Phil Kim

Phil Kim is the incumbent Board of Education President and a lifelong educator with a master's in education and 300+ schools of experience across 20+ states. Since joining the board in 2024, he's improved literacy and math outcomes — the first gains in years — and was unanimously elected Board President. He voted to bring algebra back to 8th grade, ending a 12-year ban. He's focused on student outcomes, school safety, fiscal sustainability, and making SFUSD data publicly accessible.

We consistently elect unqualified people to the school board, but that is not Phil Kim. He has a past history in charter schools which may make people nervous but I feel that’s sort of like visiting another country: it gives you perspective about how things could be better if you weren’t always constrained by “how we’ve always done it”. Kim has a lot of experience in dealing with the school closure problem, which we will need to handle very soon, and that’s why I think he needs to stay in the job. Closures are required because of declining enrollment and nobody seems to have the stones to get it done. I would worry about a former teacher in this position because they might just kick the can down the road. I don’t think Kim will get another term after this, and unless the city loses its mind and recalls him, we might get a painful but effective school closure strategy.