I don’t envy these parents trying to do this in notoriously anti-charter San Francisco. Their point is a good one – there are long waiting lists for the city’s two public Mandarin immersion elementary schools (Starr King and Jose Ortega) but the school district won’t open more. SFUSD also doesn’t support the middle school program very strongly.

I’m told the new Superintendent of Public Schools says she sees language immersion programs as a way forward for the district. But unclear if that will translate into more support or new programs.

It’s very clear there is a demand. San Francisco has five private Mandarin immersion schools at this point. Parents are willing to pay up to $44,000 a year for these programs.

• Chinese American International School
• Presidio Knolls School
• Bertrand Hsu American & Chinese Bicultural Academy
• Stratford School
• Hiba Academy (opening in 2026).

At the same time. SFUSD is struggling with a budget deficit, which more students would most certainly help with. District officials in the story say they’re supportive of expanding immersion, but that hasn’t always been the experience of families. This would be such an obvious way to bring lots of families into public schools – I wish SFUSD would make it happen. This doesn’t have to be a charter school but there seems little appetite for anything new in the district just now.

S.F. parents are trying to start first K-8 Mandarin immersion charter school. It won’t be easy

By Ko Lyn Cheang, The San Francisco Chronicle – May 24, 2025

Yunita Tjhai has always wanted her kids to be able to speak, read and write Mandarin. Unable to speak Chinese, the San Francisco mother of three, who grew up in Indonesia, regretted that she was never able to communicate with her monolingual Chinese-speaking grandparents.

She and her husband Brian Hollinger enrolled their kids in Mandarin-immersion daycare. The oldest child is now in first grade at one of San Francisco’s only two Mandarin immersion public elementary schools.

Hollinger is concerned that the district has not met the growing demand for Mandarin immersion education and that SFUSD’s turbulent financial situation might jeopardize his kids’ Mandarin education.

Please read more here.