SFUSD plans to spend vape settlement

Two of the biggest players in the e-cigarette industry will cover the salaries and benefits of 76 nurses, counselors and health educators in San Francisco schools next year in just the first of three expected rounds of funding from a legal settlement with the vaping giants.

District officials plan to spend the initial chunk of the $24.65 million deal with Juul Labs Inc. and Altria Group Inc. during the 2024-25 school year and the rest over the following two years. Altria, a major tobacco company and cigarette maker formerly known as Philip Morris, was a part owner of Juul but has since largely divested its stake.

The payout couldn’t come at a better time for the district, which is facing a huge budget deficit despite reducing staffing by more than 1,000 positions — mostly by eliminating vacant jobs. School closures are expected as well as additional cuts.

The district won’t use the legal settlement to add any staffing or resources, but rather cover the cost of current staff, officials said, freeing up funds to reduce potential cuts elsewhere.

San Francisco Unified was among thousands of cities, counties and other school districts to sue the companies over marketing and advertising e-cigarettes to youth, with many of the cases merging into a class action suit, and all leading to a $1.2 billion settlement nationwide.

California was awarded $175.8 million, the most of any state. The funding is expected to pay for youth education campaigns related to the dangers of vaping, research related to e-cigarettes and enforcement of the state’s flavored-tobacco ban.

The district’s initial lawsuit, like most others, alleged aggressive marketing to youth, with flavored products packaged like candy, spurring a teenage vaping crisis. School leaders across the district and the country recounted students vaping in the hallways, bathrooms and classrooms, while parents grew increasingly concerned about the fallout from adolescent addiction to nicotine.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the company sold fun flavors and used “bright, attractive ads that flaunted young people enjoying the e-cigarettes” to entice adolescents.

“It’s very important for us to help teach students about the dangers of using Juuls, but Juul has continued to relentlessly target their product to minors, undermining our efforts to teach children how to live healthy lives,” said former Superintendent Vincent Matthews in 2019, when the district filed the lawsuit.

In 2018, about 11% of high school students were regular users of vapes, according to the California Youth Tobacco Survey.

Following the flurry of lawsuits, as well as legislation, including a ban on flavored tobacco and e-cigarettes in San Francisco, vaping among youth declined. By 2022, less than 6% of high school students were vaping on a regular basis, the survey found. The ban only allows electronic tobacco products that have gone through premarket review and marketing authorization from the federal Food and Drug Administration.

The settlement requires district officials to use the funds for purposes related to student vaping and supporting student health.

The money will pay for the nurses working at each district middle school as well as counselors and health educators at the high schools.

“SFUSD has worked to develop a plan for settlement proceeds that will support student health over the next few years at approximately $8-10 million per year,” said district spokesperson Laura Dudnick. “Pursuant to that plan, the settlement funds are intended to address student tobacco/vaping education and related student health issues, which may include student mental, emotional, and social health.”