WCCUSD School Board Approves Budget Cuts and Position Reductions
“The crisis will only be solved by engaging our entire village. Instead, once again district leadership has pulled up its drawbridge, freezing out our invaluable union members, passionate families, and dedicated community partners. Everyone who showed up tonight is working tirelessly to give our students all they need. My question is are you willing to put your ego aside and give our educators staff and students what they need to thrive. Anything less is a total failure in leadership,” Natalie Walcuk, GO Public Schools’ Vice President of Local Impact at the March 12th Board of Education meeting.
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What Happened?
Budget cuts and staff reductions continue to be a major focus at WCCUSD school board meetings in February and March. Public Comments at the February 12, February 26, and March 12 meetings were dominated by concerns about staff reductions and calls for the board trustees to rescind proposed cuts.
On February 26, the board voted to approve resolutions allowing potential staff cuts to both “certificated” positions (which require a credential, including teachers, counselors, speech and language pathologists, and administrators) and “classified” positions (non-credentialed staff, including instructional aides, special education paraprofessionals, and clerical positions). These reductions include previously approved cuts under the “fiscal solvency plan” and additional “soft-positions” funded by grants not yet renewed for the next school year. The resolutions authorized the district to notify affected staff of potential layoffs before the March 15 deadline. Some positions that were approved for cuts could ultimately be restored, particularly the grant-funded positions once their funding gets approved.
The reduction of certificated positions involved multiple failed votes and proposed amendments before ultimately passing with a 3-1 vote (Trustees Gonzalez-Hoy, Hernandez, and Enllana voted yes, Board President Reckler voted no, and Trustee Smith-Folds was absent).
The resolution authorized reducing 85 “Full Time Equivalent” positions, while 7.5 secondary (high school and middle school) FTEs and a .5 school psychologist position were protected. The approved potential reductions included ELA and reading coaches, speech-language pathologists, instructional specialists, career and technical education (CTE) programs, elementary teaching positions, assistant principals, and some central office positions, such as the Director of Research and Reporting.
This process happens across the state in every district annually. It is important to note, this authorization to reduce 85 FTE does not necessarily equate to 85 people being laid off. Some of the reductions will come from vacant positions, retirements, or resignations, and others may result in current staff being reassigned.
This year we saw the power of organizing and advocacy, led by talented and passionate Kennedy High School students and supported by the United Teachers of Richmond and Teamsters. As of March 20th, their collective effort led to fewer lay-off notices being sent out, with 1 initial UTR member in a district-funded position receiving a notice and then 7 additional (all of which are CTE teachers) receiving delayed notices. 19 others, who are in grant funded positions, were notified that their positions are contingent upon grant renewals. This issue appears to be continuing to evolve, an unusual and incredible stressful situation for our educators.
The reduction of classified positions also took multiple attempts to pass, but ultimately was approved (4-0) in its entirety, with the amendment that the board’s budget committee be reinstated immediately to find savings to restore some of these positions.
Why is this important?
These decisions have real, lasting effects on the quality of education that West Contra Costa students receive. Many positions targeted for possible elimination provide essential support for some of our most vulnerable students, including paraprofessionals, instructional aides, instructional specialists and ELD and literacy coaches. Other cuts could impact our high schools’ course offerings, including electives, CTE programs, music programs, and access to counselors.
Alignment with priorities
Budget cuts should align with district priorities and student learning needs in partnership with stakeholders including families, students, and teachers. Cuts may be necessary to address the structural deficit that the district faces, due to increased costs along with decreased revenues related to declines in enrollment and decreased attendance. However, the reasoning behind specific reduction has been unclear. Thomas Gagnie, one of many teachers speaking during public comment, asked “My question is, what are the priorities? Because they don’t seem to be students, they don’t seem to be keeping teachers, they don’t seem to be maintaining facilities, so where is all the money going? What are our priorities?”
One example of using priorities to shape budgeting decisions was in the debate about cuts to secondary teaching positions. There was a heated, lengthy discussion of the potential impact of some of the cuts on the flexibility for high schools to offer 7 or 8 period schedules, rather than the district standard of 6 periods. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy argued, “The schools that have 7-8 periods are some of our highest needs schools– De Anza, Richmond, Kennedy… they have the largest population of English Learners, who have to take remedial classes of ELD classes if they haven’t reclassified… they are not able to get the credits to get A-G requirements or sometimes even graduate [on a traditional schedule].” The discussion led to multiple failed votes and visible frustration among trustees and district leadership. Nevertheless, such debates are crucial to shape spending decisions based on priorities and values.
Transparency and Partnership with stakeholders
Additionally, it is vital that budgeting priorities are made transparently, in partnership with all key stakeholders as these decisions will affect the entire WCCUSD community. Many public commenters described feeling shut out of decision-making and frustrated about lack of clear communication. There were multiple questions raised about the numbers of positions that would be cut, noting the conflicting numbers in different district messages.
As Natalie Walchuk, GO Public Schools Vice President of Local Impact, stated in her public comment at the March 12 meeting, “The crisis will only be solved by engaging our entire village. Instead, once again district leadership has pulled up its drawbridge, freezing out our invaluable union members, passionate families, and dedicated community partners. Everyone who showed up tonight is working tirelessly to give our students all they need. My question is are you willing to put your ego aside and give our educators staff and students what they need to thrive. Anything less is a total failure in leadership.”
What can you do?
Now more than ever, your voice matters. The time and energy that community members have invested to attend board meetings demonstrates a commitment to ensuring every child in West Contra Costa receives a quality education. It is essential that you continue to show up, speak out, and demand transparency in every step of the budgeting process.
- Stay Involved: Attend a public board or committee meeting and share your experiences. Your story reminds officials that these fiscal decisions impact real lives.
- Demand Accountability: Push for policies and budget decisions that prioritize classroom needs and community involvement.
- Utilize GO’s School Finance Resource Library: Our library features short, easy-to-understand guides to demystify complex budget issues to help families and their champions to navigate the complicated world of school finance and governance, to identify opportunities for advocacy and engage with confidence.
Together, we can ensure that our district’s financial strategies prioritize what matters most: providing every child with the quality education they deserve. Your continued involvement is the key to making sure that the voices of West Contra Costa’s families shape the future of our schools.
Other Meeting Highlights:
- LCAP Mid-Year Updates: Read about the district’s presentation of the mid-year updates to the Local Control and Accountability Plan in our February 21 “Strategic Use of Data” article. Overall, we found the LCAP presentation (report and presentation slides) to be a significant improvement compared to what we have seen from WCCUSD LCAP updates in past years.
- Immigration Enforcement Protocols: On February 12, the district reviewed protocols for handling immigration enforcement on WCCUSD campuses. The protocol includes: immediately notifying the school leader who will reach out immediately to district leadership about next steps, and not sharing information about students, staff, or families or giving access to the school beyond the main office, unless there is a legal, signed warrant or subpoena which has been reviewed and approved by WCCUSD legal counsel.
Brochures explaining this protocol and steps families can take are available in English and in Spanish. One recommended step for families is to complete a family preparedness plan for what to do in the event of an emergency, such as if a parent is detained.
