Committee considers making non‑citizen parent voting in SFUSD permanent; amendments read and matter continued

The Rules Committee on Oct. 18 heard a presentation and broad public testimony on an ordinance to make non‑citizen parent voting in San Francisco Unified School District elections permanent by removing the charter sunset.

Supervisor Connie Chan, sponsor of the ordinance, said the Department of Elections submitted a letter of support and introduced presenters from the Immigrant Parent Voting Collaborative. Chan also announced amendments clarifying that qualifying non‑United States citizens may vote in all school board‑related elections, including recall elections.

Speakers from the Immigrant Parent Voting Collaborative described outreach efforts and the program’s history. Eva of Chinese for Affirmative Action noted that the charter amendment currently sunsets in 2022 and the introduced ordinance would "remove the sunset date" so qualifying non‑citizen parents could continue to vote. Marco Guillen of the Central American Resource Center said, "If this is not made permanent, one third of immigrant parents would lose the right to vote," stressing the need for multilingual outreach to reach 13,000 English‑learner students' families.

Dozens of callers from community groups and parent‑advocacy organizations testified in support, reporting extensive outreach and asking the Board to fund continued education and enrollment assistance. One public speaker raised concerns that implementation should align with state standards and cautioned against politicization.

Because Supervisor Chan’s changes were deemed substantive, the committee approved the amendments and voted to continue the matter as amended for one week to return with a revised ordinance.

Next steps: the item will return to the Rules Committee with the amendments incorporated and then proceed to the full Board for further consideration.