The Meaning of San Francisco’s School-Board Recall

By large margins, San Francisco voters on Tuesday recalled three members of the city’s school board, including board president Gabriela López (with about 74 percent supporting recall), Alison Collins (78 percent), and Faauuga Moliga (71 percent). The recall effort was directed at the entire board: These three were targeted because they were the only members who had served long enough to be eligible for recall. It was the city’s first recall election since 1983, and the first successful one anyone can remember.

San Francisco’s recall campaign drew national attention because it was seen as a trial of racialized left-wing politics. What does it mean that voters in one of the most liberal cities in the country decisively repudiated a board that last academic year marched proudly under the banner of racial equity and