School Board Trying to Spend $5.6M

The school district is trying to figure out how to spend $5.6 million in unallocated funds while grappling with a still-uncertain state economic outlook, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees discussed at its meeting Wednesday.

Brett McFadden, chief business officer for PVUSD, explained to board trustees that they will need to spend the millions “put on the shelf” last spring as a precautionary measure but should choose flexible options that could be changed or cut mid-year should the budget picture worsen again.

Most of the talk centered adding school days back to the academic calender—five have been lost—or reducing class sizes.

“Give children more in their school year,” trustee Sandra Nichols said.

But Dr. Albert Roman, assistant superintendent, told the board that finding teachers to reduce class sizes may be tough. Already the district has exhausted its rehire list and is actively recruiting just to fill the current positions open in the school district. Also, adding classes would likely put a strain on facilities.

Trustee Karen Osmundson suggested funding library media techs for longer——or adding janitorial staff.

Whatever option is adopted, it should be easy to adapt should the school district lose revenue again, Trustee Doug Keegan emphasized.

The board took no action on spending the money Wednesday night but will look into the matter further at its next meeting, on Aug. 23.

McFadden reminded the board of core values that boil down to doing what’s best for student achievement, which Board President Willie Yahiro said should be used as a starting point in the decision-making process.

“$5.6 million may seem like a lot of money, but it’s not when you spread it out,” Yahiro said.

The bottom line is, nothing will happen quickly. If school days are added, they will be tacked onto the end of the school year—so don’t plan next June’s vacation just yet, parents!—and any additional hiring would likely take place in January or even later.

Also, even with this chunk of money that PVUSD is required by state law to allocate to a program this year, the school district is not out of the woods financially and is expecting continued budget problems next year.