HARD Parks and HUSD Budgets
In Which: The Bidwell Park project starts moving forward, HUSD reaches out about their budget woes, and Trustees fret over Survey perceptions.
Special District Updates
With City Council still taking a protracted break to maybe hire a City Manager, this week we look at what our Special Districts are up to. HARD has started posting their meetings online, but for some reason the Study Session was left out. There was some good stuff there. HUSD is facing a massive budget deficit and will be looking to you all for feedback. Keep an eye out for a survey coming your way soon—maybe even today!—and in-person community meetings.
HARD Updates on Bidwell Park
The HARD Board got an update on the Bidwell Park project this month. The plans were delayed due to an argument with the City of Hayward over parking requirements. The City insisted the project needed 129 parking spaces, while HARD requested a smaller lot like San Felipe Park.
After conducting a parking study at San Felipe Park, the City agreed to reduce the parking to 56 spaces.
However, the park improvements will be more limited in scope than was previously imagined. The majority of the park area will be given over to open grass with a walking path. The other improvements will be clustered around the new community center and include picnic areas, the ubiquitous Pickleball courts, a full-court and half-court basketball area, and a daycare play area.
The existing playground equipment will be kept with minor improvements, and there’s a section marked “National Fitness Campaign” that may have exercise equipment similar to what exists at Tennyson Park--the documentation is unclear what it means, however.
The timeline of the park, originally slated for completion in 2025, has been pushed back to early 2027. HARD will begin soliciting bids in early 2025.
HUSD Faces Historic Budget Shortfall With Community
As HUSD and the City of Hayward have made abundantly clear, HUSD is facing a historic budget deficit of $31,000,000--a figure that may grow even further. During their November 13th meeting, the HUSD Board of Trustees discussed the strategy they will be using to develop recommendations to address the budget shortfall.
Superintendent Reimann framed the budget issue as a long-standing one dating back to 2019, where the District was predicting a $7,800,000 reduction being necessary. The issues are, unfortunately, largely systemic: expired 1-time COVID funds, decreasing enrollment (which is an issue across the county), and the massive State budget deficit. For context, HUSD has lost over 3,000 students since 2016, while at the same time staffing has increased by 15%.
The 2025 budget was only approved conditionally, and the condition was to be able to have a 3% reserve within 3 years. With 90% of the General Funds going to staffing, it’s going to require some cuts—and it’s not going to be pretty. But, Superintendent Reimann stressed, the plan is to have a robust community engagement process. He specifically didn’t mention San Francisco Unified School District’s process which went so poorly that the Superintendent was forced out.
“We’ve seen,” he said, “where these process can go wrong. And that’s usually when people sit behind closed doors and try to make a decision without having the input of everybody.”
Superintendent Reimann also stressed that the outreach meetings—over 10 meetings in the next 2 months—and survey—which should be released soon—will also be complimented by individual meetings with other partners. The City of Hayward and labor partners were specifically named, though doubtless others will be involved as well.
Board Feedback
Trustee Rawdon seemed annoyed that the Board of Trustees wouldn’t be able to look at the survey before it gets sent out. However, Superintendent Reimann reminded him that the Board had been sent the survey some time earlier. “You’re right,” Trustee Rawdon said, “I didn’t realize what I was reading.”
Trustee Bufete pushed for translations in other languages beyond Spanish. Staff said that they would look at the list of most-needed languages and work down the list as best they could. He also pushed for more in-person outreach sites, specifically citing that there wasn’t a meeting within District 5, which contains the Hayward Hills and Stonebrae—an affluent and Asian-heavy elementary school. The Superintendent said he hadn’t considered districts, but would make adjustments to ensure each district had a meeting within its boundaries.
Some Trustees were concerned about how people would perceive the survey. “It needs to be made clear,” Trustee Oquenda said, “that it’s not a free-for-all.” She stressed that some programs will be kept for equity reasons, regardless of funding. “The point of the survey,” Trustee Rawdon said, “is to receive input. It’s not a vote.”
The Superintendent assured Trustee Rawdon that the voting authority rests entirely with the Board of Trustees. The survey data will be for “validating that we know what our parents want, what our community wants, and [that] we’re hearing from everybody.” When Trustee Rawdon expressed concern about who would generate recommendations for the Board, the Superintendent said that it would be prepared by the Executive Cabinet, just like all the other Board items that receive a vote.
Some Trustees expressed concern about people gaming the survey. Trustee Ramos expressed a desire to prove who people are in some way, and Trustee Bufete was concerned about people potentially filling out multiple surveys. The Superintendent said that the lack of validation was less important than getting a large sample size, but also that there were unspecified guardrails in place to ensure that one person doesn’t submit the survey dozens of times.
The first Budget Meeting is tonight at Cherryland Elementary at 5:30 pm. You can read more about the Budget Solutions Process online and see when and where the other community meetings will take place.