Leah LaCroix Wants to Close the Gap Between City College Values and Its Budget, Tough Conversations or Not

Leah LaCroix is making her bid for the Community College board of trustees to find out where the budget is falling short. 

LaCroix believes the 2024 accreditation crisis, where City College nearly lost its accreditation for noncompliance around financial planning and board governance, has left the board in a fearful posture. 

“The college has been amassing so much in reserves, upwards of $70 million [over the past five years]. And so the money is there,” LaCroix said. 

According to budget reports, City College had an ending unrestricted general fund balance of over $58 million for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

“[The college’s] values and mission are misaligned from how we are allocating our dollars,” she said. “We need to make sure City College is doing well fiscally. But we cannot do that on the backs of our students and faculty and staff. And in my opinion, that's what's happening now.”

LaCroix’s campaign platform emphasizes transparency and accountability, prioritizing community input. 

Long-term faculty and staff at the Downtown Center, she said, told her of their disappointment that “they had no input” on its closure.

As trustee, she plans to consult student leaders and both faculty and staff unions, AFT 2121 and SEIU 1021, on big decisions. She looks forward to serving as a representative for the Black community, “something the board is currently missing,” she said.

“At the end of the day, City College is an educational institution and not a corporation…the majority of our dollars should be serving our students and all the people who make the campus work,” LaCroix said.

Affordability and accessibility are top of mind for LaCroix. 

She will ensure the Free City College program stays funded, seek to work with the San Francisco Unified School District to get students college-ready and advocate for free transit passes for students. 

Currently, City College advertises the Clipper START program as a resource for students to get discounted transit rides. Peralta Community College, also in the Bay Area, provides unlimited access to AC Transit to students who pay an annual $50 transportation fee, while students at Mission College in Santa Clara get free unlimited access to VTA buses and light rail.

LaCroix was a City College student herself, dual-enrolled in high school, and took English, speech, music and history classes. She currently serves as the President of the San Francisco District 11 Democratic Club.

She served as an elected committee member of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee from 2016-24 and, prior to that, served on the San Francisco Youth Commission. Here, she lobbied the city to enforce free Muni access for riders 18 years old and younger as part of the Free Muni for Youth campaign. 

She also worked as the Assistant Commission Affairs Manager and later the Social Media and Content Development Analyst for the Port of San Francisco, where she liaised with stakeholders. 

LaCroix is ready to have the tough conversations necessary to find the best ways to meet the needs of the City College community, and is determined to lead with kindness when it comes to conflict. 

“Disagreement is okay, but we also have to remember who we are here for and what we hope to do,” she said. “And that is, for me, that is serving our campus community, our students, our faculty, our staff.”

She is running on a slate with two other candidates, Bunny McFadden and Jeremy Lee, who “have the same vision for the college” as her, and can leverage their different experiences with public education to “fill in the gaps.”

Eight San Franciscans, who all want to work on behalf of the college's students, are vying for the roles of City College's board of trustees on Election Day this year. Trustee Ruth Ferguson, appointed by Mayor Daniel Lurie after former trustee Alan Wong became District 4 Supervisor last semester, will run uncontested for her seat.

Four seats, including Ferguson's, will be up on the ballot during the 2028 election period. This trustees race is the biggest field of hopeful trustees in most recent memory and is one shadowed by turnover, budget strain and open questions about the college's direction.

The seats are opening up as trustees Anita Martinez, Susan Solomon and Vick Chung leave the board, and are clearing the way for a new majority to weigh in on fiscal responsibility, the future of students and their experiences, and the fate of the Downtown Center. Aliya Chisti, Luis Zamora and Heather McCarthy will remain as trustees.

Read more of this year's Ballot Beat here.