Community Partnerships

San Mateo–Foster City

In 2025, we kicked off work in San Mateo-Foster City School District (SMFCSD)—starting with reimagining a new and bold vision for student success. This year, we are enacting that vision.

Across 22 schools, and under the impressive leadership of superintendent Diego Ochoa, SMFCSD serves 10,500+ students in preschool through eighth grade. Unlike our other district communities, SMFCSD serves a split community of affluence and high need. Their recent work mirrors our values—developing their community schools model, for example, and diving deep on literacy. This year, we have begun to engage the community to envision a new future for their students—and we are already seeing so much momentum.

1. Listening and Learning

The Bay Ed Fund spent last year engaging SMFC leaders on a rigorous journey of listening and learning together around what it looks like for every student to thrive.
This year, leaders from across the community are working to make that vision a reality.

Last year, over 2,000 conversations have informed the community-led vision for students—from focus groups, to surveys, to community conversations.

Middle school students from across the district spent a day exploring new ways of learning at Design Tech High School and Parkside Montessori.

Family leaders from across the district participated in our Family Leadership Academy.

We are currently engaging educators across the district in a listening tour to learn about how they want to reimagine instruction at SMFC.

A visioning team made up of students, educators, union, family, and community leaders meets monthly to iterate on the vision’s design and our engagement strategy.

As part of the Imagine School project, more than 130 students, staff, and community members participated to share ideas for the future of learning at SMFCSD.

40 community leaders visited Lindsay Unified, a school district that has transformed outcomes and experiences.

2. What’s Next for SMFCSD?

Investments in Family and District Leadership

The Bay Ed Fund invests in the leadership of local family and district leaders to support a community’s strategic plan and build momentum around critical goals and milestones.
You can read the community’s vision here.

On-the-Ground Instructional Support

The Bay Ed Fund provides implementation support through funding, change management coaching, and best-in-class partner organizations that build and deepen instructional capacity and support rigorous and competitive student learning.
For example, San Mateo-Foster City schools are working with Leading Educators this year on rapid cycles of instructional improvement.

A Shared Culture of Learning and Accountability

To foster a culture of learning and accountability, the Bay Ed Fund supports families, district leaders, and community members in analyzing data, reflecting on setbacks, and sharpening their focus on a clear set of goals.