Students, parents and Pasadena Unified School District employees made a final plea to district leaders Thursday, Nov. 13, that an array of programs and services be spared from the millions of imminent cuts required in the face of an ongoing structural deficit.
Thursday’s four hour-plus Board of Education special meeting served as a study session for trustees to review proposed packages of reductions from the eight workstreams being utilized to identify approximately $30 million in reductions.
Los Angeles County Office of Education Director of Business Advisory Services Octavio Castelo was one of three representatives of the county office observing the meeting.
“Your trajectory is the right trajectory,” Castello said to trustees at the conclusion of the meeting. “It’s something that should have been done several years ago.”
PUSD finds itself in the current financial position due to a structural deficit that is the result of declining enrollment, deficit spending, rising costs, the expiration of one-time COVID-19 relief dollars and uncertainty in state and federal funding.
As a result, the Los Angeles County Office of Education has required that PUSD submit an updated fiscal stabilization plan in December. Initially, district leaders said it was working toward reflecting $30-$35 million in cuts to the 2026-27 fiscal year budget, but on Thursday, Chief Human Resources Officer Sergio Canal said given the current projects officials feel comfortable making $30 million in cuts.
During public comment a series of speakers advocated for programs and services including the Academy for Creative Industries, the Armenian Academy, librarians, athletics and that cuts focus on central office positions and not school-based services.
“Everything that happens at a school affects the classroom,” Octavia E. Butler Librarian Natalie Daily said.
Three representatives from the Los Angeles County Office of Education observed the meeting. The same representatives presented a dire picture during a special meeting last month.
District leadership ran through the eight workstreams being analyzed to find the necessary cuts. They include: the Superintendent’s Budget Advisory Committee (SBAC), central office reductions, contracts, grant maximization, special education, transportation, asset management and staffing to ratio/vacancies.
The Board of Education will be voting on cuts from three of the eight workstreams: school-based services (SBAC), contracts and central office reductions.
The Superintendent’s Budget Advisory Committee made up of teachers, school staff, principals, administrators, parents, students and local residents, met several times this fall culminating in a list of program cuts ranked by priority.
District officials recommended the first 24 items on the list be included in the cuts, totaling about $18.5 million. District leadership presented the proposed cuts by grade spans: elementary schools, middle schools and high schools.
Included in high school reductions was a recommendation to reduce athletics budget by 50% that would be proportional at each site based on enrollment.
Athletic Lead Coordinator David Ibarra said that under the recommendation all sports currently offered would be offered next year at at least one schools. He said principals and athletic directors have met to come up with a plan to minimize the impact by looking at other reductions including fewer nonconference away games, reduced stipends and elimination of freshmen/sophomore teams.
Ibarra estimated that 65-70 teams would remain across the four high schools even after the cuts. Which programs would be cut from each school will not be made public until after the Board of Education takes final action.
Members of district staff offered three tiers of cuts to central office positions and recommended that trustees make tier one reductions that total about $3.6 million and 28.25 full time employees.
District officials presented a similar recommendation in the area of contracts. It recommended tier one reductions totaling approximately $2.7 million while warning that contracts in tiers two and three included system based services that cause significant difficulties.
Ahead of Thursday night’s meeting, Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco and Board President Jennifer Hall Lee released a joint statement to the PUSD community assuring that the district will continue to maintain its key services despite looming reductions.
“Our promise is simple but powerful: students come first. Classrooms will continue to be supportive, safe, and centered on learning,” the statement read. “Even with the reductions ahead, what remains is strong. PUSD will continue to offer the special programs that define who we are: arts, music, career technical education, and a rigorous instructional core.”
They said the district will continue to offer special programs like International Baccalaureate, Career Technical Education, Dual Language Immersion, Magnet programs, Elementary arts and music and International Academy.
“PUSD has faced difficult moments before and has always emerged stronger because of the dedication of everyone in our school community,” the joint statement read. “By confronting budget realities now, openly, carefully, and with compassion, we will ensure that our students continue to have the opportunities, programs, and support they need to succeed.”
Thursday’s meeting was streamed live on the KLRN Pasadena YouTube channel.
The Board of Education is scheduled to take action on reductions at its regular meeting Thursday, Nov. 20.