The City’s mayoral candidates are split when it comes to Proposition H, a ballot initiative that would make it city policy to encourage San Francisco Unified School District to assign students to schools close to their homes. Though City Attorney Dennis Herrera and interim Mayor Ed Lee have said they are not campaigning on the issue, both candidates have evidently decided how they will vote.

“He is voting against it, but he’s not spending any resources on it,” said Lee’s spokesman, Tony Winnicker. “He thinks [neighborhood schools] should be given greater weight, but he has some concerns about parents who want to keep their kids together or send them to a special school.

Winnicker said that the mayor reached his decision after mulling over the matter with parents and his education advisor Hydra Mendoza, who is also the president of the school board.

“He understands both perspectives,” Winnicker said. “He’s got supporters on both sides.”

Matt Dorsey, a spokesman for Dennis Herrera, said the city attorney was prohibited by his current office from taking a stand on ballot initiatives, so he would not be taking an official stance.

“He’s very cautious not to say he’s endorsing anything,” Dorsey said.

However, Dorsey said that Herrera was allowed to say that he will personally vote against it.

Proposition H is non-binding, but should it pass it would encourage the school district to revamp the current school assignment system adopted last year, which takes neighborhood schools into account but does not make them the top priority.

acrawford@sfexaminer.com