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The Pleasanton school board will be reviewing the district’s current fiscal conditions that has led to millions of dollars in planned budget cuts for the 2026-27 school year and what staff have been doing to implement those cuts at Thursday’s board meeting.
According to the Feb. 12 staff report, this discussion will be solely for informational purposes and no action will be taken.
This past November, the Pleasanton Unified School District concluded its month-long process of identifying roughly $11.2 million in proposed budget reductions for the 2026-27 school year.
The need to identify these reductions came from a structural deficit the district has attributed to declining enrollment, expiration of one-time state funds, low state funding and rising costs for compensation, insurance, health care and special education services.
During Thursday’s meeting, the board will review “fiscal conditions that have led to the District’s need to make expenditure reductions for the 2026/27 school year, as well as prior-year efforts to reduce costs and increase revenues”.
As part of that conversation, staff will also review the board’s process and actions in identifying those reduction options. Of note, about half of the identified cuts — roughly $5.5 million — require to be negotiated with labor partners.
“Staff will update the Board on the implementation of current reductions and the need to address the remaining $5.5 million,” according to the staff report. “Staff will present a process for prioritizing identified reductions if all approved reduction items are not achieved through negotiations with labor partners.”
In addition, the board will also receive an update from a fiscal expert who was appointed by the Alameda County Office of Education to assist PUSD during these budget conversations.
This additional county oversight and support was required after PUSD recently projected a negative ending fund balance of $2.5 million and had to submit its first interim report to the Alameda County Office of Education with a negative certification.
According to staff, the county fiscal expert has analyzed the district’s finances in detail and will be providing “her analysis and recommendations on the need for reductions.”
The board’s open-session meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 12). Read the full agenda here.
In other business
* Staff will be seeking board approval to transfer a total of $8,118,000 from PUSD’s general fund to its special reserve-committed reserve fund. According to staff, these funds will go toward technology and transportation as well as a stabilization arrangement.
“Transferring these amounts to Fund 170 increases transparency in financial reporting, supports long-term fiscal planning, and strengthens the district’s ability to manage future fiscal needs,” the staff report states. “The stabilization commitment, in particular, provides a financial buffer to address economic uncertainty, while the technology and transportation commitments ensure resources are reserved for planned future expenditures.”
* The board will be voting on a memorandum of understanding between PUSD and the city of Pleasanton that establishes limited Pleasanton Police Department access to the district’s security camera system for emergency response purposes.
This vote will take place during the board’s consent calendar, which are items considered routine in nature and typically approved by a single vote.
According to the staff report, the MOU stipulates that officers can obtain limited access to security cameras during “life-threatening emergencies — such as an active shooter incident — to support coordinated emergency response.”
“Developed with the assistance of legal counsel and informed by similar agreements used by other California school districts, the MOU restricts access to active emergency situations only, expressly prohibiting proactive monitoring, routine access, or use outside of an emergency context, and includes safeguards to protect student and staff privacy,” according to staff.
* Two top administrative employees will also be parting ways with PUSD this year: Janet Gates, the director of student services, and Amos Nugent III, the director of career pathways and adult learning.
According to the district’s personnel document, which the board will vote on approving during its consent calendar portion of the meeting, Gates — who served as Donlon Elementary School’s principal for seven years before taking the district office job in 2024 — will retire effective June 30.
Nugent, on the other hand, already ended his 5-1/2-year tenure with PUSD on Jan. 30, which is when his resignation went into effect. According to his LinkedIn, he and his wife will be getting ready for their next venture in life: parenthood.
“I’m incredibly grateful for everyone I had the honor to work with, both inside and outside of PUSD, locally, regionally, statewide, and nationally,” Nugent posted on LinkedIn. “We were able to do some truly meaningful work for students because so many people believed in the vision and partnered with us to bring it to life.”
* The board will be voting on approving the purchase of synthetic track materials for the Hart Middle School and Harvest Park Middle School field renovation projects.
Both purchases will total just under $620,000, which will come out of the district’s $395 million Measure I bond fund.
“Approval of this purchase will provide Hart Middle School and Harvest Park Middle School with a high-quality synthetic track surfacing system that meets the needs of students, athletes, and the broader school community while ensuring long-term durability and value for the district,” according to the staff report.
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