City Budget Proposal Would Cut Free City Funding to Historic Low
A newly submitted city budget document proposes cutting Free City funding to $6.8 million as the program's 10-year funding agreement continues to unravel.
By Daniela Villegas Jovel
Budget cuts to the Free City program are set to deepen, with a newly proposed city budget allocating $6.8 million to the program, less than half the funding it received two years ago.
During the groundbreaking of the Diego Rivera Performing Arts Center, Madison Raasch, a political science student and staff member at the college’s Women's Resource Center, disrupted Mayor Daniel Lurie’s speech to bring the cuts to center stage.
“No major news outlets are talking about these massive cuts, and the time we have to ensure full funding is coming to a close this summer,” Raasch said.
She received a written warning for the disruption.
Following Up On Free City
On Feb. 23, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families submitted its proposed budget to the mayor’s office, allocating $6.8 million to Free City for fiscal year 2026-27 — a cut made, the document states, “per the Mayor’s GFS cut instructions.” The 2027-28 projection offers little relief, with the same amount set aside.
Those numbers represent a collapse from the program’s recent funding peak. In FY 2023-24, the city contributed $18.9 million to Free City. This was above the baseline set by a 2019 Memorandum of Understanding between former Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Gordon Mar, which committed the city to $15 million annually through 2029.
The Breed administration then cut that figure roughly in half for 2024-25, without negotiation. The budget for the current fiscal year stands at $9.3 million. The newly submitted figure of $6.8 million would bring the total cuts to roughly 66% below the FY 2023-24 level.
The cuts would affect over 28,000 eligible students, representing about 71% of enrolled credit students at the college, according to the Free City annual report for 2024-2025.
“Not only should this program not see any cuts, it should be expanded,” Raasch said.
The Free City Oversight Committee is “doing everything possible” to bring their recommendations to a newly envisioned memorandum, said committee member and student trustee Angelica Campos.
Like other students who benefit from Free City, Campos said she would not have finished her degree if not for the program.
“It’s (a student’s) first opportunity to get an education they may not have ever thought was accessible to them,” Campos said.
“I feel like the commitment and the care that Free City represents is more than just free tuition or help to go to college; it has touched so many people's hearts,” said former president of the AFT local 2121 teacher union, Alisa Messer.
