San Francisco voters on Tuesday ousted three members of the city's school board in a recall election widely viewed as a rebuke of progressive education policies.
Voters supported the recall by wide margins, with more than 70 percent casting ballots against school board president Gabriela López, vice president Faauuga Moliga, and commissioner Alison Collins.
Supporters of the recall cited the board's controversial January 2021 effort to rename dozens of schools in a push for racial justice as a reason to oust the board members. The board tried to change the names of schools named for historical figures, including President Abraham Lincoln, because of their perceived ties to racism. The board abandoned the effort after it faced backlash.
"Talk is not going to educate our children, it's action," Siva Raj, a father who helped launch the recall effort, told the Associated Press. "It's not about symbolic action, it's not about changing the name on a school, it is about helping kids inside the school building read and learn math."
Anger over San Francisco's slow reopening of schools amid the pandemic also fueled support for the recall.
Mayor London Breed (D.) supported the recall effort and will choose the board members' replacements ahead of the November election.