Why families have left San Francisco

We surveyed 120 former San Francisco residents who now reside in surrounding communities asking them the reasons why they left and how they feel about their children’s education in the Bay Area.

SFUSD’s bad reputation
About one-quarter of comments had to do with the poor quality of San Francisco schools.

“The main reason we left San Francisco is the public schools are poor. There are a few good ones, but we understood that even if we moved to those neighborhoods, our child might get bussed to another community.”

“We felt that SFUSD was not even a possibility or our kids after 4th grade. I wish that wasn’t the case as I am a teacher, but my teaching experience in SFUSD convinced me that my kids would never go to middle school or high school within the SFUSD (except for Lowell)”

The Lottery
Another quarter of the comments condemned San Francisco’s lottery system.

“One of the main reasons we left San Francisco was the lottery system in place for the SF schools. We had no guarantee that our kindergartener would get into a school we’d be happy with, or even into our (less-than-great) neighborhood school — and in fact, he got into neither. As of July before kindergarten, he had no elementary school assignment at all, our appeal to the schools on our list had been turned down, and in the interim our neighborhood school had filled up. Another friend’s daughter wound up getting assigned to an elementary school in Chinatown, even though she lived in Bernal Heights, and even though the Chinatown school wasn’t one her parents had requested. The whole system just seemed crazy to us. By moving to Oakland (despite the bad rep its own schools have) we could target neighborhoods in the hills with excellent public elementary schools, which our son was virtually guaranteed admission to by virtue of residing in the attendance zone. So that’s what we did, and it was a great decision for our family. We were sorry to leave SF, but the school situation combined with the insane housing prices pretty much ruled it out as a place for our family to stay long-term.”

Neighborhood schools, not Commuter kids
Forty percent of the comments praised neighborhood schools and/or lamented the thought of their children commuting across town to school.

“The number 1 reason we moved to our new neighborhood (Redwood Heights in Oakland) is the quality of the local public elementary school, and the fact that as homeowners our child would be guaranteed a spot (no lottery as in SF). As East coasters who moved to the Bay Area within the last 10 years, we’ve been shocked by how bad the public school system is in San Francisco and California in general. For such a seemingly “progressive” place to live it’s an outrage, an embarrassment, and most of all, a tragedy for our children. We all know how important education is to our children and society’s future. A place like San Francisco should be leading the way for the rest of the country, not trailing so far behind.”

“The three-top-choices school lottery — what a nightmare!! What ever happened to NEIGHBORHOOD schools? We didn’t want to take our chances on not getting into a decent elementary school. Then even if we did, we could end up commuting 45 minutes across town driving our kids to school just because our neighborhood schools were lousy (so lousy in fact, our neighborhood elementary was CLOSED for good last year — I think it was on Waller Street ).”

San Francisco is not Family Friendly
Surrounding communities are viewed as having more options for children and catering to families. San Francisco was seen by some as a hostile place for families.

“We *never* wanted to leave SF, and were originally determined not to be part of the mass exodus of our friends who fled when they had kids. But we couldn’t handle a mortgage *and* private school and so many of our friends who stayed got stiffed by the school lottery system. We feel like we were basically *forced out* of San Francisco, and that the city has become actually HOSTILE to parents. (Our real estate agent said she’s looking at $25K a year for her son’s private high school!!!)”

“San Francisco is a decidedly hostile place for families. Housing options aside, there is poor family infrastructure, many of the playgrounds are outdated and some are dangerous. There are more options for dog owners than there are for families with children. The school selection process for public schools smacks of the 1960’s busing efforts to integrate schools. San Francisco made a decision a long time ago to cater to extreme wealth and it has succeeded. It is no surprise families are fleeing to other places.”

Our schools are outstanding
There were several families who felt they had dramatically traded up to an outstanding local school. Sounds like a dream…

“We joined a community in Marin, (Corte Madera/Larkspur) that takes their educational commitment very, very seriously. This school is very well run, it has outstanding staff, (the principal just won the principal of the year award last year) and an extremely active and informed parent body. We are very involved, and feel pleased to have our daughter here. Also, my daughter walks to school everyday.”

Our schools hurt too
Not all schools outside of San Francisco are an improvement. Many families - in and out of San Francisco - see private school as the only option for their children.

