BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Layoffs are on the table as the Palo Alto Unified School District faces $33 million in budget cuts for the next school year.
“We’re going to have to fire people,” board member Shounak Dharap said at Tuesday’s meeting.
New Superintendent Jason Glass said the budget cuts are the board’s most important work over the next two years. He expects finger-pointing, attacks and suggestions that the district is bloated or should cut down on lightbulbs, paper or copy machines.
But the budget deficit is too large, and the board will have to consider cutting “terrific” programs, services and employees, Glass said.
“These conversations are going to make people scared and angry. We have to have them anyways,” Glass said.
The district will try to avoid layoffs by not filling positions and reassigning employees, Glass said.
The cuts have already reached the district office as Glass has decided not to fill some administrative positions.
Board member Shana Segal said she wants the board to discuss a second attempt at renewing the district’s parcel tax during a special election in the spring.
The tax renewal came up short at the June 2 election.
Much of the projected budget deficit can be attributed to new contracts the district has with its labor unions, giving employees a 10.4% raise and $10,000 in bonuses.
Dharap said the board wanted to avoid a strike as a new superintendent came in, but now Glass is in the “unenviable position” of proposing cuts.
Former board member Ken Dauber criticized the board for approving “unaffordable and excessively generous” contracts.
“The board has created a financial crisis entirely of its own making,” Dauber said at Tuesday’s meeting. “This is a disastrous outcome that was entirely foreseeable … and unfortunately now the community is going to have to pay that consequence.”
Board member Alison Kamhi said she wants to look into transferring more money from the district’s reserves.
Board member Josh Salcman said he wants to be upfront about how cuts will be decided. For example, the board can try to make cuts that are reversible or as far away from the classroom as possible, he said.
“It will give folks more time to start to come to terms with what that reality is, before we get to the point where we’re actually voting,” Salcman said.
The district has until March 15 to issue layoff notices, Chief Business Officer Charen Yu said.
The board is looking at another $10 million in budget cuts for the 2028-29 school year, Yu said.
One of the biggest budget factors is property tax revenue growth. The Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office will have its latest projections in early September, Yu said.
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