The school board voted last week to move ahead with the new approach. Under the plan, each child would have a place at a neighborhood elementary school, with applications available for limited seats in citywide programs such as language immersion, special education and K-8 schools. The district expects to develop the policy details in the coming months and bring a final version to the board in April. The system is slated to begin in the 2028-29 school year.

Opposition comes from groups with differing views on school choice. Racial justice organizations, including Coleman Advocates, the NAACP and Chinese for Affirmative Action, have warned that assigning children by neighborhood could reinforce segregation by limiting access for students from lower-income communities to schools in wealthier areas.

“The school board did not stop to look and listen to the Black and brown community,” said the Rev. Amos Brown, a former NAACP president. “They rushed the decision through.”

The existing lottery was designed to counter the effects of residential segregation, but district officials say families learned to navigate the system in ways that contributed to school segregation. Superintendent Maria Su has backed the neighborhood model, while acknowledging that some district staff had reservations. Deputy Superintendent John Davis said school assignments alone cannot create strong schools.

Su argues that the new system will require SFUSD to distribute resources more fairly across campuses. The district has not yet produced that plan. Hong Mei Pang, the district’s head of staff, said equity measures would be developed alongside the enrollment policy, including work on how to define equitable resources and what families need from their schools.

District staff have estimated that putting a resource-equity plan fully into practice could take five to 10 years, likely closer to 10. That timeline alarms families who say schools already facing shortages cannot wait.

“If they’re doing it, we need it now,” said Roberto Guzman Rivera, a parent of three children at Guadalupe Elementary School in the Excelsior and the school’s PTA president. “We need to see the changes.”

The San Francisco Parents Coalition, which supports greater parent choice, also objects to moving ahead without a clear investment plan. Executive Director Rebecca Kee said she welcomed district leaders’ belief that all schools can be strong, but warned that families could lose years while waiting for improvements, particularly in underserved communities.

Parents’ concerns are shaped by a long-running debate over how SFUSD should address racial and economic disparities. The district’s proposed budget cuts earlier this year disproportionately affected small schools, many of which serve low-income students. While advocates broadly support additional resources for students learning English and those with disabilities, they disagree over how to fund and prioritize support for schools that have been historically understaffed or underfunded.

Vanessa Marrero, president of the San Francisco chapter of Parents for Public Schools, said the district must account for the city’s economic, racial and social divisions. Her organization has called for a pause in policy development to allow more community input. “We’re not going to accept inequitable outcomes,” she said.

Pang said the next phase will include consultation with families and educators and consideration of citywide transitional kindergarten, language-immersion applications and special education. The district, she said, recognizes concerns about whether schools will meet the needs of families, especially in historically underrepresented neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, Guzman Rivera and other parents are circulating a petition urging SFUSD to create and begin implementing an equity plan before changing enrollment. Their requests include fully staffing special education, establishing a fair appeals process for families unhappy with school assignments, and expanding Spanish, Mandarin and Cantonese programs to more neighborhoods. They also want parents involved before the district adopts implementation plans.

“When they make decisions, they don’t think about the kids and how it’s going to affect them,” said Jenny Garcia, whose daughter attends Guadalupe Elementary.