“The schools here are not well funded and in fact suffer from the threat of impending closing. The parents have raised over 250,000 to keep the local elementary open. They provide materials, and other funds to keep the class rooms stocked with basic goods like chalk, paper, pencils, books, teachers, etc. A majority of parents send their kids to one of the 16+ private Christian/Catholic schools in the area because the alternative public elementary school has no space. The local high school is notorious for gangs, high drop out rate, and poor test scores. Again, the private schools are an only option.”

Housing
Housing is another reason that families have left San Francisco. Being able to buy more space with less money, or even buy at all drove many former residents to the surrounding communities.

“We left San Francisco after 12 years due to housing costs. We did not want to leave but with the grim reality of what you can buy for a home in San Francisco and what you can get in Berkeley was a huge factor. I don’t know much about Berkeley schools but I know the schools in San Francisco have not been given a great reputation.”

Improved quality of life
Some families moved to improve their quality of life by reducing commutes or having a yard and flat streets to bike. Others were glad to leave some of the seedier parts of San Francisco behind.

“We would have never left SF if not for my husband’s commute to work in San Jose. We love the city and would have happily raised kids there, but they would have never seen their father. We also would have certainly sent our children to private schools and are considering private schools even in Palo Alto — the state is ranked 49th in the nation, so being in a district that boasts some of the best schools in the state is a dubious honor at best.”

“I like the fact that here in San Mateo, I can move into a nice community (by “nice” I mean no homeless, no panhandling, feels safe to walk at night, no drunk people puking outside my home, no screaming or fighting outside at 2 AM, etc.); and that a top-rated, not too gigantic, elementary school is located within walking distance of my house; and I can send my kids there without a lottery situation. In other words, I feel that in San Mateo Co. I am getting back from the school system what I am paying for (in property taxes).”

Bye-bye Bay Area
Two families mentioned that they are leaving the Bay Area all together.

“We are trying to move out of the Bay Area altogether because we can’t afford to buy a house and especially in areas where there are good schools!”

Final comments…
“While my neighborhood school wasn’t stellar, I was reluctant to deal with the lottery system and have to deal with a long drive to a school. Besides the fact we were pregnant with twins, and had no laundry, parking or backyard, I felt an anti-children vibe in SF ever since my first was born. And the housing prices were just completely out of reach. We bought a fantastic home in El Cerrito and my son goes to a highly ranked public school. We still miss a lot about SF though!”

“I wanted Bella to grow up in a neighborhood where she knew her neighbors by name, not the homeless guys. I want her to be safe at school and get just as much arts, language and physical education as scholastic achievement. Schools should focus on building human beings, not just teaching facts. I hope Gavin Newsom can put together a team of parents to help figure out how best to do this- I will promise to work on the committee! Thanks for doing this. We need to get past the “there is a problem and people are moving” to a solution. I love the City and do miss living here.”

- all comments -
As stated earlier, schools were not a factor in our decision to move. However, without having researched the question in any depth, I have the impression that there is a greater diversity of school choices in San Francisco than in Oakland, where we currently reside, i.e., bilingual immersion programs and Lowell HS for “gifted” kids. I don’t know whether I would have ultimately sent my daughter to public school in SF; she attends private school here since our district school is slated for “reorganization” and we were unable to switch into more “desirable” schools through the lottery. It is utterly appalling considering the amount we (as citizens, collectively) pay in taxes that we are unable to provide world-class public education to ALL Bay Area kids, and that an underclass deprived of “frivolities” like music classes, physical education (hello obesity epidemic!), art and even libraries is being created while those with access to upper middle class resources, however stretched, segregate in private school which cost, after 12 years, as much as a decent home in most parts of the country!

I grew up in SF and went to private school because of the reputation of SF public schools. It is difficult for me, thus, to rate the public schools, but if I were to move back to SF I would definitely be sending my children to private school.

I wanted Bella to grow up in a neighborhood where she knew her neighbors by name, not the homeless guys. I want her to be safe at school and get just as much arts, language and physical education as scholastic achievement. Schools should focus on building human beings, not just teaching facts. I hope Gavin Newsom can put together a team of parents to help figure out how best to do this- I will promise to work on the committee! Thanks for doing this. We need to get past the “there is a problem and people are moving” to a solution. I love the City and do miss living here.

