Leave the schools alone

IT'S BEEN MORE than five years since Sup. Leland Yee sat on the Board of Education – but he seems determined to keep his hands in the affairs of the San Francisco Unified School District.

Last November, Yee introduced legislation that he said would encourage financial accountability in the district. Unfortunately, the measure tied up half a dozen SFUSD repair projects and almost lost the district $20 million in state matching funds (see "Not So Handy Man," 11/21/01). It's been bouncing around board committees ever since.

Now Yee has involved himself in the district's enrollment process. He's drafted a resolution urging the district to provide all San Francisco kids with a spot in a school in their own neighborhood. Anyone who has paid attention to the district's ongoing efforts to maintain school diversity can see what a preposterous order this is. Neighborhood schools may be convenient, but giving every child a place at a nearby school would likely segregate students by race, a horrible side effect. Plus, the district is under a court order to diversify its schools.

Although the resolution has no legal weight, it sets a terrible precedent. The school district is, by design, separate from city government. There are a few things, like school-based health centers, that require the city and the district to collaborate. But in general the schools should be overseen by the elected Board of Education and the administrators it selects – not by city hall officials.

The supervisors need to be particularly careful about maintaining the wall between the city and the school district, given recent suggestions by other city officials. Just a couple of months ago Mayor Willie Brown announced that he wants to replace the elected Board of Education with one appointed by future mayors, which would decimate the progressive-era change that gives citizens more authority over their kids' schooling.

At the April 15 board meeting Yee agreed to continue the matter for a week. At the next meeting he should promptly withdraw it and leave school district business up to the school district.