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The Pleasanton Unified School District Board of Trustees unanimously approved a handful of resolutions this month that will reduce the number of both classified and certificated staffing positions by the end of this school year.
“Due to declining enrollment (and) budgetary constraints, we’ve been making efforts to align staffing closer to the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement,” assistant superintendent of human resources Nimarta Grewal said during the Jan. 15 board meeting.
Although all four resolutions were quickly approved with little to no discussion, trustees were quick to point out the weight of the decisions and how they are indicative of the financial challenges the district has been facing.
“Obviously we don’t have a lot of questions because we’re now an experienced board and we’ve been through these votes, unfortunately,” Brown said. “They are serious votes and they are meaningful votes. The lack of questions or comments is just the reflection of the fact we know what we are voting on and they are the consequence of the commitment we already made as a board around these reductions.”
The first resolution the board approved was the reduction of “identified certificated services due to a reduction in particular kinds of services”, which will be reflected in the 2026-27 school year.
Under the state’s education code, the board may reduce particular kinds of services performed by certificated employees as long as those employees are provided notice by March 13, Grewal said. The same applies to classified staff.
“After the initial notices are issued, if enrollment data changes or there’s natural staffing attrition due to retirements, resignations and so on, we’ll continue monitoring that data and, as needed, initial notices can be rescinded,” Grewal said.
She added that noticed employees have the right to request a hearing, which would occur in April. The board will make final reduction in force decisions in early May — final notices to affected employees will have to then be delivered before May 15.
Total certificated staff reduction is 19.4 full-time equivalent, which represents 13.4 FTE in management, of which none are currently vacant, and 6 FTE in non-management, also none of which are currently vacant.
This reduction would result in just under $2 million in savings.
“The (reduction in force) list that you’re seeing … reflect positions and not people,” Grewal said. “Due to seniority skipping criteria, tiebreaking criteria and bumping rights, an individual currently in a position listed may not actually be the one impacted by the layoff.”
PUSD will be looking to reorganize its Human Resources Department through the reclassification of a director to a coordinator; reorganize its Career Pathways & Adult Learning Department through the reclassification of a director to an assistant director and reclassifying an assistant director position to the adult school principal; and a reorganization in special education by reclassifying two senior director positions to directors.
Four behavior program managers under the special education department will also be reclassified from the management unit back to certificated bargaining unit positions as behavior specialists.
“It’s not an easy process but is a fiscally smart decision,” Board President Kelly Mokashi said.
Trustees also unanimously approved a pair of resolutions that will help determine the order of layoffs, specifically for certificated employees.
The first resolution sets the skipping criteria for laying off certified employees.
“This resolution identifies the special training and experience or competency required to serve the district and its students that allows the district to deviate from laying off a certificated employee based on seniority,” Grewal said.
The second sets the tie-breaking criteria, which will help make determinations when it comes to employees with seniority who started working at PUSD roughly at the same time.
In addition, the board also approved a separate resolution to authorize the reduction of identified classified services for the 2026-27 school year. Grewal said the education code also allows the district to reduce the classified services for the upcoming school year due to a “lack of work or lack of funds”.
“Under California Education Code … the District is authorized to reduce classified services for an upcoming school year due to lack of work or lack of funds,” according to the staff report. “In evaluating program needs, existing and projected funding, and declining enrollment, staff has determined that classified services to be reduced and the employees who must be noticed.”
She said the classified collective bargaining agreement includes language regarding seniority and bumping rights, which is why the board did not need any additional resolutions on those topics.
Similar to certificated staff, Grewal said the district will look at rescinding notices for classified staff if any enrollment data changes in the next few months.
The total classified staff reduction is 13.5 FTE, which represents 3.2 FTE in management — none of which are vacant positions — and 10.25 FTE non-management of which four positions are currently vacant.
The total savings from these reductions is $1.437 million.
According to Grewal, the reductions include reorganizations in fiscal services and maintenance, operations and transportation, the latter of which includes consolidation of duties for custodians.
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