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The Pleasanton school approved a list of over $5 million in budget reductions last week, jobs that trustees said they did not want to see on the chopping block but had to put there so staff can use it as a contingency plan in case other cutbacks the district previously identified fall through during negotiations with labor unions.
This list of cuts, which do not require negotiations, include reductions to child welfare and attendance specialists, elementary science and physical education specialists, and many other employees, many of whom packed the boardroom for the Feb. 19 meeting to voice their frustration with the negative impacts these cuts will have on students and staff.
“This is the worst day as a board member that I’ve ever had, and I hated it,” Trustee Mary Jo Carreon said toward the end of the nearly five-hour-long special meeting. “But I’m also going to say that I believe in our community, I believe in working together, I believe in negotiations … and I believe we’re going to get through this.”
As part of the special meeting, after having endorsed an initial 2026-27 “reduction in force” resolution that the board will vote on this Thursday (Feb. 26) so that staff can begin sending out initial layoff notices next month, trustees also ranked the 24 items on reductions list so that in the case that the district realizes additional savings over the next couple months, the items ranked the highest will be rescinded from being reduced and those jobs could be saved.
“Our goal is to not have to use this list,” Trustee Charlie Jones said. “We do not want to use this list. We are really hoping that bargaining works out and that we’re not there.”
Between August and October of last year, PUSD held several Budget Advisory Committee meetings, town hall meetings and special board meetings to discuss and identify $11.16 million in budget cuts. The goal through all of that work was to identify cuts that would have the least impact on students and the greater school community.
These budget reductions are the latest over the last couple of years that the district has said are necessary to balance its budget, which is facing a structural deficit caused by things like declining enrollment revenue and expenditures generally outpacing revenues. As a result of those fiscal challenges, PUSD’s 2026-27 first interim budget carried a negative certification, meaning the district “may not meet its financial obligations without additional action”.
A financial expert appointed by the Alameda County Office of Education also recently explained to the district that “even with planned reductions, ongoing enrollment decline will require continued fiscal discipline”.
After the board agreed on the initial list of $11.16 million of budget cuts, the district still had to work with its labor partners to negotiate around $5.4 million worth of cuts, which are dependent on those negotiations.
“We put a heavy ask upon our labor partners and a heavy burden in that ask and the understanding is: We know that you may not be able to do that and we understand and we respect it,” Jones said. “What we’re working on tonight is: how do we move forward in a way that does not interfere with the bargaining process.”
That’s why, as part of a contingency plan, the board was forced to discuss a lot of items that, during last year’s prioritization workshops, they did not want to cut due to the impacts they would have on students in order to meet statutory timelines for preliminary layoff notices by March 15.
“All of these things matter to me,” Trustee Justin Brown said. “These are all things I do not want us to do but … we are under Alameda County direction and we have to approve this tonight.”
The items, which total over $5 million of savings, include reductions to several site support services as well as elementary, middle and high school programs.
And while not finalized, nor set in stone thanks to the possibility of being rescinded over the next couple of months, scores of students, parents and PUSD employees showed up to the Feb. 19 special meeting to make sure their voices were heard.
“The cuts proposed tonight are going to hurt the students who have the least,” Association of Pleasanton Teachers President Evan Branning said.
Branning said that trusting the district has been challenging for staff and the greater PUSD community as the district continues to face financial challenges. He added that it’s even harder to believe some of the financial data that district staff presented when a lot of it seems wrong.
“When your slides give false information, we cannot believe the numbers that you present to us and it makes bargaining incredibly difficult,” Branning said. “We reject the numbers that are presented and ask this board to come up with a new list. One that reflects the priorities of our students, of our district, to make sure that Pleasanton students get the best education … the best services.”
Dan Douglas, a Lydiksen Elementary School parent who also works in finances for a private enterprise, said he also spent some time reviewing the district’s financial reports and asked the board, “How can you ask teachers and students to take budget cuts when our budgets aren’t even accurate?”
He pointed out that salary planning for certificated and classified employees last year was off by 4%, which he said is a big variance, and that services and operating expenses were off by 33% last year, which he said is over $6 million that were overspent on that budget line item.
And much like the dozens of other speakers who ranged from elementary school students to longtime faculty members, Douglas wanted the board to scrap the list of contingency reductions that the board ended up approving.
While every single trustee commented on how they did not want to vote yes on the list of cuts, many said they felt like they had no choice because if the district did not identify those cuts, PUSD would have been at risk of losing local control and state oversight would have kicked in, which trustees said would cause deeper cuts that don’t take into consideration the impacts to the community.
“I know at the dais I fought really hard to save all of these, and I don’t feel like I have much choice if we want to remain in local control. So I just want to say that I hear you, and I appreciate you, and I know how hard you work,” Carreon said. “And I don’t want you to think for a minute that we don’t value you because we value you very, very much.”
As far as the order of items that would be rescinded if negotiations don’t fall through or other savings are realized, the board agreed to save the first four in order from highest priority to lowest; child welfare and attendance specialists, elementary music specialists, elementary science specialists, and elementary library and media assistants. The rest of the 24 items were also ranked by the board with counselors and health services assistants taking higher priority.
Apart from looking into several revenue-generating opportunities that Jones introduced during the meeting, the district’s next steps will be having the board approve the initial reduction of force resolution to meet initial layoff notice deadline at the Feb. 26 board meeting, possibly holding another special board meeting in March and finalizing the reduction in force resolution on April 30 in order to meeting the final layoff notice deadline of May 15 if some of the jobs cannot be saved.
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Did anyone on the board answer to Mr. Douglas’ concerns regarding the mis calculation of the budget ‘that services and operating expenses were off by 33% last year’? Why does the Asst. Super of Business Services not have to answer for this ‘mistake’? Why does he still have a job? Anyone in private business would be asking the same question, but PUSD continues to pivot away from answering the tough questions.