PVUSD's New Budget Includes Cuts To Adult Education, Music and Agriculture Programs

On Wednesday evening, Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) board of trustees agreed on a $165 million budget, which includes cuts to adult education, elimination of agricultural and music education programs, and increased class sizes.

However, the budget set money aside to preserve health and welfare benefits of employees, maintain summer school, and fund library technician positions for one more year.

“We’re not doing this because we want to,” said Brett McFadden, Chief Business Officer of the Pajaro Valley, after the four-hour meeting. “We’re doing this because of the state reduction.”

Through the cuts, Watsonville/Aptos Adult Education lost $1 million dollars, or half its funding. The program will dip into its reserve and raise class fees to stop program elimination. Furthermore, some PVUSD class sizes will increase from 20 to 30 students, according to PVUSD superintendent Dorma Baker.

Still, Baker remained optimistic that the budget could be restored. “We’re hoping to infuse something back into the budget,” she said after the meeting. “The dilemma is if and when.”

The new budget also set aside a $5.6 million reserve fund in case state cuts are greater than anticipated.

Before the budgetary decision, a few educators spoke to the board, urging them to think twice about the cuts. Adult school teacher Jack Carroll encouraged the board to hold off on cuts until a state budget was set.

“I want you to realize that maybe these cuts aren’t necessary,” he said.

Retired high school agriculture teacher and newly elected councilmember Lowell Hurst stressed the importance of maintaining agriculture programs in Watsonville.

“When I see agricultural mechanics has been completed de-funded, I think you have to pay some attention to committee that has existed for years,” he said.

Still, there remained no general public commentary about the cut, and Sandra Nichols and Karen Osmundson were the only trustees to vote against it.

“We have an ongoing assessment of services to determine if they’re effective,” said McFadden after the meeting about programs that had been cut.

The rest of the meeting dealt mostly with additional financial topics. The board also voted unanimously to pay consulting firm Total School Services Inc. $185,000 for their assistance with facilities planning, and legal and financial services. The money will be drawn from a facilities fund.

The board also unanimously voted to set a $5.21 per-square-foot fee on new construction, a 43 cent increase, in part to raise funds for new classrooms. Another hot topic was redistricting trustee boundaries based on 2010 Census data, an issue that will come up for debate again on August 10.

Lastly, the board agreed on job descriptions for positions it is looking to fill: a child development coordinator and family child care home coordinator.