Pajaro Valley Unified school board to discuss plan to cut more than 160 positions at Wednesday meeting

Quick Take

The Pajaro Valley Unified School District board will discuss a proposal Wednesday to eliminate more than 160 positions — including counselors, teachers, mental health clinicians and special education staff — in an effort to address a $15.3 million budget shortfall tied to declining enrollment and the loss of pandemic-era funding. Educators and union leaders have condemned the proposed cuts as a threat to student safety and well-being, urging the district to delay decisions and prioritize administrative reductions instead.

Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s school board this week will discuss cutting more than 160 full-time-equivalent positions — totaling about $15.3 million — including dozens of positions educators and unions say are essential for student well-being such as counselors, teachers, all the district’s mental health clinicians and 40 special education positions such as behavior technicians.

During its Wednesday meeting, the board is not scheduled to take any action on the staff recommendations, which are designed to address the district budget deficit and to bring staffing levels down after years of declining enrollment. The trustees are expected to vote on a final list of reductions during the Dec. 11 meeting.

Behavior technician Christina Smalluck, 63, said she was “heartbroken and devastated” when she saw the proposal. She’s been working at the district for 15 years and while she doesn’t believe her position is at risk, she said PVUSD can’t afford to cut one special education position. Smalluck works with students in the district’s special education program.

“One is too many,” she said. “We need more right now. We’re in a crisis right now. We need more hands on deck because we’re not creating a safe environment [for students and staff].”

About half of the proposed layoffs are among the certificated staff — teachers and other staff with teaching credentials, such as counselors. The other half, or 78 layoffs, are for classified positions, such as behavior technicians, mental health clinicians and health care assistants. The proposed layoffs would affect about 6% to 7% of staff, of the total approximately 2,379 total workers. About 14,620 students attend PVUSD schools.

Behavior technicians work with some of the most vulnerable children in the district, who have a range of behavioral challenges; some have autism, many are foster youth and some are physically aggressive. Technicians like Smalluck help students manage their behaviors by teaching them to practice taking breaks when they’re upset or de-escalate when they have a meltdown. She also trains staff in de-escalation skills.

PVUSD, like many school districts across the state, has been struggling with declining enrollment and budget deficits for years. Over the past 10 years, enrollment declined 18%, or by 3,271 students, and as a result, the state funding allocated to the district has also declined. Also, like many school districts that used one-time state and federal COVID funding, PVUSD is faced with the loss of those one-time dollars it used to fund critical ongoing positions.

Last February, in light of those challenges, the district proposed cutting about 100 full-time-equivalent positions to trim the budget by $5 million. The school board rejected the initial proposal and eventually approved layoffs of 60.55 full-time-equivalent positions. About 30 teachers received layoff notices last spring.

The Pajaro Valley Unified School District offices in Watsonville — Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

After that round of layoffs, Superintendent Heather Contreras said during school board meetings and in interviews with Lookout that the district would have to make steeper cuts in the future. She previously said the district has not yet adjusted its spending to account for declining enrollment and the loss of pandemic-era federal funds.

Currently, PVUSD is planning for two years of deficit spending, including this year, totaling $25.9 million, according to board documents.

The district has some time before it needs to finalize the layoffs it plans to implement. All public school districts in California are required by the state’s Education Code to notify employees of layoffs by March 15 and make final decisions on those layoffs by May 15.

For the staff with teaching credentials, the district is proposing cutting 15 full-time-equivalent counselors, the equivalent of 11.85 full-time intervention specialists, five to 10 permanent positions in areas of low enrollment, 50 temp/intern/probationary positions and two behaviorists. Behaviorists, also called board-certified behavior analysts, provide program support to special day classes for students with autism.

In proposed cuts to classified roles, the district is planning to lay off all its 13 mental health clinicians, 10 health care assistants, 15 instructional assistants in general education and 40 behavior technicians and instructional assistants in special education.

Behaviorist Heather Pint said they’re “already stretched thin” and losing two of the total seven behaviorists would “drastically” change their workload. She works with elementary students and has been at the district for about nine years.

The district’s mental health clinicians issued a joint statement criticizing PVUSD’s decision to cut their positions. They also argued that replacing their staff with third-party providers ‘threatens the well-being of students,” as the agencies often rely on “lower-cost clinicians in training — students, interns” who aren’t as experienced.

“In a district grappling with suicide, violence, economic hardship, food insecurity and the chilling effects of immigration enforcement, this proposal sends a dangerous message: that student safety and stability are not priorities,” they wrote.

Brandon Diniz, president of the teachers union, said the district should take more time to meet and discuss proposals instead of setting a December deadline for board approval. He told Lookout he was very upset about the layoffs and how the district is implementing them.

“I think it’s an absolute disgrace and an assault on our community,” he said. “We need to slow down and have these discussions and collaboration, and inform the community. But there’s no way we need to be rushing to a vote right now.”

Ashley Yoro Flowers, the classified union president, said the district is contracting out “essential student support positions in the name of ‘budget realignment.’” She said the cuts will harm the students, schools and community.

“It is a direct attack on the heart of our schools and the people who hold them together,” she said in a statement. “Every single classification targeted in this proposal represents a lifeline for our students.”

Yoro Flowers and Diniz both said the district should make more cuts in administrative or district-level offices before cutting positions that work directly with students.

“Instructional assistants and behavior technicians are the ones standing beside our most vulnerable students, ensuring they are safe, seen, and supported,” said Yoro Flowers. “Health care assistants respond to medical needs that can mean the difference between life and death.”

PVUSD spokesperson Alejandro Chavez didn’t answer questions about whether the district planned to contract out mental health providers to ensure students receive mental health support and about how many positions the district expects to lose to attrition over the next year.

“At this time, PVUSD is focused on providing clear information to our board of education as they begin reviewing proposed budget reductions,” he wrote in a media statement to explain that Superintendent Contreras would not be doing interviews. “Given that the board’s deliberations are still ahead, an interview with the superintendent right now could be seen as influencing those discussions.”

In the same statement, Contreras said the district has been working on these reductions for several years.

“We know these decisions will not be easy,” she wrote.