Budget Fallout Speculation

Editor’s Note: This is the last week of the Hayward Herald for the year—and it’s looking to be a busy one. Expect some extra content to last you through our winter break. Our last publication of 2025 will be December 18th.

Happy Holidays, dedicated listener! The latest episode of Over the Loud Speaker is in, and it’s stuffed with holiday cheer for you. The elves worked overtime on this episode, causing a little bit of trouble in Santa’s workshop—they’re asking for time and a half back pay, plus holiday bonuses! And Santa is in a tough spot, financially, after the situation with Mrs. Clause. Okay, I promise not to make any more winter holiday references. If the elves’ situation sounded a little familiar, then you’ll want to tune in to this month’s episode, where we continue discussing the turmoil that is the Hayward city budget.

As always, we cover the biggest stories from the Hayward Herald in our headlines. We also dive back into the budget and discuss the possibility of the Hayward Animal Shelter closing, the firefighter’s lawsuit, what the announcement of Eric Swalwell’s race for governor means for Hayward, and the massive explosion that rocked Hayward (or so it was reported).

In case you missed our announcement for season 2, you can find OTLS in audio-only versions. Head over to Apple Podcasts or Soundcloud if you’d like to listen to our show.

For those of you who enjoy seeing our heads bobble on screen, you can head over to our YouTube page and tap that subscribe button so you never miss a show. Thanks for tuning in!

HUSD Board Clashes Over Presidency

At the December 10th Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) Board of Trustees meeting, Trustees traded veiled barbs at each other over the annual election for Board Offices. Trustees Bufete, Rawdon, and Oquenda voted in a block to elect themselves to all three seats: President, Vice President, and Clerk, respectively. Trustee Prada opposed every vote, and Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo chose to abstain.

Every year, the HUSD Board of Trustees elects the President, Vice President, and Clerk of the Board. The President acts as the Chair of the meeting and gets to set agendas, lead meetings, and generally guide the Board. It’s similar, in many ways, to the Mayor of Hayward: light executive power, but a lot of soft power to shape things behind the scenes.

The Vice President works with the President to craft agendas and serves as President in their absence. According to comments made during the meeting, the Clerk has a nominal role in reading certain items and serves as the Chair when the President and Vice President are both absent. Unfortunately, the full duties and responsibilities of these positions are unclear as we were unable to find the Handbook referenced in discussion in time for publication.

President Votes Get Contentious

Trustee Austin Bruckner-Carrillo nominated Trustee Sara Prada for President, and Trustee April Oquenda nominated Trustee Peter Bufete. Trustee Prada has served as Vice President for at least the last two years and Trustee Bufete has been President for the last three years. Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo moved to appoint Trustee Prada (seconded by Trustee Prada), but Trustee Oquenda offered a substitute motion to appoint Trustee Bufete which was seconded by Trustee Rawdon.

During discussion, Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo said that upcoming changes to the Board make it necessary to share knowledge and responsibility among other Trustees. “With two members of our Board exiting in now less than a year, making sure that we are providing opportunities for our colleagues to serve in positions of leadership on our Board is in the best interest of our district overall,” he said. Trustees Rawdon and Oquenda will both be off the Board after November due to the recent move to District-based elections.

Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo then praised Trustee Prada’s work as Vice President and her availability for discussion. “I’m able to pick up the phone,” Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo said, “schedule a call with you, and help make sure that I at least get an answer.”

He then addressed concerns about one person being in a position of leadership for too long. “Having any Board member in the same position for three years and then to ask them for a fourth year, I believe is not in the best interest of our district,” Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo said. “We are about to lose two of our longest-serving Trustees.”

“The President Needs To Possess Certain Qualities”

Trustee Oquenda made clear that she and Trustee Rawdon still had one more year, and then outlined why she supported Trustee Bufete for a fourth year as President of the Board. “The President of this Board needs to possess certain qualities that are indispensable to representing both the Board and the District,” she said. “They must be measured in temperament… someone who can control their emotions and speak to [people] with respect at all times.

“They must be trustworthy,” Trustee Oquenda continued, “always put the interest of the District above their own… Understand and maintain the rules of order… know these rules, honor these rules, and respectfully remind others to do the same… Unify this governance team… bring us together and fairly represent each member… there isn’t room for divisive conduct or behavior in this role.”

She then pointed to FCMAT and SIR guidance to maintain consistent leadership, alleging that the recommendation encompassed the full Board. “The Board should follow that advice to maintain stable leadership at the top of our board,” Trustee Oquenda said. Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo later said that the FCMAT guidance was only in reference to the Superintendent and Cabinet. “That was not about our board,” he said.

During her comments, Trustee Prada took the time to celebrate Trustee Bufete’s leadership. “I feel like President Bufete has been amazing in leadership,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot. I’ve enjoyed working with you.” She said she wants to bring the Board together, though recognized that it may be difficult with personality conflicts. “I can’t perform some miracle,” she said, “but I am willing to do the work.”

But mostly, she asked to be given a chance. “I am in my second term,” Trustee Prada said. “This is my fifth year as a trustee. I have yet to be President. I do feel that, respectfully, I should be given the opportunity to serve as the President. It’s only one year.” She also recognized the need to shift things with the upcoming vacancies. “There is a lot of fundamental work that we need to be doing as this current governance team to prepare for two new trustees that are coming in.”

Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo pointed out how divisive the election process has been recently and, along with Trustee Prada, pushed for a rotation system to be implemented in the future. “What our students care about, what I believe our staff care about, is not who sits as our Board President… it’s that we offer a safe place for kids to come to school every day.” He pushed for a new President, either Trustee Prada or Rawdon, but said, “This is not what our students and families care about.”

As a closing statement, Trustee Bufete said that people want him as a stable force on the Board. “Having that stability was something that was reminded to me that would be appreciated,” he said. He said that he had expected the current year to be his last as President, and did not want to “disenfranchise” other Board members. However, he ultimately leaned on a desire for stability. “I do think some stability in that leadership may be needed,” he said, “I would appreciate another year as President.”

Trustees Rawdon, Bufete, and Oquenda voted in favor of Trustee Bufete continuing on as President.

A Voting Block Solidifies On The Board

Then came nominations for Vice President. Trustee Prada nominated Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo. He deferred to Trustee Prada, who then accepted the nomination. Trustee Oquenda nominated Trustee Rawdon, who accepted.

Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo said that he had planned to nominate Trustee Rawdon as Vice President, “but our Board has chosen to go in a different direction.” He continued to speak against the whole election process. “This is a distraction from the work,” he said. “It’s a divisive process and it shouldn’t be that way… on a board that historically struggled with personality conflicts.”

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Trustee Oquenda framed the nomination as a capstone moment for Trustee Rawdon. “I would like to see Trustee Rawdon have a chance in his last year on the Board to serve in a leadership role,” she said. “[And] give him his last year to get [things important to him] across the finish line.”

Trustee Prada asked Trustee Rawdon if he had any comments to make about the nomination. “You just keep saying you have nothing to say,” she said.

“I will accept the nomination if it is the will of the Board, and that’s it,” he responded.

Trustees Bufete, Oquenda, and Rawdon voted in favor, Trustee Prada voted against, and Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo abstained.

And finally, for Clerk, Trustee Rawdon nominated Trustee Oquenda, who accepted, and Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo nominated Trustee Prada, who accepted.

Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo showed visible frustration when he pointed out that the Board had “created an issue where two out of three people on leadership won’t be there in a year.” He said, “That just feels like an irresponsible decision,” specifically citing loss of institutional knowledge on the Board. He again pushed for a rotational system.

Trustees Bufete, Oquenda, and Rawdon voted in favor, Trustee Prada voted against, and Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo abstained.

HUSD Deficit Settles At $7 Million

The HUSD Board of Trustees received its first interim budget report, which highlighted increased revenue, but also increased expenses. Assistant Superintendent of Finance Amy Nichols praised AEOTE staff for working hard and “making sure that we are as accurate as possible.” However, a $7,000,000 deficit still looms that, if unaddressed, will push the District into insolvency within two years. “That is one of the challenges that we continue to work through,” Ms. Nichols said.

According to the presentation, HUSD received an additional $10,000,000 in revenue, primarily coming from one-time State funding. However, some of that money came with expanded costs—especially Transitional Kindergarten (TK) and Special Education. This brought the former $10,000,000 deficit down some, but still leaves the District around $7,000,000 short.

If unaddressed, this shortfall will continue to deplete the District’s reserve funding until it completely disappears by FY 27/28. But even before then, starting next year, the District would no longer be able to meet the State-mandated 3% reserve balance. “Our goal is to address the $7,000,000 deficit so that we can meet that 3% reserve rate,” Ms. Nichols said.

On top of the deficit, the recent austerity measures have caused a number of technology needs to go unmet. An additional $6,000,000-$8,000,000 need to be spent to do things like replace broken Chromebooks and replace aging and broken Staff technology. So the goal for the District is to add a total of $15,000,000 for true fiscal stability.

One bit of good news is that the District is expected to be able to pay back the $35,000,000 cash loan from the Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE) and they probably won’t have to rely on another loan next year. “We are moving to a much more stable fiscal environment,” Ms. Nichols said. However, that’s only true if more action is taken to balance the budget and preserve the cash-on-hand the District currently has.

Paying For People With One-Time Funding

Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo asked how many positions were paid for with one-time money—putting those positions at risk of cuts once the funding runs out. He said that 48 positions appeared to be paid by one-time funding, and wants to be sure that the district is “prioritizing saving folks who are currently in the seat and not management.”

Assistant Superintendent Amy Nichols explained that many of the management positions that were saved were for “obtaining or administering grants” and for social/mental health/wraparound services for students. The number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) is also smaller than 48 because many are partially funded from multiple sources.

Trustee Sara Prada asked if the former Solutions Team could be implemented again, as a place to generate ideas to address enrollment decline and funding shortfalls. “The Governance Team itself operates in a very reactive way,” she said. “So it’s been a pattern of reactivity over and over again, so we’re constantly in crisis.” The Solutions Team was assembled in 2020 during the last round of cuts that resulted in the closure of two schools. According to Superintendent Chen Wu-Fernandez, it has not met in many years.

Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo dug into details of the contract, like attorney expenses during Closed Sessions, as well as any other expenses not factored in, citing the loss of Summer School funding last year. Ms. Nichols said that there are issues specifically around instructional material needs, replacing Chromebooks and Staff technology, and any Union increases. “We last settled with our Unions for the 23/24 school year,” Ms. Nichols said.

The uncertainty around solutions continued to bother Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo. “I wish that we would have been able to definitively say whether school closures was something we were considering or not,” he said. He expressed concern that it will be a solution suggested in January, leaving little time for debate or discussion before the February deadline for approval.