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Some opponents of the effort to recall three San Francisco school board members say the campaigns backers are a bunch of Trump-loving Republican billionaires trying to buy school boards in an effort to privatize public education.

Yes, that Matt Gonzalez.

Sure, some of the recall campaigns financial backers are wealthy, conservative investors, but some of the citys most well-known progressives are also energized over this election. Bucking the recall opponents narrative, Gonzalez signed a paid argument in the voter guide supporting the recall, and his face has appeared on campaign mailers. He recently drank masala chai in the Haight Street kitchen of the couple that launched the recall, praising them afterward as quite progressive and really authentic.

Curious about his reasoning, I asked Gonzalez to explain why hes supporting the Feb. 15 recalls of Commissioners Alison Collins, Gabriela Lpez and Faauuga Moliga. Like any good lawyer, he made a compelling, thorough, well-reasoned case that boiled down to one theme: They lack competence.

You could probably list about a dozen issues that people are just shaking their heads over, Gonzalez told me, citing poor oversight of the budget crisis, failing to prioritize the safe reopening of schools during the pandemic, failing to properly oversee bond money meant to maintain school facilities, making numerous historical errors while trying to rename schools, and seeking to remove historic murals.

Plus, theres the $87 million lawsuit filed by Collins against her own school district and fellow board members for losing her vice president title over 2016 tweets in which she wrote that some Asian Americans used white supremacist thinking to assimilate and get ahead.

He called his decision to back the recall easy and said theres nothing contradictory about progressives with true San Francisco values supporting the recall.

This whole idea its a Republican-backed thing, I think that shows a lack of political maturity to make that argument, he said. I see it as very much trying to appeal to San Francisco voters to get at what theyre most proud of their progressive orientation. Its a rhetorical device to get them focused on that issue rather than the competency issues of the board, which this is actually about.

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Moliga took issue with Gonzalezs argument, saying, I reject the notion that I have been incompetent on the school board. My record is strong, and my reasoning for the votes I have taken has been sound. Lopez did not return a request for comment. Collins asked who Gonzalez is and did not respond when I explained.

Gonzalez is hardly the lone progressive supporting the recall. John Burton, the former chair of the California Democratic Party, and former Mayor Art Agnos are also on board. Agnos explained, We cant let ideology get in the way of competence, and this school board has demonstrated unparalled incompetence.

Supervisors Matt Haney and Hillary Ronen and former Supervisor David Campos support the recall of Collins.

To be sure, plenty of progressives oppose the recall, including former Assembly Member Tom Ammiano and Supervisors Shamann Walton and Dean Preston. The United Educators of San Francisco is also against it, and its president, Cassondra Curiel, said the recall should offend everyone, largely because it has attracted major funding from venture capitalists and is a waste of money that could be better spent on schools.

The wasteful and unnecessary recall election opens a can of worms that could be horribly damaging to the education of every student in San Francisco, Curiel said.

A lot of the opponents arguments have centered around their distaste of recalls. Gonzalez said that while he didnt support the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom and doesnt support the recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin, he has no problem with recalls in general. He said that despite opponents claims, they are democratic and, in California, they started because of progressive Gov. Hiram Johnsons populist voting reforms.

He added hed rather see these particular board members recalled and voters pay more attention to candidates in the future than the alternate idea of turning permanent control of the board over to the mayor.

Gonzalez first caught wind of the questionable school board over the 2019 vote to paint over a historic 1936 mural at Washington High because it includes imagery of slavery and a dead Native American.

It was the first moment that I started paying attention to, Hey, how did this happen? Who are these people? said Gonzalez, whos an artist in his spare time.

To Gonzalez, the decision amounted to an attempt to literally paint over history. The murals were painted by Victor Arnautoff, a Russian immigrant and communist, who was commissioned to depict the life of George Washington for the opening of his namesake school.

Arnautoff didnt want to glorify Washingtons life and instead depicted the truth: that Washington owned slaves and was the leader of a country founded on land already occupied by Native Americans.

Would these opponents of the mural prefer a sanitized depiction of history that omits the oppression of their ancestors? Gonzalez wrote in an opinion piece slamming the vote. Students must see what preceded them in order to fight for justice and more decency.

As with so many of the boards votes, this one prompted a lawsuit. A Superior Court judge ruled in July that the board violated state law in its decision-making, and the murals remain on view.

Gonzalez found similar historic haphazardness in the boards vote to rename 44 schools despite major errors and the inclusion of no historians, a process Gonzalez called such an embarrassment. Again, a threatened lawsuit halted the renaming, and all of the names remain.

Gonzalez said the board showed a similar lack of consistency and mature thinking in its decision to ditch merit-based admissions at Lowell High in favor of a lottery. He said hed rather see more investment in elementary and middle schools where students havent historically gone on to Lowell.

And he asked why merit-based admissions for academics arent acceptable, but auditions for entry into the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts are OK. The latter has a larger proportion of white students and a smaller proportion of socioeconomically disadvantaged students than Lowell.

Gonzalez said hell talk to anyone who wants to debate the school board recall and has found its not hard to convince the progressives if theyre willing to listen.

It quickly becomes an, Aw, shucks, I know I should probably be on your side, Gonzalez said.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf

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He's a public defender and legendary SF progressive. Here's why he backs the school board recall - San Francisco Chronicle