HUSD To Cut Over 150 Staff
In Which: HUSD starts to identify $12 Million to cut this year, The Board of Trustees is largely silent about it, And More Teachers plead to keep their programs and positions.
HUSD Starts Grappling With Cuts
Last Wednesday, the Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) Board of Trustees got a presentation on the updated financial shortfalls facing the district. The District is already working with the Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE) to plan $54,000,000 in cuts from the district over the next two fiscal years—$12,000,000 of which needs to be cut before July. “This is a very difficult process to go through,” Superintendent Jason Reimann said, “nonetheless we understand that we don’t have any choice.”
The funding shortfall was a long time coming, HUSD was already $10,000,000 short in 2020 before pandemic relief funds allowed the Board to temporarily plug the hole. School funding is largely determined by average daily attendance—a practice abandoned by many other states—and declining enrollment costs the district millions of dollars per year.
While the Board continued to recognize declines in enrollment, to combat the learning difficulties students experienced during the Pandemic, staffing increased by 15% while enrollment decreased by 8%. According to Superintendent Reimann, part of the reason had to do with a lack of budget oversight. “We were not only adding to spending,” he said, “but also becoming more accurate in terms of what the actual budget shortfall was.”
Although he recognized that the budget cuts were drastic, they are an undeniable necessity. “If we cannot create a stable system,” Superintendent Reimann said, “it cannot serve our students.” He also said that if the budget isn’t balanced, there is a risk of outside agencies—whether County or State—running the district on their behalf.
Minimizing The Impact
The Superintendent stressed that the goal is to minimize the impact as much as possible. He said that, although some may criticize using one-time funding for ongoing positions, many of those programs have proven valuable to students and teachers. However, he also said that it is important to recognize that HUSD is a smaller district and needs to adjust spending accordingly.
But that doesn’t mean making cuts directly to staffing. “If we were to scale down that expenditure level,” Superintendent Reimann said, “then what we’d be talking about is literally 490-500 people that would be impacted. That is not something we can do as a school district. That is not something that would be effective or possible.” He said that the plan is to reduce that number as much as possible through other means.
And while the cuts promise to be strategic, there isn’t a way to keep everything as it is. “There can’t be cuts of this size and our district remains offering everything that we’ve been offering up to this point,” Superintendent Reimann said. The initial plan is to both cut staffing—from District Office administrative and support staff, District Office support to school sites, pre-Pandemic level school site staffing, and HR, Business Office, Educational Informational Technology, and Facilities, Maintenance, and Operations—and line items like cell phones, conference expenses, software, and the like.
On the revenue side, HUSD is looking at some medium and long-term solutions to the budget. These include workforce housing for teachers—a very long-term plan, expanding full-day preschool, a parcel tax, and medical billing to the State for services offered at the schools. The Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) from the State is also .5% higher than expected, which means the District will get some more money, and the May Revise of the State budget may improve things even more.
Parents Ask About Enrollment
During the virtual Town Hall on Thursday, Superintendent Reimann fielded questions from parents and teachers on the budget outlook. Many parents expressed concern about competition from local private and charter schools, especially when comparing their educational outcomes.
Superintendent Reimann pushed back on the idea that charter and private schools are a superior option to HUSD. He said that, compared to any local charter or private school, HUSD has more programs to offer, including athletics, Puente, music, and many others. He stressed that the primary reason that HUSD falls behind compared to the more exclusive institutions is because HUSD has to take everyone. While private schools can expel someone for poor performance or chronic absenteeism, HUSD is required—by law—to accept every student no matter what.
For example, in a HUSD Board meeting some time ago, there was an item allocating over $50,000 to send a severely disabled child to a special learning institution. HUSD wasn’t able to meet their learning needs, but they were required to ensure those needs were met. There is no chance a private or charter school would spend a whole person’s tuition on ensuring a single student was so well taken care of.
Parents at the Town Hall also asked if it would be helpful to have parents advocating on behalf of the district. Superintendent Reimann said, “Yes.” He identified enrollment drop-offs when transitioning from elementary to middle school and from middle school to high school. They didn’t have a solution to that yet, but he said that the District is putting together an outreach team to try to drive enrollment.
