WATSONVILLE — The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees voted to reject a pair of resolutions that would have cut up to 100 classified and certificated employee positions by a slim majority at Wednesday’s meeting.
Both items were denied by separate 4-3 votes. In both cases, trustees Jessica Carrasco, Daniel Dodge Jr., Joy Flynn and Gabriel Medina voted against the proposed cuts, while trustee Carol Turley, Vice President Misty Navarro and President Olivia Flores voted to support staff’s recommendation, simultaneously acknowledging that it was a very difficult vote.
The resolutions, one for classified employees and another for certificated employees, called for the board to reduce 80.8 full-time equivalent teachers and 19.75 classified employees for the 2025-26 academic year, including three mental health clinicians, 10.25 general instructional assistants and three site technology support technicians. The biggest cuts proposed on the certificated side included 12 elementary release teachers, eight elementary intervention teachers, four high school career technical education teachers and a visual and performing arts coordinator. This was the first time such resolutions were voted on in an open session rather than closed session.
Superintendent Heather Contreras said these were hard decisions no school district ever wants to make but pointed to two reasons why the district proposed these cuts: continuing trends in declining enrollment and positions that were created with one-time funding put forth during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, those opposed to the proposals argued that cutting mental health clinicians and art educator positions would have a detrimental impact on students. This culminated in the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers hosting a rally outside the bottom story of the Watsonville Civic Plaza, where Wednesday’s meeting was held.
A rally before the meeting
More than 100 teachers, classified employees, students and other community members lined up along both sides of Main Street in front of the Civic Plaza, carrying signs and receiving honks from passing vehicles. Even a light drizzle that served as the opening act to Thursday’s storm did not deter the rally-goers from being outside until shortly before the meeting began.
Brandon Diniz, negotiations chair and incoming president of the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers, found the cuts to be unnecessary and felt they would have a detrimental impact on students’ academic and social-emotional health.
“Especially reducing counselors and mental health clinicians, maxing out class sizes, teachers are gonna be less able to refer students to get the supports that they need, and we are still feeling the effects of COVID,” he said.
Diniz disputed a statement made by Contreras that, if the resolutions were to fail, the district would risk being taken over by the state and lose its independence in decision-making. He pointed to the district’s $56 million reserve, which he said was too high for the state to intervene.
“When you look at our budget projection for the third year out, we have a budget reserve projection of over $30 million,” he said.
Diniz felt the district should rely on displacements and attrition, and incentivizing people to retire.
Nelly Vaquera, current president of the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers, said the cuts to instructional assistants were particularly frustrating as they provide valuable assistance to classroom instructors.
“They are helping out with small groups,” she said. “They help out with yard duty, so now we’re also minimizing the number of people who help out with safety on our school grounds.”
Many students expressed concerns about what the cuts to art instructors would mean for art classes. Lemi Anastasopoulos, a senior at Aptos High School, said these classes are important to her.
“If I didn’t have my drama and choir class, I don’t know where I’d be,” she said. “I feel like there’s not gonna be a perfect solution because of these budget cuts, but there’s a way to protect our students without doing what we’re doing.”
The classified resolution
Pam Shanks, director of human resources for classified personnel, said many of the proposed cuts stemmed from recommendations by the Sustainable Budget Committee. The recommendations to cut certain instructional assistant positions were due to kindergarten and transitional kindergarten classes moving to full day operations and working to ensure the level of staffing was appropriately aligned to the number of classes at each elementary site.
“As we continue to look at our staffing over the last year, we were aware we would need to eliminate some positions to be appropriately staffed with instructional positions for the upcoming school year,” she said.
Carrasco, herself the parent of a kindergartener, felt instructional assistants were vital for early childhood classrooms.
“Even if kindergarten classes are full time, I’ve been in a classroom with kindergarteners, and I need all hands on deck,” she said. “Cutting their positions would directly impact student success. If we’re serious about providing the best education for our kids, we cannot afford to lose instructional aides.”
Dodge said the work of classified employees such as instructional assistants was often overlooked and felt they should not face the proposed cuts. He echoed a suggestion by Carrasco that classified employees should be offered the same $10,000 early retirement incentive the district is proposing for certificated employees to mitigate cuts.
“I personally know classified workers here who dedicated 20 to 30 years of their life to PVUSD, and I think that’s something that should be looked into,” he said.
Flores said it was a difficult decision but felt the board should be fiscally solvent.
“I’m afraid that by saying no to all of these, we are gonna find ourselves in a very difficult position,” she said.
Ultimately, Dodge motioned to reject the resolution, which was supported 4-3.
The certificated resolution
The resolution for certificated employees called for 80.8 cuts, which Contreras said also accounted for retirements, resignations, intern teachers and non-credentialed teachers on temporary contracts.
As many speakers were art educators or supporters, Flynn asked why the districts could not use funds from Proposition 28, a statewide art funding initiative approved by voters in 2022, to support the arts. Contreras said the district’s Proposition 28 funding was through a per-pupil allocation.
“Those dollars are directly tied to students, much like our enrollment dollars,” she said. “The way a school site just decides how to spend their Proposition 28 dollars is determined by the school site.”
Contreras also clarified that the visual and performing arts coordinator position was financed through one-time COVID funding, not Proposition 28.
Flynn said she did not support the options and felt the district should explore other means.
“There’s an opportunity here for some of these funds to be used in a creative manner,” she said.
Navarro reiterated that the decisions before the board were painful but felt that the trustees should make smarter financial decisions than the district in prior years, and motioned to approve the resolution.
“The decisions that have been made in the past have put us in this condition that we are in now,” she said.
However, Navarro’s motion failed 3-4 with all trustees voting the same way as the previous resolution.
In a press release after the vote, Contreras acknowledged the gravity of the issue while also stressing a commitment to financial stability.
“No district takes these recommendations lightly, and we recognize the concerns shared by our community,” she wrote. “At the same time, we must address significant budget challenges due to the expiration of one-time federal funding and declining enrollment. We remain committed to working collaboratively with our board, staff, and stakeholders to identify solutions that ensure the long-term fiscal health of our district.”
Contreras noted that the district will explore potential next steps in the coming days, including reconsidering budget adjustments, scheduling a special board meeting and identifying other cost-saving measures prior to the March 15 notification deadline.