South City renewed its agreement with the South San Francisco Unified School District to provide it with school liaison officers, but the city’s tight budget projections raised concern about the program’s long-term future.
The city and school district have a joint agreement, providing officers to 15 school sites throughout the district. During an annual presentation at a recent City Council meeting, South San Francisco police Lt. Fahmida Murphy said there were 194 police contacts logged by the department and 108 by the district, totaling more than 300, during the 2025-26 school year.
“The majority of our police contacts are with the high schools, then elementary schools and lastly middle schools,” Murphy said during the meeting.
School-initiated contacts increased from 64 to 79 from the prior school year, the report showed. There was one on-campus arrest and 12 incidents involving mental health crises or welfare checks.
“Basically, the schools are calling us more often for various reasons,” Murphy said.
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Currently, there are two officers for a total capital outlay of $750,000 per year. SLO programs are sometimes one of the first to be considered for funding cuts as both cities and districts grapple with deficits. South San Francisco just adopted its 2026-27 budget showing a $5.5 million deficit — which would draw on reserves to close — and some of its key revenue sources are uncertain in the coming years. One of the most unstable revenue sources is vehicle license fee revenue, which the state typically reimburses to the county, though the amount has fluctuated over the years. An emerging budget deal out of Sacramento, however, could close that deficit to $2.1 million, Assistant City Manager Rich Lee said.
Councilmember Eddie Flores said, given its fiscal predicament, the city should explore formalizing cost-sharing agreements with the school district and assessing ways to ensure the program won’t be on the chopping block if city finances get tighter.
“In other jurisdictions, they have looked at a dedicated fund, maybe a grant or maybe even school district cost-sharing agreements,” Flores said during the meeting. “We cannot let this just evaporate, and at the same time, we cannot ignore VLF.”
The SLO program in San Mateo has also been scaled down in recent years, going from three to two officers. The city, also facing a deficit, currently spends roughly $500,000 from its own fund for the two positions, though the district decided not to extend funding past 2021. A recent incident at Aragon High School prompted some city leaders, including San Mateo Deputy Mayor Nicole Fernandez, to re-evaluate whether the city should revisit negotiations with the San Mateo Union High School District.
The South San Francisco City Council unanimously approved the MOU agreement for the upcoming school year.
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