(a) The people of the City and County of San Francisco find and declare that:
(1) San Francisco Unified School District ("SFUSD") schools are one of the City's most valuable public assets and every San Francisco student has the right to a quality public education that prepares them to pursue higher education, be competitive in a diversity of job markets, and ultimately contribute to the future health and vitality of San Francisco;
(2) City funding for SFUSD public schools is an essential and valuable investment in our youth, as validated by San Francisco voters who overwhelmingly passed (by 71 percent) the ballot measure creating the Public Education Enrichment Fund ("PEEF") in 2004;
(3) The State of California is currently 49th in per pupil spending, and without the PEEF, SFUSD would fall to fifth place in per pupil spending among comparable California school districts;
(4) Urban public schools have the greatest need for comprehensive educational programs – including preschool programs, arts and music programs, sports activities, and after school programs – but often have the fewest resources to provide them;
(5) In the last decade, the PEEF enabled all San Francisco public school students to benefit from once-underfunded and diminishing critical programs and services including but not limited to: quality physical education and athletics programs, fully functioning libraries at every school staffed by credentialed librarians, arts and music teachers and programs, wellness and behavioral support staffing and translation and interpretation services;
(6) In the last decade, critical PEEF funding for sports, libraries, arts and music ensured that every San Francisco public school has a librarian, all elementary schools offer art classes and engagement opportunities, physical education courses are equipped and staffed by credentialed teachers, and sports teams have more coaches and officials along with upgraded uniforms and equipment;
(7) The Preschool for All program, initially established by the ballot measure that adopted the PEEF in 2004, successfully served over 18,000 children since the program's creation, with enrollment increasing year to year;
(8) Studies have shown that children who participated in Preschool for All demonstrated significantly higher academic achievement than children who did not participate;
(9) While the Preschool for All program made great strides in closing the opportunity gap for low-income early age children, the current need far exceeds the current level of services that the City is able to provide;
(10) The general education portion of the PEEF enabled SFUSD to triple the number of students enrolled in grades K-8 receiving individual and/or group health and mental health services through student support professionals over the past five years, with the number of high school students receiving five or more counseling sessions at the Wellness Center more than doubling in the last 10 years;
(11) The general education portion of the PEEF enabled SFUSD to nearly double the number of high schools seniors completing two City College of San Francisco courses;
(12) PEEF enabled the Human Capital Support program to recruit and retain a diversity of quality teachers to SFUSD. In the year the program began, there were approximately 46 teacher vacancies on the first day of school, whereas there were only three teacher vacancies on the first day of school in FY 2012-2013;
(13) SFUSD has seen a resurgence in enrollment in recent years and recognition of the opportunities now available to the young people of San Francisco;
(14) The choices businesses make about where to locate are impacted by the quality of public services the City provides, including public safety, transportation and education; a free quality public education can serve as a key factor for businesses to attract and retain workers in our community;
(15) Since 2000, SFUSD has made strong improvements in achievement measures and financial management; and during the past decade, SFUSD has built an exemplary record for effective and responsible management of voter-approved parcel taxes and bond measures. Financial and programmatic reviews of PEEF expenditures conducted by the Controller's Office have verified that expenditures were spent in accordance with SFUSD's spending plans and Charter requirements; and
(16) As the economy begins to recover, now is the time to continue to invest in our children's future to maintain and grow thriving public schools, before declines begin to erode the progress the SFUSD has made.
(b) This measure may be referred to as "The Public Education Enrichment Fund Amendment of 2014."
(Added March 2004; amended November 2014)