[3] Under the management of the San Francisco Board of Education, the district serves approximately 49,500 students across 121 schools.

[1] SFUSD utilizes an intra-district school choice system and requires students and parents to submit a selection application.

In May 2004, the district received $3.3 million for whistleblowing a company defrauding a federal program meant to provide internet to disadvantaged children.

[6] The David Lynch Foundation sponsored the Quiet Time transcendental meditation program at various SFUSD middle and high schools.

[15] On February 3, 2021, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced that, on February 11, he will sue the San Francisco Board of Education, SFUSD, and Superintendent Vincent Matthews for violating state law by not having a plan to "offer classroom-based instruction whenever possible".

The suit is supported by Mayor London Breed, who has criticized the Board for focusing on renaming 44 SFUSD schools during the pandemic.

[23][24] Waldemar Rojas, the superintendent, wanted to keep the decree because the district had received $37 million in desegregation funds.

[25] On February 16, 1999, lawyers representing the Chinese parents in Ho v. SFUSD revealed that the school district had agreed to a settlement that removed the previous race-based admission system; William Orrick, the U.S. district judge, had planned to officially announce the news of the settlement the following day.

Lyanne Melendez of KGO-TV wrote in 2007 "but the local courts and the district have found that race-neutral factors haven't worked in San Francisco's case.

"[29] In 2011, SFUSD instituted a full choice assignment system, but "despite the District’s good intentions, San Francisco’s schools are more segregated now under the current policy than they were thirty years ago."

[30] Citing choice did not increase diversity, but encourage the opposite, as well as the problem of requiring the time to "shop" for schools.