Pasadena’s Board of Education looks to eliminate $30 million from budget to prevent LACOE takeover
By: Errol Dassie & Andrew Sweet
In the 2024-2025 school year, the PUSD Board of Education formed the Superintendent Budget Advisory Committee. Created after the end of the Eaton Fire and lapse of COVID-19 relief funds, it aimed to “take bold steps to implement performance-based budgeting, prioritizing strategies that are both cost-effective and impactful for student learning.”
SBAC is made up of principals, teachers, parents, community members, and students, all with a goal to close the 30 million dollar school budget deficit.
Through the many meetings of the SBAC, the Pasadena Board of Education has laid out fiscal stabilization plans. But what do these cuts look like?
These proposed cuts affect nearly every part of Marshall.
Sports teams face blows to funding of up to 50 percent, risking the need for private donors.
Along with this, Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs such as ACI, Puente, electives and LEARNS confront large reductions, with some fearing total termination.
In the preliminary SBAC rankings for potential cuts based on priority, “reimagining ACI” would help save $502,150 annually. Marshall’s ACI students spoke at a Nov.13 board meeting about keeping funds and programs in tact.
The board has laid out the scenarios of Marshall staffing cuts made by SBAC — one assistant principal, bookkeepers/clerical/food services/custodial staff/librarians, and other important staff dedicated to Marshall students all face potential layoffs from the upcoming vote tomorrow, Nov. 20.
The board will also be voting on cuts in district contracts and central office reductions to reach the desired budget reduction number requested by LACOE.
The public reception of these cuts remains very poor, with many community members speaking out against the cuts at the education board meetings. But these cuts have a deadline – what happens if these reductions aren’t made in time?
That’s where LACOE comes in. The SBAC and Board of Education have consulted with officials from the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), who cover seventy-nine school districts across the county. LACOE presented to the Board on October 9.
Octavio Castelo, director of business advisory services, conducted a presentation on the proposed budget cut timeline. LACOE spoke on Pasadena’s submission of their budget reduction plans by November 2025. Officials recommended a $30-35 million reduction in the 2026-27 school year with enforcement by next July.
“If you draw a loan, if it’s an immediate cash insolvency issue,” Castelo said. “The board has no authority.”
LACOE voiced the possibility of state-appointed trustees taking over the district.
$62 million in relief funds brought temporary relief to Pasadena Unified after the 2020 pandemic. District finances were exacerbated after the January Altadena Fires, delaying vital projects focused on economic viability.
Concerns over closures and consolidation – the merging of schools – have sprung up in board conversations.
Board president Jennifer Hall Lee quickly cast off any discussion of school closures or mergers, pointing instead at the lease of unused properties like Roosevelt Elementary.
The financial crisis has also stemmed from declining PUSD enrollment. Student population has decreased from over 16,000 in the 2019-2020 school year to under 13,000 now. Trends in disenrollment continued when 90 fire-displaced students pulled out of circulation. It should be noted that dropping student enrollment is a local and national problem due to lower birth rates in recent times.
So how does PUSD survive? Touloumian believes that asset management will be key.
“We [PUSD] literally have vacant buildings that are gold mine properties,”Touloumian said. “We have been renting out our properties to community organizations charging under market value. That’s tons of money right there,” she said.
SBAC continues to work against the clock, but time is running out.
While the outcome of this current crisis is up in the air, one thing is certain — PUSD is making cuts across the board — not just at Marshall, but at all the PUSD schools and the district office.
Pasadena Unified has organized town halls to speak with concerned employees and labor partners. The Board of Education will reconvene tomorrow to finalize a list of which services to reduce.