Mission Local reported this week on candidate forums covering two contested questions: whether SFUSD should adopt the structured literacy approach credited with dramatic reading gains in Mississippi, and how the board should handle merit-based admissions at Lowell — a policy the previous board eliminated, then watched get reinstated after the 2022 recall.

The Mississippi Miracle framing refers to that state's jump in elementary reading scores after it mandated phonics-based instruction and held students back who couldn't read proficiently by third grade. Whether SFUSD can or should replicate that model is a substantive policy question — one that turns on staffing, curriculum contracts, and whether the district is willing to enforce grade-level retention. SFUSD has announced literacy initiatives before.

On Lowell, candidates in District 4 — which feeds directly into the school — were asked where they stand on the screened admissions system the board has now reinstated. The recall that removed three board members in 2022 was driven in part by that admissions fight, making it a live wire for any candidate.

Public sentiment in online forums has run heavily toward stricter limits on classroom technology, a separate but related debate about how SFUSD spends instructional time and resources.

The school board election is scheduled for November 2025. Candidate forums are ongoing. Watch for the department of elections to finalize the ballot in the coming weeks and for SFUSD's budget cycle — which will constrain whatever any new board majority tries to do — to move through hearings this spring.