Elon Musk is in Beijing with President Donald Trump this week revealing (opens in new tab) that his son is learning Mandarin. Back in San Francisco, families without his billions are hoping for the same opportunity closer to home.

The San Francisco Unified School District announced a year ago that it would establish the city’s first public Mandarin immersion school, offering comprehensive bilingual education of the official language of China.

But the school’s troubled rollout is testing families’ faith in a district that has spent years failing to reverse persistent enrollment decline — and raises a pointed question: Can SFUSD deliver on a high-profile promise?

The latest update has the district planning a far smaller rollout than originally planned, a move that some disheartened families say will not meet demand.

“The current thinking is that we will launch one Transitional Kindergarten class in fall 2027, along with three kindergarten classes,” Hong Mei Pang, SFUSD’s head of communications, said during a packed town hall meeting Wednesday night.

That is a significant reduction from what the district had previously envisioned. Initially, the district told parents that it intended to launch with nine classrooms and 198 seats, including three classrooms each for TK, kindergarten, and first grade. The latest proposal would open with only four classrooms and 88 seats, eliminating two TK classes and cutting first grade entirely.

“Is it perfect? No,” Pang said. “We understand that there is, rightfully so, some disappointment that we are not starting at as large a scale as we want.”

Abby Chao, a parent of three who are interested in enrolling, founded the Friends of the SF Mandarin School website to advocate for the program. (opens in new tab)

“We just want to make sure that the district is considering all options in pursuing this with as much scale as possible before scaling it back,” she said. 

Dozens of families gathered Wednesday at Ulloa Elementary School in the Sunset to hear updates from district officials. More than 100 joined online. Public school families have long fought (opens in new tab) to retain and expand Mandarin language programs in SFUSD, as tuition at private Mandarin immersion schools can cost up to $50,000 per year.

Kunal Modi, the policy chief for the mayor’s office who oversees education-related initiatives, attended the meeting and expressed full support from Daniel Lurie for the Mandarin immersion school effort. While the city does not directly control the district, it provides roughly a quarter of SFUSD’s annual funding.

School board president Phil Kim also attended and acknowledged the strong public response.

“We have to deliver, and we must get it right. The demand is there, and the excitement was clear tonight,” Kim said. “The board is ready to partner with families to make this a reality.”

Last year, as the district rejected a proposed charter Mandarin immersion school, Superintendent Maria Su announced plans for a new district-run Mandarin immersion school opening in fall 2027.

San Francisco has several thriving private schools that offer full Mandarin immersion instruction. Those schools remain popular among affluent families who see Mandarin fluency as a valuable asset in an increasingly globalized world.

Mandarin is the dominant Chinese language in China and around the world. Still, only two elementary schools and one middle school in SFUSD offer limited Mandarin immersion programs. Cantonese immersion programs are more common in the public school system, reflecting the city’s early waves of immigration from Guangdong province. But as China’s global influence has grown, Mandarin has become more widely recognized in the U.S. education system and is increasingly viewed as a competitive advantage for students.

With public school enrollment declining statewide, supporters see the Mandarin immersion school as a way to attract more families back to the district.

“The district may cut our school enrollment in half,” Friends of the SF Mandarin School wrote on its website (opens in new tab). Chao said the group’s informal survey found that about 1,000 local families are interested in the program, including many parents hoping to enroll older children. Under the district’s current proposal, however, the school would begin with only TK and kindergarten.

“Our survey showed that about 175 families were excited to enroll their first-grader in the school,” Chao said. “Based on the district’s new plan, those families would have no opportunity to enroll.”

School board commissioner Supryia Ray also raised concerns about the elimination of classes during the meeting with Asian parents (opens in new tab), pushing back against the district’s smaller rollout plan. Ray, who is of South Asian descent, has long been an advocate for the Mandarin school and a critic of what she describes as the district’s inability to deliver.

Liane Szeto, a former Cantonese immersion school principal who is leading the Mandarin school effort, said starting small is the right approach to ensure long-term success.

“I can only speak from my own experience supporting and training new teachers,” Szeto said. “With this new school, we need to do that right.”

Pang also defended the smaller rollout, saying research supports a gradual launch as a best practice. The district also launched a webpage (opens in new tab) to provide updates.

One outstanding question is where the school will be located. District officials have not announced a site, but there are concerns that the new school could compete with existing Mandarin programs at Starr King Elementary School and Jose Ortega Elementary School, both on the city’s south side.

District leaders said they plan to continue working with families on the issue, including the possibility of an initial co-location arrangement. Chao said families are looking for more clarity.

“If we knew this was the location and there was only capacity for a certain number of seats, that kind of firm rationale would make sense to us,” Chao said. “I’m sure there’s even more demand out there.”