It is important to remember that Dr. Reimann was hired in June of 2023. The previous Superintendent, Matt Wayne, famously left HUSD—after trying to close half a dozen schools in 2021—for San Francisco Unified School District, where he was driven out after attempting to close dozens of schools to balance their budget.
The Board Is Largely Silent On Cuts
With the exception of newly-elected Trustee Austin Bruckner-Carrillo, the majority of the HUSD Board of Trustees offered scant comments on the proposed budget plan. Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo was concerned about the lack of transparency. “I’m just concerned,” he said, “that February 12th is going to come and it’s going to be a budget that’s not reflective of the priorities outlined by the board.”
Despite the Board meeting weekly with the Superintendent, Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo pressed him to release summaries of the community survey results. Superintendent Reimann said he would, if he is able.
Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo then asked about cutting unneeded contracts and, specifically, District Office administration. “If we’re scaling down,” he said, “we should be scaling down at the same rate [across all labor groups].” Superintendent Reimann said that administrators hadn’t increased very much, which Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo pushed back on. “Much of the growth,” the Superintendent explained, “has been grant funded.” However, he stressed that he has instructed General Fund administrative staffing to return to 2018/2019 levels.
Beyond the exchange from Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo, the rest of the Board was largely silent on the matter. Trustee Sara Prada said, “We may be a shrinking district, but we’re a high-needs district… It requires a pretty healthy village to serve our students.” However, she provided no details on what kind of supports were a priority for her or what a “healthy village” would need to be healthy.
Trustee April Oquenda said that she appreciated the weekly meetings, but also offered nothing concrete. “We are committed to doing what is best for our school district,” she said, “and keeping in mind what [Trustee Prada] said about our students and recognizing their needs.”
Trustee Peter Bufete asked questions to contextualize the cuts, including how many districts in Alameda County are dipping into reserves. District Staff said, “18 of 18 districts in Alameda County have dipped into their reserves this year. 5 of 18 districts are in fiscal distress.” They stressed that it was, in fact largely a systemic issue. “We are in very good company,” they said. “It is an unprecedented difficult time in education right now.”
Superintendent Reimann then chimed in to both recognize that the ACOE has been helpful in guiding the budget cuts and offering solutions, and also thank the community and labor groups for their input on the process. “Our full community has come together,” he said, “to help us make the best decision in bad times.”
Trustee Bufete then merely expressed platitudes regarding the upcoming layoffs. He wanted to “be very mindful of how we expose our employees to opportunities,” he said, “where there might be other roles in our district” for laid-off staff. He stressed the importance of “understanding the human element.” However there were no other questions or concerns expressed.
Trustee Rawdon said nothing during the entire item.
Staff Plea For Their Positions
During public comment, teachers from the Hayward Education Association (HEA)—specifically Teachers on Special Assignment (TOSAs)—made the case for their positions and how important it is for students. Ranging from English Learner teachers in the multilingual programs to STEAM program teachers to Induction Team teachers, multiple teachers made the case for why their program is necessary for student success.
HEA President, Mercedes Faraj, expressed frustration at a disconnect between the collaboration touted by the Superintendent and reality. “[There’s] a lack of understanding,” she said, “of the timeline and the participation and what I would consider collaboration and working together on this.” She was frustrated by the lack of hard numbers and that the uncertainty has forced teachers to beg for their jobs. “There are teachers here tonight speaking on their behalf to keep their jobs,” she said, “and we don’t even know if they’re at risk.”
Superintendent Reimann responded by saying that documents would be shared with labor partners the next day.
The President of the Association of Educational Office and Technical Employees (AEOTE) was angry that the Board seemed to have so little to say in public on the budget. “I did not hear everyone talking about this,” she said, “I heard about analogies. I heard about corporate America, but not the questions I was hoping to hear.” She was also frustrated that AEOTE had already identified wasteful and redundant contracts, but that they hadn’t been addressed yet. She gave the example of a $250,000/year contract for grant writing when there are already grant writers working for the District. “I need a lot of answers tomorrow,” she said.