San Luis Coastal Unified School District’s parents and teachers convinced its board of trustees to save school counselors from the staffing reduction chopping block, but a budget deficit for the 2025-26 school year remains.
“Counselors are at the forefront of caring for our students when they are in the most need,” Cal Poly sociology professor and Hawthorne Elementary School mom Martine Lappe told board members at the Feb. 18 meeting. “They are already providing resources, providing classroom teachers in meaningful ways that we heard in the last board meeting. They are already bearing the brunt of many, many statewide and federal policies that are affecting families and students alike.”
Lappe, like many other district parents, advocated to save the transitional kindergarten program when staff proposed nixing it to close a total structural deficit of almost $8 million.
The district zeroed in on the TK program in the face of increased costs, expired COVID-19 funds, plateaued enrollment, and hiring more employees using one-time funds. Most notably, staff underscored that retaining TK was tough since PG&E reduced unitary taxes paid on Diablo Canyon Power Plant assets.
But while parental pushback highlighted the benefit of a one-year pathway between preschool and kindergarten, district staff recommended laying off around half of its nine elementary school counselors and two part-time middle school counselors to bridge the budget gap.
Assistant Superintendent Ryan Pinkerton, who oversees district business services, told the board at the staff reduction proposal meeting on Feb. 4 that staff applies personnel costs to the district’s revenue stream.
“So, how much money are we spending on people compared to the money that we’re taking in,” he said. “For us, we’re at 87.8 percent [of revenues]. Healthy is below 85 percent.”
Feedback from parents and teachers streamed in during both February meetings.
Rita Rodriguez, a district elementary school teacher, said the prospect of losing counselors terrified her and made her think of students in her class who were in difficult situations.
“One of my students, his mother has a chronic health condition, so she’s in the hospital,” she said. “This little boy is not sure where he’s going to live when his mother passes away. So, I was able to contact our counselor this morning and she was able to bring him in for a session.”
The district proposed cutting four full-time counselors and one part-time counselor from its elementary schools. The remaining five elementary school counselors would be distributed across schools depending on school need and size. Laying off these counselors alone would save the district $486,195.
While proposed resolution before the board on Feb. 18 focused on reducing the number of counselors, staff selected around 60 other positions to scale back. Fourteen elementary and seven secondary school teachers; teachers on special assignment like elementary athletics; summer athletic stipends; student support specialist teachers; district department staff; secretarial staff; and principals and counselors on special assignment will be affected.
The total proposed reduction amount for the 2025-26 school year stands at $5.8 million—an amount Assistant Superintendent Pinkerton previously acknowledged still doesn’t meet the $6.3 million deficit.
The school board voted 4-3 to reject the resolution to discontinue some of the counseling staff.
“I’m moved by the stories I heard tonight and I’m thinking about the future, and I can’t help but think about what we’re going to be facing for the next three years … with the devastation that we’re hearing from Washington, D.C., about public education,” board member Chis Ungar said. “I can’t help but think about our children of undocumented parents who are living in fear right now. … I’m not going to support this.”
Board members Robert Banfield, Mark Buchman, and Brian Clausen joined Ungar in rejecting the proposal. New board member Erica Baltodano and board members Marilyn Rodger and Ellen Sheffer supported the resolution, saying they didn’t want to “kick the can further down the road.”
The board voted 7-0 to approve a second resolution to terminate some classified positions. Twelve instructional aides, an English language instructional aide, a physical education aide, a counseling aide, a before/after school aide, an office clerk, a human resources technician, an executive assistant at the superintendent’s office, and a payroll specialist will be laid off.
The school district will search for other funding options in the meantime.
Superintendent Eric Prater announced to the board that Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) agreed to carry a bill on the district’s behalf to advocate for universal transitional kindergarten funding for basic aid districts like San Luis Coastal.
Prater added that the district was in touch with PG&E Vice President of State and Local Government Relations Chris Patterson, too. He requested a $10 million contribution to the district’s education foundation to tide them over until staff finds a more permanent funding solution down the road.
“This bridge funding contribution would allow us to preserve some of the programs and staff that we know are critical to the support of our children,” the staff report read. “[PG&E] agreed to consider bridge funding in the 2025-26 school year but will need more time to explore that option.” Δ
This article appears in Feb 20 – Mar 2, 2025.