(The Center Square) – A California school district is using taxpayer funds to host LGBTQ+ community events, according to district materials uncovered by Defending Education and shared exclusively with The Center Square.
The San Francisco Unified School District has announced that “April is SFUSD’s Pride Month!” as part of its ongoing recognition of LGBTQ+ identities and history.
The district said it has honored the LGBTQ+ community for more than 35 years and is recommitting to “our shared value that everyone deserves to feel like they belong.” This year’s theme is “Freedom to Be: Art, Joy, and Resilience.”
As part of the celebration, the district hosted a publicly funded youth pride event this week that included activities such as drag makeup lessons, opportunities for students to sing with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, and distribution of a “Support Guide: For Parents and Caregivers of LGBTQ+ Youth.”
The amount of money spent on the Pride Month events has not been disclosed by the school district, which did not respond to The Center Square’s request for comment by press time.
The district’s parent support guide describes “worry dumping” as a situation in which “well-meaning caregivers” place their concerns on a child after the child comes out as LGBTQ+. It encourages parents to instead process those concerns privately, including through journaling, rather than expressing them directly to their child.
The district has restricted public access to some documents related to student events, limiting outside review of certain materials.
Erika Sanzi, director of communications at Defending Education, told The Center Square that the district’s focus is misplaced.
“San Francisco’s insistence in prioritizing PRIDE events is out of step with what students need from their schools,” Sanzi told The Center Square. “Teaching students to do drag make-up is not appropriate for a school-sponsored event! And the fact that so many of the PRIDE documents are locked from public view is a red flag.”
SFUSD serves approximately 48,000 to 50,000 students across more than 120 schools, including K–12.
For the 2025–26 school year, SFUSD adopted a budget with projected revenues of approximately $1.2 billion and planned expenditures of roughly $1.3 billion, resulting in a $102 million deficit. More than 85% of the budget is allocated to staffing and employee benefits.
