PUSD Approves Mass Layoffs Amid Budget Crisis

QUINCY — In the past month, the Plumas Unified School District (PUSD) held several board meetings discussing a severe budget deficit, culminating in the proposal to lay off 29 school and district staff members. An audit report for the 2022-2023 school year released in February shows a depletion in the general fund of over $1.9 million, but interim PUSD Superintendent Jim Frost says that now the deficit has ballooned closer to $3 million.

Though the finalized report for the last school year has not yet been released (to the disapproval of many members of the public), it is clear the district has reached a crisis that requires sweeping change. If the district cannot balance its budget, it faces receivership by the State of California. The majority of the board hoped that mass layoffs would be enough to prevent the state from taking over the district. However, if the district still has debts, the state may assume control, replace leadership personnel, and usurp the board’s power over district matters.

On March 12th, the board passed three ordinances (3 yes, 1 no, 1 abstain) with the combined effect of approving the elimination of 25.16 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions, which they believe would reduce spending by about $1.8 million (average $71.5k per FTE). The ordinances allow the termination of 2 student nurses, an elementary summer program staff member, 3 teachers, a counselor, a licensed vocational nurse, 2 health care aides, 3 custodians, 8 cook managers, 5 para-educators, an activities specialist, a vice principal, and an assistant superintendent across the district’s eight schools. The layoffs would take effect either at the end of the 2024-2025 school year or on June 30th, depending on employee type.

Superintendent Frost explained the situation to a packed house at the March 12th meeting. “The amount of cuts needed here is so large that if you just eliminated the entire district office… it would not be even close to enough,” said Frost in response to members of the public urging district cuts before school staff were let go. Frost says that approving the layoffs would help solve the problem of the deficit but that “then the state will come in and make a long-term resolution.”

Although the public at the meeting understood the severity of the district’s crisis, many were annoyed by a lack of transparency and skeptical about whether budget reduction had to come from cutting school staff. One teacher from Chester High School said, “This tragedy seems to be coming at the expense of our cook managers, our healthcare workers… and most importantly, at the expense of great educators.” Another community member said, “We’re going to talk about letting [go] an incredible group of teachers that are doing amazing work for our children… not the people who caused this problem.” Many comments agreed that the group most impacted by these decisions would be the students, who have already suffered in the wake of COVID and the Dixie Fire.

Board members in favor of passing the resolution explained that they were not ready for the state to take over, feeling that the layoffs were the only real way to have a chance of retaining local control. Leslie Edlund explained, “I feel like this is our way forward with the least amount of trauma to our folks, even though it is a lot. I just feel like the state is going to be way, way worse.” Joleen Cline concurred, saying, “I still want to fight; I’m not surrendering.”

The district blames declining enrollment and drying up of funding post-covid for the rapid deterioration of its finances. While the 2023-2024 school year audit is expected to be released in April (a delay for which Superintendent Frost did not know who was responsible), the previous year’s audit already shows some worrying trends. It found financial management issues that had carried over from the year before, including unreconciled cash balances and errors in accruals and inventory. The district also had several compliance issues, including spending only 50.3% of its education expenses on teacher salaries when 55% is required.

As a next step, PUSD’s meeting on Wednesday, April 9th, will be attended by Mike Fine, CEO of the Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), who will give a presentation during Open Session offering further insight into the district’s financial challenges and afterward hold a 30-minute question and answer session with stakeholders. That meeting will be held at C. Roy Carmichael Elementary, with the meeting starting at 4 PM and Open Session at 5:30 PM. It will also be live-streamed on YouTube.

PUSD is not to be confused with the Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified School District (SPJUSD), which oversees Sierra County’s Public Schools. SPJUSD’s 2023-2024 audit report, discussed in the district board’s most recent meeting on March 19th, revealed a healthy budget surplus.