"Our schools are, sadly, under-resourced and there is an unstated expectation that educators will spend their own money on school supplies and equipment," Vice President of the National Education Association Princess Moss told USA Today. "We don't ask nurses and doctors to provide their own equipment for doing their jobs."

The big picture is that kids at every grade are still behind where they would have been without the pandemic. All three reports look at student achievement in the spring of 2019, before the pandemic, and compare it to the spring of 2023. A typical sixth grader, for example, in the spring of 2023 was generally scoring much lower than a typical sixth grader in 2019.

The United Educators of San Francisco report claims the district has borrowed irresponsibly, failed to capitalize on vacant properties, hired expensive consultants and overspent on top administrative salaries.

A loose coalition of 250 school leaders is experimenting with deeper learning, social-emotional skills, self-direction and career readiness as they and their teams seek new ways to equip students for success after high school graduation.