School District Avoids Brown Act Loophole

Despite near-constant budget woes, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District does not plan to take advantage of a suspension of the Brown Act that is aimed at saving local jurisdictions money, officials said Monday.

Last month, .

It's a changed intended to save money, but advocates for open government say the change could have an adverse effect on transparency in local government.

For the time being, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District will continue to post its meeting agendas, two high-ranking district officials said.

"I do believe that we will continue as a district to operate with transparency in mind," said Murry Schekman, assistant superintendent of secondary education for PVUSD. "At our level, the cost does not outweigh the benefits."

The school district has made deep cuts to staff and programming for several years, though .

The Pajaro Valley Unified School District serves more than 18,000 students from preschool to 12th grade in southern Santa Cruz County and north Monterey County. It also supports a large adult school program.

Brett McFadden, chief business officer for the school district, said PVUSD staff has yet to analyze what, if any, financial benefit the district could get from the state legislature decision to suspend some provisions of the Brown Act.

"We haven't taken a close look at this yet as it was part of the final budget package. We are attending a budget workshop on Monday (July 23) to find out more information," McFadden said via email while on summer vacation with his family Monday. "In the meantime, we will continue to operate per previous law."

Also Monday, .