Our child is not yet school age and we have not yet researched the public school issue very thoroughly, so that wasn’t a key factor in our decision to move, but I didn’t have a very good impression of SF public schools and wasn’t inclined to stay in SF for the schools. With the housing prices what they are, I would hope for public schools with a better reputation than those in SF seem to have.

When I lived in SF, I was a single, childless career woman and I loved being in the city. But when I got engaged and was looking for a more mommy-friendly job and a family-friendly housing situation, the ‘burbs were a better fit. The schools wouldn’t have been too much of a draw to keep me in SF, nor were they that large a part in my leaving.

SF schools are an embarassment.

Schools in our neighbor do not have the gang problems found in some of the SF schools. Academic standards, test scores and percentage attending college tend to be higher in our neighborhood.

We felt that SFUSD was not even a possibility or our kids after 4th grade. I wish that wasn’t the case as I am a teacher, but my teaching experience in SFUSD convicned me that my kids would never go to middle school or high school within the SFUSD (except for Lowell)

We are trying to move out of the Bay Area altogether because we can’t afford to buy a house and especially in areas where there are good schools!

The main reason we left San Francisco is the public schools are poor. There are a few good ones, but we understood that even if we moved to those neighborhoods, our child might get bussed to another community.

We are now in OUSD, which is pretty hit-or-miss. The particular school we attend is in the top 1% of CA. The school right down the road is a No-Child-Left-Behind school. One of the things we wanted for our children was to set up a community for them - so the same kids were in school, lived on our street, shopped at the same grocery store and attended the same church. I don’t think we could have achieved that staying in SF as it seems all the schools have commuter kids. While we miss the City at times - we still own property there - we don’t regret the move. And now that we have kids, it’s hard to imagine raising them there, even tho we see our friends doing so successfully. Hope this has been helpful to you. Good luck.

We left before we had kids but looking back I think I would have had some anxiety facing SF schools as we are huge public school advocates and is why we moved specifically to Albany and as my children get older i wonder about how they would get to school I certainly would not want them to take public transportation. best of luck!

We left San Francisco after 12 years due to housing costs. We did not want to leave but with the grim reality of what you can buy for a home in San Francisco and what you can get in Berkeley was a huge factor. I don’t know much about Berkeley schools but I know the schools in San Francisco have not been given a great reputation.

We moved to Oakland for housing price (first house bought), now we are moving to Sydney, Australia for the excellent public schools. Oakland schools are no better than SF (worse, I imagine) so we can’t stay here either.

We loved living in San Francisco and really thought hard before deciding to leave, but yards are often smaller in SF, it’s hilly where we liked to live and that’s hard for bikes, strollers, etc. and there’s no guarantee that your kids will get into a good school close to your home.

The schools weren’t our primary consideration. It was the housing prices. But, that said, we did want to be in a good school district and were pleased that in Oakland we could be assured of having a neighborhood school. In SF it appeared to be decided more by lottery.

We really wanted more space and a real yard, plus we felt that we could get better schools in the suburbs and more of a community committed to families/children.

We moved primarily because of housing costs and because most of our friends were in the East Bay and we wanted to be nearer to them. The public school in our area of Oakland is quite good and I think more diverse than the schools would have been in the Outer Sunset where we lived in SF.

Our kids were in privte school in the city. SF jr. academy. We left due to high housing costs. The schools here in Santa Rosa are horrific. we luckily got our kids in the most wonderful charter school. Those are the way to go, if they have good administration. I’m sure SF schools are far better funded, and have a more diverse cirriculum than the hispanic dominated district up here. Even though I know Sf is closing some schools, due to lack of funds. Whatever you do, don’t move here and put your kids in public school.

Ability to buy a home was our first reason, but defintitley with a new child we factored better schools into our decision to move…

We primarily left San Francisco because of housing prices (we wanted to buy) and commute (we both worked outside of the city). Now that we’ve had a child, I’d find it hard to return to the city given the housing cost, schools and housing space restraints. Other than that, I LOVE san francisco and would have liked to live there and raise my kids there.

We left because we couldn’t afford to buy.

Cost of living is the big issue. What you can buy in the East Bay for a home vs. SF is much more.

We wanted to support the public school program but there is such a discrepency in the quality. Also, it’s a lottery and transportation so far out of our district when it came to school placement became a burden.

