Statement Opposing SFUSD Proposal to Give a Contract to Kyo, a Private Company Serving Autistic Schoolchildren

The San Francisco Education Alliance is opposed to Superintendent Matt Wayne’s plan to offer a high-dollar contract to Kyo, a private company that hires employees to work with autistic children using a ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis), a controversial therapy that uses rewards and bribes (which Kyo euphemistically calls “reinforcements”). Many autistic adults who have experienced ABA therapy have described it as abusive. We ask that Board of Education commissioners vote to oppose this expensive contract (Item 28 under Section G, the Consent Calendar) during the September 12 Board of Education meeting.

Parents and SFUSD teachers who are SF Education Alliance members were excited to see the SFUSD Special Education Community Advisory Committee (SPED CAC) host a guest speaker at a March 2023 meeting to talk about the Collaborative and Proactive Solutions model. The model focuses on identifying the skills a child is lacking and the expectations they’re having difficulty meeting rather than on their behavior. Then the goal is to help them solve those problems, rather than trying to modify their behavior through application of rewards and punishments (like ABA does), which can have a negative effect on an autistic child's sense of self-worth and negatively impact their education.

We are disappointed that Superintendent Wayne wants to take the district backwards and dump taxpayer dollars into a private company that uses ABA therapy and expensive consultants instead of making sure our paraprofessionals earn and get the supports to use a better model of care. The contract lists pay rates to Kyo employees for titles such as "District Helpers" at an hourly pay rate of $69.75. SFUSD has recently denied paraeducator requests for a starting wage of $30 per hour.