PVUSD trustees approve early retirement plan as layoffs loom

Grace Chinowsky is Lookout Eugene-Springfield’s city of Eugene and University of Oregon correspondent. She is working in Santa Cruz through the end of January.

The Pajaro Valley Unified School District governing board unanimously approved a voluntary early retirement incentive plan at a combative, six-hour meeting Wednesday night. 

The plan, known as a supplemental employee retirement plan (SERP), is designed to encourage eligible employees to retire or permanently resign by June 30. The district says the incentives will help balance the budget and mitigate cuts after the board approved 160 proposed layoffs last month, sparking outcry.

Trustees’ 7-0 approval, which came more than four hours into a meeting marked by near-constant infighting, offered a rare moment of unity for the PVUSD board, staff and members of the public in attendance. 

Ashley Yoro Flowers, the president of the local chapter of the California School Employees Association, which represents the district’s non-teaching staff, called the retirement incentives a “critical mitigation tool” to reduce proposed personnel layoffs, which could include all district mental health clinicians, dozens of teachers and more than 40 special education positions. 

“Allowing resignations and retirements to occur before layoffs is not only fiscally responsible, it is operationally sound,” she said, urging the board to approve the plan. 

Eligible employees — including certificated, classified and management staff — must be at least 55 years old with five years of service. 

They must submit a letter of resignation by March 13, just before the state-mandated March 15 deadline for the district to issue preliminary layoff notices. District staff are working with union representatives to determine which layoffs are necessary over the next several months, PVUSD spokesperson Alejandro Chavez told Lookout last month. 

Staff who agree to retire early would receive a district-funded retirement benefit equal to 70% of their final annual base salary, paid through an annuity administered by insurance broker Keenan Financial Services. 

Projections presented to the board show that if many open positions go unfilled, the district could see significant long-term savings, but if they are replaced, savings could turn into losses. PVUSD can rescind the SERP if participation doesn’t meet the district’s “operational and financial goals,” per the board’s resolution, in which case employees could withdraw their resignations.

Trustees and union representatives said the approval was overdue, as the idea had been floated for as long as three years. 

Brandon Diniz, president of the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers, said the SERP is “seriously solid” and expressed his hope that union members reap the plan’s benefits. He said in December that he wished the district had worked with the union on retirement incentives before approving the cuts.

“We’re going to work hard to make sure that we hit this number, because this is what we need, not layoffs,” he said.

Members of the public continued to slam the proposed layoffs, though fewer were in attendance than at December’s packed meetings. 

At a long meeting on Dec. 11, the board’s newly elected president, Carol Turley, cleared the room, which upset some people hoping to testify against proposed cuts. This triggered the board to hold another special meeting to resume public comment days later. She also interrupted some trustees to tell them their comments were off-topic. 

She began her comments on Wednesday by apologizing.

“I had a conversation with a trusted friend who’s had many years of experience as an elected person, who offered some constructive criticism that perhaps I was a little heavy-handed, particularly with my colleagues,” Turley said.

The marathon meeting also featured an update on school facilities upgrades funded by Measure M, as well as a student achievement report.

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