One of the main reasons we left San Francisco was the lottery system in place for the SF schools. We had no guarantee that our kindergartener would get into a school we’d be happy with, or even into our (less-than-great) neighborhood school — and in fact, he got into neither. As of July before kindergarten, he had no elementary school assignment at all, our appeal to the schools on our list had been turned down, and in the interim our neighboorhood school had filled up. Another friend’s daughter wound up getting assigned to an elementary school in Chinatown, even though she lived in Bernal Heights, and even though the Chinatown school wasn’t one her parents had requested. The whole system just seemed crazy to us. By moving to Oakland (despite the bad rep its own schools have) we could target neighborhoods in the hills with excellent public elementary schools, which our son was virtually guaranteed admission to by virtue of residing in the attendence zone. So that’s what we did, and it was a great decision for our family. We were sorry to leave SF, but the school situation combined with the insane housing prices pretty much ruled it out as a place for our family to stay long-term.

When my daughter was younger, we applied to many of the center-based preschools in SF (Pacific Primary, etc.) and got into none of them. We eventually found a small home-based program for her. When we were looking at public school Kindergartens, we were given none of the (7) choices we had listed on our application and were instead assigned to a public school way across town. We also applied to several private schools in SF and got into none of them. Thankfully, my daughter now attends a small private school in Oakland.

While my neighborhood school wasn’t stellar, I was reluctanct to deal with the lottery system and have to deal with a long drive to a school. Besides the fact we were pregnant with twins, and had no laundry, parking or backyard, I felt an anti-children vibe in SF ever since my first was born. And the housing prices were just completely out of reach. We bought a fantastic home in El Cerrito and my son goes to a highly ranked public school. We still miss a lot about SF though!

Too uncertain as to where my child would go Likely need for a problematic commute to get children to school

The three-top-choices school lottery — what a nightmare!! What ever happened to NEIGHBORHOOD schools? We didn’t want to take our chances on not getting into a decent elementary school. Then even if we did, we could end up commuting 45 minutes across town driving our kids to school just because our neighborhood schools were lousy (so lousy in fact, our neighborhood elementary was CLOSED for good last year — I think it was on Waller Street ).

Think it’s quite GRAVE that SF public schools are not supported. Think the lottery system is full of bugs - can’t send your kids to the LOCAL school (!) unless you’re lucky. Sense of community - support that’s crucial for public schools - is lost. SF families have to truly fend for themeselves…. Easiest solution seems to be to turn to costly private schools and how unfortunate that is! SF SUPPORT PUBLIC SCHOOLS SO YOUR COMMUNITIES’ FAMILIES CAN TOO!!!!!!!!!

The number 1 reason we moved to our new neighborhood (Redwood Heights in Oakland) is the quality of the local public elementary school, and the fact that as homeowners our child would be guaranteed a spot (no lottery as in SF). As East coasters who moved to the Bay Area within the last 10 years, we’ve been shocked by how bad the public school system is in San Francisco and California in general. For such a seemingly “progressive” place to live it’s an outrage, an embarassment, and most of all, a tragedy for our children. We all know how important education is to our children and society’s future. A place like San Francisco should be leading the way for the rest of the country, not trailing so far behind.

We *never* wanted to leave SF, and were originaly determined not to be part of the mass exodus of our friends who fled when they had kids. But we couldn’t handle a mortgage *and* private school and so many of our friends who stayed got stiffed by the school lottery system. We feel like we were basically *forced out* of San Francisco, and that the city has become actually HOSTILE to parents. (Our real estate agent said she’s looking at $25K a year for her son’s private high school!!!)

The lottery system in SF would make me crazy.

SF - problem was not knowing what school we would be assigned to - I hated the lottery part!

We moved when we got pregnant. The idea of navigating SF schools was untenable. We assumed we would have to go to private schools (public schools were simply unacceptable there), and the word was that in order to even get into a preschool you had to be on a waiting list before birth. Way too competitive for us, and that’s saying a lot! There are many more choices here, and therefore the whole thing is waaaay less stressful.

By moving to the East Bay, we were able to capitalize on all of wonderful things to d with (and for) our child (Age 2.) We are amazed at all that is available for children ages 0-5 in the area. At the same time, we are shocked & dismayed at how awful the public education is for ages 5+. We hope to have our child enrolled in one of the “better” Oakland public elementary schools (that in itself, is a debatable topic for conversation!) and are seriously pondering what we will do for his middle school eductaion!

