaping holes in math, English and science instruction. 

“Immediately, I saw she was not getting the type of education I would expect,” he said.  

Ridgeway paid $860 for Marroquin, now 16, to take an online algebra course the summer before her freshman year of high school so she could sail through the class in 9th grade — and double up on another course, geometry. 

But it was a challenge. 

“It was a little difficult because it was online,” Marroquin told ����Ӱ��. “I think I learn best in person.”

She said the course succeeded in preparing her for high school math, but that the time commitment ate into her other plans.  

“Although classes were in the morning, I had to complete homework and study for the next lesson,” she said. “Because of that, it was difficult to do other activities I enjoyed. I didn’t really have a summer vacation.”  

SFUSD moved to its current model to address the fact that few students were successfully progressing through its math sequence at the time: Just 19% of tenth graders — and only 1% percent of Black children — had passed the state math assessment and had not repeated math coursework across the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years. 

Those pushing for the change also noted a lack of participation in advanced math courses among Black and Hispanic students.  

But a 2023 found “large ethnoracial gaps in (Advanced Placement) math course-taking did not decrease after the policy change.” Specifically, the percentage of Black students enrolling in any AP math course in high school remained the same while Hispanic student participation increased by just 1 percentage point.

Meredith Dodson, executive director of SF Parents, understands the school district’s rationale for eliminating the course, but has long disagreed with the move.

“I think their experiment 10 years ago to delay algebra was well-intentioned, but in the end it had the opposite of the intended effect,” she said. “Kids who were supposed to be helped by that policy change were ultimately further harmed.”

Dodson said the disparity is stark.

“Parents around San Francisco are shocked when they hear algebra isn’t offered in middle school currently,” she said. “It’s time to bring it back, and we’re just glad that the district isn’t ignoring the data any longer.”

California public schools, like those in many other states, have to private schools and homeschooling post-pandemic. SFUSD’s student population alone shrank from to . District leaders just announced they will because of the loss. 

The district’s reversal on algebra comes two years after three school board members were in a February 2022 referendum. The vote reflected the public’s enormous dissatisfaction with . 

Algebra will be piloted in in the district next fall. It will also offer an online Algebra 1 course next school year and a summer course in 2025. 

Patrick Wolff, cofounder of Families for San Francisco, served as the group’s executive director before the organization was absorbed into TogetherSF. Wolff, who had children in the district from 2010 to 2022, said its problems extended well beyond a single course.  

“SFUSD has done a terrible job of teaching kids math,” he said. “Kids who are capable of learning more math have been held back for no good reason and kids who need more support in order to reach their full potential have absolutely been failed in receiving the support and instruction they need.”

Wolff said there is nothing wrong with acknowledging that some students might excel in advanced mathematics at a younger age while others will not — as long as those who struggle are helped to improve. 

Melodie Baker, national policy director at , an organization that promotes math policies that support equity in college readiness and success, said the district can’t simply return to an earlier, failed approach. 

“So the prior tracking policy didn’t lead to equitable outcomes,” she said. “Detracking didn’t lead to equitable outcomes either. So it makes sense that they’re not sticking with it, but they’ll need to find new ways to implement eighth-grade algebra that ensure better outcomes for Black and Latinx students. Not just revert to what they were doing before.”

A released last month noted just 65% of U.S. principals said their elementary or middle school offered algebra in eighth grade — but only for some students. Twenty percent of respondents said it was open to all. 

Eighth-grade algebra was even scarcer in California: only 48% of principals said their school offered the course, and only to certain children. Eighteen percent said any child could enroll.