If you don't pay for talent, you ain't getting it.
This is a negative feedback loop and there's no way out of it.
The entire political scene of SF and California dictate the makeup of SFUSD so I think it goes hand in hand. I think the fact that moderate centrists finally showed up to vote out the SFUSD board members and Boudin are an indication of what comes over the next few years. I hope the progressive extremists get kicked out of the Dems and get replaced by moderate centrists like what we've seen in the last year.
A lot of right wingers like to say “see look what libs do!” but I’ve lived in very blue cities like Boston that seem to be significantly better run. San Francisco just seems peculiarly dysfunctional in its own unique way.
The OP talked about wasting $2 million on renaming schools over perceived injustice (the plan to rename Lincoln was probably the worst idea they've ever perpetuated). You can't point back to underfunding when the school is wasting funding on extremists
SF teachers have been having a terrible time in the last 5 years because SFUSD has been run by progressive extremists that wanted to spend $2 million changing school names instead of worrying about things like Black literacy. Somehow they think changing school names are better for Black students than actually getting them to read. And meanwhile SF teachers haven't been getting paid on time this year because of complete mess of their payroll system, which is forcing drastic action that puts the SFUSD in deeper financial trouble.
I would hate to see Republicans get into power here, not especially because California Republicans are dumb as rocks, but I don't know what else will wake these California Democrats up. If Newsom has any aspirations to be president, and it certainly seems that way, I can guarantee you that running ads showing what LA and SF look like after decades of Democratic rule will destroy any chances of California Dems getting a modicum of power anywhere else in the country.