We have more options of private and public schools in alemeda county

I believe having access to “close by” neighborhood schools is important because it allows parents more time to spend with their children — versus commuting.

My husband does not like urban living while I love it. But for our children, we wanted them to be able to grow up in a suburban setting. San Mateo has very good schools so we made the trade off of a smaller home for a better school district.

I moved to Oakland where the schools probably aren’t much better. Our primary motive in moving was to get more living space.

The schools here are not well funded and in fact suffer from the threat of impending closing. The parents have raised over 250,000 to keep the local elementary open. They provide materials, and other funds to keep the class rooms stocked with basic goods like chalk, paper, pencils, books, teachers, etc. A majority of parents send their kids to one of the 16+ private Christian/Catholic schools in the area because the alternative public elementary school has no space. The local high school is notorious for gangs, high drop out rate, and poor test scores. Again, the private schools are an only option.

I will probably have to educate my child in a private school or move to a better district since we live in Berkeley which has a bad reputation for its schools. I will NOT bus my child to have him attend public school, and Berkeley has a race-based admissions for its public schools instead of looking at which school is closest for the child. I think a policy based on skin-colour is racist, and therefore Berkeley government is racist, and it makes me uncomfortable here.

We joined a community in Marin, (Corte Madera/Larkspur) that takes their educational committment very, very seriously. This school is very well run, it has outstanding staff, (the principal just won the principal of the year award last year) and an extremely active and informed parent body. We are very involved, and feel pleased to have our daughter here. Also, my daughter walks to school everyday.

Our schools are fantastic and they are the sole reason we left SF. We have extremely talented teachers, kids who want to learn every day, a committed parent community, a neighborhood of school kids who know and enjoy each other. The move paid off in spades.

Felt that if we stayed in the city we would have to send our kids to Private schools and we could not afford to do that. SF schools feel very “inner city” in a negative way. High Schools appear to be unsafe and run down

Our children never attended school in S.F. We were planning on homeschooling, but when we moved here, we wished to make some connections and thought we’d give our public Waldorf Charter school a try. My daughter started there for 1st grade and had never attended school before. I feel pretty good about it, although we’ve opted to homeschool our kindergarten aged son. Good luck- we dream of moving back someday! Maybe after we win the lottery!

Although our local public school is much better than most public schools available in S.F., we ended up putting our children in private school… except for the child with special needs. We are amazed at how public education has deteriorated. NCLB has had a devastating impact, and along with other factors, we wanted out!

We would have never left SF if not for my husband’s commute to work in San Jose. We love the city and would have happily raised kids there, but they would have never seen their father. We also would have certainly sent our children to private schools and are considering private schools even in Palo Alto — the state is ranked 49th in the nation, so being in a district that boasts some of the best schools in the state is a dubious honor at best.

I find that the quality of life in Marin County is superior to that in San Francisco. It is much safer to live here. Students in Marin County receive a far better education than those in San Francisco.

I like the fact that here in San Mateo, I can move into a nice community (by “nice” I mean no homeless, no panhandling, feels safe to walk at night, no drunk people puking outside my home, no screaming or fighting outside at 2 AM, etc.); and that a top-rated, not too gigantic, elementary school is located within walking distance of my house; and I can send my kids there without a lottery situation. In other words, I feel that in San Mateo Co. I am getting back from the school system what I am paying for (in property taxes).

San Francisco is a decidedly hostile place for families. Housing options aside, there is poor family infrastructure, many of the playgrounds are outdated and some are dangerous. There are more options for dog owners than there are for families with children. The school selection process for public schools smacks of the 1960’s busing efforts to integrate schools. San Francisco made a decision a long time ago to cater to extreme wealth and it has succeeded. It is no surprise families are fleeing to other places.

East Bay is much more family friendly in terms of family resources, parks, cost-of-living, and number of families vs. singles.

We don’t have children yet but our desire to have children is why we left SF.

I would move back to the city in a heart beat but my husband and I felt that the quality of our childrens lives would be better out of the city. I was born in SF and my parents moved out for the same exact reason many moons ago.

RESOURCES IN SAN FRANCISCO ARE GREAT, BUT YOU HAVE TO PUSH AND FIGHT FOR YOUR CHILD TO GET WHAT YOU WANT. I CANT COMMENT ON SCHOOLS IN MY AREA BECAUSE I HAVE NOT MOVED MY CHILD YET..